In-store Play! Pokémon TCG and Pokémon GO events to resume from April, VG events to resume from May

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.

Players competing at these events will be able to receive a small amount of Championship Points depending on their placing, allowing even those players who can't attend major events like Regional tournaments to take their first steps towards a possible spot at the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, which will be held in Japan for the first time this year. Pokémon GO players in the North America rating zone will also be in the race to earn a travel stipend to the North America International Championship later this year in Columbus, Ohio.

While the announcement today does not go into detail about all countries where these events will be operating, it seems safe to assume that these will be available for tournament organisers to run in all countries where official casual events, such as Leagues, Prerelease events, and tournaments not awarding Championship Points, had already resumed. This list includes the following countries:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Guatemala
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• South Africa
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Trinidad and Tobago
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Uruguay

In-person events in countries outside of this list continue to be suspended at this stage, however online Play! Pokémon programs such as Team Challenge and League at Home continue to be available to eligible players in all participating regions.