ABOVE: Fireworks celebrate the winners (and runners-up) at the 2024 Pokemon World Championships closing ceremony in Honolulu.
Passengers at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport last August might have done a double take when a brightly colored jumbo jet landed, covered in monsters. On board: a group of Japanese fans and champions of Pokemon, the game that pits those monsters and their human "trainers" against each other in a battle for supremacy. Players arriving in Honolulu on the "Pokemon Jet" joined more than thirteen thousand other competitors, fans and spectators from over fifty countries for the 2024 Pokemon World Championships (a.k.a. "Worlds") at the Hawaii Convention Center.
"We have a special connection to Hawaii," says Elvin Gee, public relations manager at the Pokemon Company International. "In fact, the creators of one of our games, Pokemon Sun and Moon, drew inspiration from the Hawaiian Islands. This is the fourth time we've held the World Championships in Hawaii, and everyone loves it." Previous host cities include Vancouver, San Francisco, Washington DC, London and other major metropolises.
The Pokemon phenomenon originated in Japan in 1996 and has since spread to nearly every part of the planet through video and playing card games, movies, television shows and merchandise. Most people have seen or heard of Pokemon (and Pikachu, the brand's yellow, mouse-like mascot with the lightning-bolt tail) even if they're not active players. But few are aware that since the late 1990s, Pokemon has grown to become the largest media franchise in the world. With total revenue of nearly $100 billion, the Pokemon empire is now bigger than Star Wars and Marvel Studios combined.
Every year, the three-day Pokemon Worlds event sells out well in advance, and if getting tickets is difficult, qualifying to compete is exponentially harder. "Worlds is by invitation only, for those who have earned a seat through a series of local, regional and international tournaments throughout the year," Gee explains. The playing field is tough; out of more than three thousand competitors globally who qualified for this year's Worlds, only two from Hawaii made the cut.
A sea of "trainers" fills the Hawaii Convention Center at the 2024 Pokemon World Championships, each striving to become the best Trading Card Game (TCG) player in the world.
Local Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) luminary Peyton Lee (age 15) says that even among top-notch competitors, luck is still a factor. "I find that skill separates the players," Lee says. "But when it gets into the higher levels, and I've gotten to experience this, there's more luck involved. Because when you both play your cards correctly, then it just comes down to who draws the better one in the end." Lee's eventual defeat in the 2024 Worlds has left him hungry to qualify again next year. Hawaii's other superstar contestant at this year's tournament was 11-year-old Cassius Kong. This was Kong's fourth appearance at Worlds; until 2024, he was the only player from Hawaii ever to qualify and one year finished tenth in the TCG Juniors division. Kong started playing Pokemon with family and friends at five years old and has discovered real-life benefits beyond the competition. "It feels good to win," he says. "But you also just get a fun experience hanging out with friends. And when I was younger it helped a lot with math, because there's so much division, multiplication, addition and subtraction." Kong's dad, Raymond, agrees. "The card game really helped him excel in math and reading comprehension," he says. "Around six or seven years old, he was well ahead because he'd been doing a lot of analytical thinking."
The international competitive Pokemon community is composed of fans and players from all walks of life. Most are young—some in the single digits. Tournaments are divided into three age brackets: juniors (ages 12 and under), seniors (13 to 15) and masters (16 and up). Adults are also active in the Pokemon community, and many of the parents of this generation's toughest competitors started off as players themselves. Although the oldest qualifying competitor at 2024 Worlds was 54 (while the youngest was six), this game's players are youthful at any age. The crowd might seem as cute and colorful as the characters they celebrate, but make no mistake: The champions among them are cunning strategists focused on victory. Whether playing Pokemon video games, the playing card version, mobile Pokemon Go or the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Pokemon Unite, competitors come to the World Championships with their game faces on. Sure, it's all in fun. Sure, it's just a game. But beyond the glory and bragging rights afforded to Worlds winners, there are also more than $2 million in cash prizes, merchandise and travel awards for the winning trainers.
Referees closely monitor game play as Israel's Raz Wolpe (left) takes on Seinosuke Shiokawa of Japan (right) in a TCG Masters Division semifinal match live-streamed around the world. Shiokawa went on to win the match and advance to the finals, where he suffered defeat at the deck of Fernando Cifuentes of Chile.
I arrive at the convention center via the "Pokemon Trolley" from the nearby Hilton Hawaiian Village, the hotel that serves as official "Trainer Town" for the event. The Hilton grounds were filled with Pokemon-themed activities, artwork exhibits and a "Play Lab" for newbies to learn the ropes on various Pokemon platforms. After navigating the hotel's clusters of families taking photos beside character cutouts, youngsters getting their faces Poke-painted, Pokemon drawing lessons, lawn games and giant screens with frenzied announcers streaming play-by-play action from the center's championship stage, I'm eager to get up close to the best players on the planet. Long entry lines are queued; those without tickets soak in the vibe from outside the lobby's glass windows.
Inside, I'm greeted by an enormous yellow inflatable Pikachu and swarms of Poke-folk. Sporting Pokemon-themed hairstyles, apparel, accessories, swag and sometimes full costumes, fans of the tiny monsters are in their element. Just past Pikachu, cheers emanate from the main arena of combat, a vast landscape of gaming tables at which competitors engage in furious but friendly battle, each vying for a coveted spot on the elevated main stage, where final qualifiers hold their championship duels.
The 2024 Worlds in Honolulu is the largest Pokemon World Championship tournament in history. "It's just mind-blowing, how big Worlds has become," says Elijah Shimabukuro, co-owner of Aloha Card Shop, where local players meet for weekly tournaments to earn points toward national rankings. "It's awesome to see how much it's grown since COVID." Like an international sports event, masses of spectators in bright T-shirts and jerseys root for their home countries and local players. Families, friends and fans gather around game tables to watch battles unfold up close or grab seats to view overhead screens streaming live matches between the current leaders. Energy crackles throughout the convention center's multifloor collection of Pokemon activity and exhibit rooms, merchandise displays and gaming arenas, resonating with chatter about the games and the players. "Competitive players watch and follow other games closely," Shimabukuro says. "You'll see them talking and discussing what they see the champions doing on-screen, what cards they put in their decks. People pay attention to that and may make similar changes to their own game." From colorful getup and merchandise to obsession with competition and strategy, the Pokemon Worlds event feels like a cross between Comic Con and the World Series of Poker. But with this crowd it's all about the monsters.
The game itself, whether played on a screen or with cards, involves a human trainer collecting a set of magical beasts with various strengths and weaknesses, then arranging them into teams. The monsters are "captured" and stored in marble-like Pokeballs. The classic Pokemon tagline "Gotta catch 'em all!" refers to collecting these "pocket monsters," as they were originally called. (It's no coincidence that the game's inventor, Satoshi Tajiri, drew inspiration from the insects and small animals he captured around ponds and lakes as a child in suburban Japan.) During matches the trainer decides when to swap their monsters with reinforcements and which of their skills to deploy in a given situation. Victory belongs to the trainer who best directs his or her team's powers to attack, defend and counterattack, and whom luck favors when rolling dice, drawing cards or generating random numbers in the video platforms. As in poker, even the best players can have a bad run, but over time the most skilled competitors triumph.
Trophies for the TCG Masters Division are among the hardest Pokemon to catch.
"The characters I like best are Charizard and Snorlax," says Cassius Kong. Charizard, one of the game's most well-known Pokemon, is a fire-blasting dragon. Snorlax, as the name loosely implies, heals itself by sleeping. Some characters are named for their powers or appearance, such as the garlic-shaped Bulbasaur. But this is merely cosmetic. "At the competition level you have to choose your deck based on what will give you the best chance to win," Kong says. "And that may have nothing to do with any specific Pokemon that you like."
Pillars of fire erupt on the main stage in a pyrotechnic extravaganza when 11-year-old Sakuya Ota of Japan defeats US competitor Logan Bailey in the TCG final, earning the title of World Champion for the junior division and a cool $50,000. In a post-match speech translated live by interpreters, an emotional Ota thanks his father for bringing him to Hawaii.
Contestants rely on the support of parents, siblings, friends and fellow countrymen as they rise through qualifying tournaments, often traveling great distances across countries or internationally to compete and developing long-lasting friendships along the way. "Being a family-friendly brand, it's a very positive community," says Gee. "We really emphasize what we call the 'spirit of the game,' and it's all about good sportsmanship. Your competitors are your friends, and every match starts and ends with a handshake, no matter what age or level you're playing at."
When the Pokemon TCG masters division final match ends in victory for 18-year-old Fernando Cifuentes of Chile, there's an explosion of cheers as scores of Chileans rush the stage, many sporting the country's flag on their jerseys. They chant, sing, dance and celebrate with the fervor of reveling sports fans. (As the country's first-ever World Champion, Fuentes received an invitation to meet Chilean President Gabriel Boric on his return home). Second-place finisher Seinosuke Shiokawa of Japan is graceful in defeat, shaking hands with Cifuentes and walking away with $30,000. The prize pool for TCG players extends all the way out to thirty-second place, which pays out $5,000 plus special 2024 Worlds swag in every division.
Just as at sporting events, fans go wild when the home team wins. Exuberant Chileans celebrate their country's first Pokemon World Champion as 18-year-old Cifuentes triumphs in the final TCG Masters Division match. More than fifty countries were represented at the Worlds event.
To the victor go the spoils: Cifuentes takes home the trophy, the No. 1 Trainer card and a $50,000 purse.
Every year a special Pokemon card is created to promote the World Championship event. The 2024 Pokemon Worlds card, seen above on display at the pop-up Pokemon History Museum in the convention center, celebrates the Hawaii venue, with Pikachu catching some surf.
On the convention center's second floor, multiple meeting rooms are packed with exhibits and activities. A gallery features framed entries and winners of a juried art contest, showing off intricate Pokemon artwork created by fans and professional graphic artists. Some of the Pokemon Company illustrators who draw the characters are on hand for meet-and-greet sessions; they're revered megastars, signing autographs and mentoring young would-be designers. At art tables along the gallery's sidelines, attendees practice drawing their favorite characters.
Inside the trading room, enthusiasts and collectors flock around display tables. In a frenzy of haggling, players seek prized Pokemon cards for their decks or just as collectibles. Some of the rarest cards are worth well into six figures.
In the retail vendor room next door, card shops display and sell all manner of cards, decks and merchandise. A massive pop-up "Pokemon Center" on the third floor offers official event merch and other special collectible treasures to a nonstop stream of shoppers who gain access strictly by appointment only—and appointments have long been sold out; even media aren't allowed in without an appointment, so what special collectible treasures were on offer must remain a mystery.
Another feature of the event is a partnership with a local environmental nonprofit. In the "Genki Ball" room, a team of experts and volunteers assists any attendees willing to get dirty by rolling a mixture of soil, rice bran and microorganisms into mud balls. These will harden into stone-like Genki Balls and be thrown into Honolulu's Ala Wai Canal; the microorganisms, fed by the rice bran, will proliferate and begin battling pollution. "Basically, we're restoring the ecosystem from the bottom up," says Kouri Nago of the Genki Ala Wai Project. "The reason we make it a ball shape is so it can drop to the bottom of the canal and embed itself into the sludge, where it will start to dissolve and release microorganisms to eat up any organic matter and clean up the waterway." A ball containing tiny creatures with special powers that activate and do battle when they are released? Sounds perfectly Pokemonish. "Having the event in Hawaii, we wanted to be responsible and help the community," Gee says. "We do that through philanthropy and donations to local organizations, but also activities and volunteerism like the Genki Ball effort."
The crowd swarming throughout second- and third-floor exhibits and activities is so large that convention center management has to regulate escalator traffic, resulting in a line of hundreds of people just waiting to take the escalator down to the lobby. Finally making it back aboard the hotel-bound trolley, I catch snippets of conversations among multigenerational groups of Pokemon fans in at least three different languages. They're Asian. They're European. They're from the continental US and from Hawaii. And they're all here for the monsters. Because monsters know no borders.
