This past Saturday, I went with Dan and our friend Halstead to the Northeast Regional Pokémon Video Game Championship in Secaucus, New Jersey. Dan and Halstead were participating in the tournament, while I was just there to watch, take pictures and record some video.
We got there an hour early and were still 650th in line, so our first 3 hours were spent waiting on a line that moved very, very slowly. Once we got inside, Dan and Halstead went on the registration line while I joined the other spectators (i.e. moms) on the sidelines. Then, I had to endure almost another hour of waiting. Once the guys finally entered the first round, they played for a total of about 15 minutes before both being beat by other competitors. While Halstead got out in the first round, Dan made it to round 2, which (almost) made all of the waiting worthwhile! The other nice thing about attending the tournament? Shiny Eevee!
Overall, we had a pretty good time and really enjoyed being in the company of fellow Pokémon fans and like-minded nerds. We met some genuinely nice, funny people while waiting on line, but in the end, the endless line-waiting kind of ruined our excitement. The other disappointment was the lack of anything else to do or buy at the tournament. There was a single card playing table set up and a couple of Wii consoles featuring Pokémon Stadium, but with over 1,000 people in attendance, they really should have provided more entertainment.
What surprised us most was the lack of merchandise! This was a perfect opportunity for Nintendo to take advantage of excited Pokémon fans, and yet, there wasn’t a single thing to buy. Even the food was moderately priced! We came ready to buy toys and shirts and other useless gizmos, but left empty-handed. In the end, it seems this really was an event purely for the fans’ enjoyment. There was no admission fee or other cost to attend, despite the fact that Nintendo must have paid thousands and thousands of dollars to pull this event off. I guess the lack of greed on Nintendo’s part was so surprising because it’s so rare to see such a large corporate entity do anything for any reason other than profit gain. It kind of gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to think that Nintendo and Pokémon actually care about their fans.
For more coverage of the event, check out the video below. (And, yes, I am wearing a Pokémon shirt.)
Assuming this event takes place in the same city next year, we’ll be there! Will you?
