Players of all ages battle at Pokémon GO Tournament

Event featured Pikachu, video creators Speediest Chief and Battle Bill

The Boyertown YMCA gym transformed into a Pokémon haven, filled with artists, food and everything Pokémon for Boyertown’s first Pokémon GO Tournament and community vendor event on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Building a Better Boyertown partnered with Team Asylum to host a Pokémon GO Tournament and with Deal Me In Games to host a Pokémon Trading Card Tournament.

Krista Gross, Building a Better Boyertown event planner, said this is a great event for Boyertown that reaches a whole spectrum of community members BaBB may not have reached with past events.

“The thing about this event that will stay with me was watching people from all walks of life come together and share their mutual love of a game,” Gross said. “In both the Pokémon Go Tournament and the Trading Card Game, there were grown adults, teens and children all battling together. It was pretty fun to watch!”

Open to participants and spectators, the event saw a little over 100 community members come to enjoy the tournament and vendors. There were 13 Pokémon Go participants and 10 trading card game participants.

“Everyone seemed to be having a great time. When the tournament was being live streamed into the gym, we had a large crowd gathered around to watch the battles and the commentators,” said Gross.

Real world meets virtual world of Pokémon

According to https:// www.pokemon.com/us/ app/pokemon-go, participants can travel between the real world and the virtual world of Pokémon with Pokémon GO for iPhone and Android devices.

“Pokémon GO gives you the chance to explore real locations and search far and wide for Pokémon. More and more Pokémon continue to appear around the globe, including rare and powerful Legendary Pokémon,” the Pokémon website stated.

Using each phone’s location finder and clock, the Pokémon GO app detects where and when players are in the game. Pokémon characters appear on their screens in virtual places like parks and gyms. Players then locate, capture, tame, and train characters for tournament battles against competing teams, all on their phones, according to the website.

Tournament organizers Randy Renninger and Jake McCoach of Team Asylum, both Boyertown Area Senior High alumni, work as part of the North American e-sports organization, featuring teams, content, and events for Team Asylum in which players participate in Pokémon GO.

“Something I really like about Pokémon Go is the physical aspect. Walking helps you hatch eggs and gain items, travelling to more gyms and pokestops gives you access to more Pokémon, items, and raids,” said Renninger. “It’s not the usual videogame that has players sitting in a chair all day. Those who want to best train their Pokémon generally have to get up, get out, and go catch more Pokémon.”

Renninger approached Building a Better Boyertown with the idea of organizing a community e-sports tournament in Boyertown. Both Renninger and McCoach grew up and went to school in

Boyertown. Renninger still lives in the area.

“We love to see our hometown flourish and develop,” said Renninger. “BaBB has done an amazing job bringing the community together so we thought this would be a great way to give the locals a fun introduction into the e-sports community.”

The event featured game playing, card trading, 10 local vendors selling their art and other merchandise, and the YMCA Youth and Government group selling concessions.

“We saw a lot of familiar and new faces come out to the tournament this weekend, it was great to connect with everyone in a new way,” said Renninger. “Normally we would walk right past each other on the street, but at the event, Pokémon players were able to communicate, trade, battle, and meet one another. Boyertown seemed to be very excited for the possible future of the event and we couldn’t be more grateful for their support!”

Participants had the option of playing competitively or casually in the Pokémon Go Tournaments, bringing together seasoned players along with players who would like to learn more about how to play on a more competitive level.

“I hope that they gained a greater connection to the plethora of other Pokémon Go/TCG players that are in their local community. We (people who play videogames) can get pigeonholed into their usual online friends and forget that in games like PoGo and Pokémon trading card game, we are able to meet so many new friends at game stores, card shops, and community events,” said Renninger.

“Another thing I hope the players and spectators gained is the idea that competing in e-sports is possible for those who haven’t dipped their toes in yet,” he continued. “A local player who has never competed before took 3rd place behind two well-traveled players who are very well known in the Pokémon Go community!”

Meet and Greets

In addition to meeting the Pokémon character Pikachu, the event offered the opportunity to meet Pokémon GO PvP video creators Speediest Chief and Battle Bill.

“A big highlight of the day for me was bringing some of the very recognizable names in PoGo to our small town and introducing them to our growing community,” said Renninger.

Gross said it was exciting to see the players approach Speediest Chief and Battle Bill and watch them interact with each other.

“Speediest Chief and Battle Bill were so gracious and kind,” said Gross. “They chatted with everyone and took photos with anyone who asked.”

Another highlight was live streaming gameplay.

“Behind the scenes, Team Asylum ran a Twitch Broadcast of the tournament,” said Renninger. “I think setting up such a successful streamed event with some amazing casters, producers, and other crew members from our YMCA was definitely a highlight!”

The Twitch Broadcast is still available for viewing on the Team Asylum Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2066644081.

“Be sure to watch the broadcast to see our casters’ coverage of each battle on the main stage as well as exclusive interviews with Krista from BaBB and the winner of the tournament,” he said.