Play! Pokémon

The Pokémon Latin America International Championships of the 2023 to 2024 Play! Pokémon season took place in São Paulo in Brazil from 17 to 19 November which was the first International Championships event of the season. The Top 8 players of each division have been confirmed by the Pokémon Company International. The most popular Pokémon in teams for Pokémon GO and VGC and the most popular deck archetypes and their percentages of popularity on Day 2 of the Latin America International Championships were also shown in the livestream on the Official Pokémon YouTube Channel.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season 12 began earlier this week on November 1st, and will continue through to November 30th, at 11:59pm (UTC). This season follows Regulation Set E, which came into force at the beginning of October with the start of Season 11, expanding the list of allowable Pokémon to include those found in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 1: The Teal Mask.

The Pokémon Regional Championships in San Antonio, Texas for the 2023-2024 season will be held between the 15th and 17th of December at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Centre, with registration opening on RK9 Labs from Wednesday 18th at 7:00pm (CDT) / Thursday October 19th at Midnight (UTC). This event will host tournaments for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Video Games (VGC), and Pokémon GO, with players competing to earn championship points towards qualifying for the 2024 Pokémon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii in August 2024.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season 11 has begun, and will run through to October 31st, at 11:59pm (UTC). This season follows the new Regulation Set E, which expands the list of allowable Pokémon to include those found in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 1: The Teal Mask.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season Regulation Set E will come into force with the start of the next Season on October 1st, running through to November 30th at 11:59pm (UTC). This new regulation set will expand the list of allowable Pokémon to include those found in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 1: The Teal Mask.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season 10 has begun, and will run through to September 30th, at 11:59pm (UTC). This season, which will run through to August 31st, at 11:59pm (UTC), will follow Regulation Set D, which came into force at the beginning of July with the start of Season 8.

As you may have heard, several competitors at the recent 2023 Pokémon World Championships were disqualified due to using hacked Pokémon. The logical question to then ask is: why? Much like in regular sports, we see cheating happen among top players who clearly already have the skills required to win - surely they wouldn't need to cheat, right? For Pokémon, though, the cheating is not compensating for lack of skill, but for lack of time, and this is an issue the series has faced for a while.

The Pokémon Company International has released full information regarding the 2023 Pokémon World Championships Fantasy Team, a skill-based sweepstakes in which Trainers can use their knowledge of the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Video Games to submit their predictions of which Pokémon will dominate the 2023 Pokémon World Championships. This sweepstakes is open only to Trainers aged 18 or older who are currently residing in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Trainers must have a Pokémon Trainer Club account to sign up for this sweepstakes, with registration closing on August 10th, at 8am (PDT).

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season 9 has begun. This season, which will run through to August 31st, at 11:59pm (UTC), will follow Regulation Set D, which came into force at the beginning of July with the start of Season 8.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season 8 has begun, and will run through to July 31st, at 11:59pm (UTC). This season follows the new Regulation Set D, which expands the list of allowable Pokémon to include those outside of the Paldea Pokédex.

The North America International Championships, the final International Championships event of the 2023 Championship Series season, are taking place this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. Fans will be able to catch all the action via livestreams on the various official Pokémon Twitch and YouTube channels, as some of the world's most talent trainers compete in the Pokémon Video Game Series, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and Pokémon GO to qualify for a place at the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, this year being held in Yokohama, Japan. The last rounds of the Pokémon UNITE regional finals will also be held this weekend alongside the main tournament events.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Ranked Battles Season 7 has begun. This season, which will run through to June 30th, at 11:59pm (UTC), will follow Regulation Set C, which came into force at the beginning of April. Regulation Set D will launch with the start of the next Season on July 1st, expanding the list of allowable Pokémon to include those outside of the Paldea Pokédex.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet today have received an update to Version 1.3.1. First announced on the Japanese official Pokémon Twitter account @Pokemon_cojp, and with an English announcement on the @playpokemon 15 minutes later, this update fixes multiple issues that were impacting players in invite-only official tournaments, including the Japanese and Korean National Championship Qualifiers, to repeatedly face the same opponents, have difficulties in exiting between battles, and be unable to view rankings.

The 2023 Pokémon Europe International Championships will be held from April 14th to 16th at the enormous ExCeL London event center in England, featuring competitions for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet video games, Pokémon UNITE, and Pokémon GO. As with the 2022 Pokemon World Championships which were also held at ExCeL Longdon, a pop-up Pokémon Center store will be available at the event, selling a wide variety of Pokémon products, including a range of items themed around the International Championships.

After having been suspended at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, competitive in-store events for the Play! Pokémon program, are now making their long-awaited return in select regions around the world. League Cup and League Challenge events for the Pokémon TCG, as well as Pokémon GO Challenge events for players in Norta America, will resume in April. Competitive VG players will need to wait a little longer, with Premier Challenge events set to resume across May and June.

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet's Ranked Battles Season 1 (December 2022 Season) has begun alongside the release of the Version 1.1.0 update. This season will run through to January 5th, 2023 at 8:59am (JST).

The Pokémon Company International and Play! Pokémon have announced the base structure for the 2023 Pokémon Championship Series, together with a schedule for a range of upcoming events. The 2023 Play! Pokémon season, leading to the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, will include four different Pokémon game categories: the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, Pokémon GO, and Pokémon UNITE.

After a two-year hiatus due to the global pandemic, the Pokémon World Championships returned to full swing with the 2022 event that was held over this past weekend, from August 18th to August 21st. This year's event took place at ExCeL London in London, England, with the Opening Ceremony, most matches, and the Closing Ceremony being streamed live on the various official Pokémon Twitch channels. A variety of announcements were made over the course of the event, with reveals for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Masters EX, and Pokémon UNITE.

As announced together with the streaming schedule last week, limited-time distributions of a digital rewards for a variety of Pokémon games are currently being distributed in celebration of the 2022 Pokémon World Championships. These include a distribution of the Victory Pokémon, Victini, is currently being distributed for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, a Path to the Peak card for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online or Pokémon Trading Card Game Live, and a 2022 Worlds Tee avatar item for Pokémon GO.

A brand new battle arena for Pokémon UNITE was premiered during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Pokémon World Championships, with a trailer for the Theia Sky Ruins. While sporting a similar layout to the existing Remoat Stadium map, this new map features battles with wild Pokémon not previously seen in the game, including a face-off with the Sky High Pokémon, Rayquaza. Also released during the live stream were codes for players to acquire a Worlds-themed T-shirt avatar item in-game, as first announced together with the streaming schedule last week.