Community Corner
Pokeman ‘Trainers’ Compete at Dulles Expo
Pokeman players crowded the Dulles Expo Center on Saturday to compete in the regional Video Game Championship Series for a chance to win a trip to the national competition.
More than 500 Pokeman aficionados crowded the on Saturday to compete in the regional and a chance to win a trip to the national competition next month in Indianapolis.
The event drew participants from as far away as Phoenix, with some sleeping on the sidewalk in front of the complex before the doors opened early Saturday morning, said Miranda Daly, event organizer. The top 16 competitors from each of the three divisions (junior, senior and masters) won invitations to the national VGC in Indianapolis on July 8-10. Winners there will get invitations to the world games in San Diego on Aug. 12-14.
“This is quite something, isn’t it,” said Sara Cohen, an Atlantic City jeweler, who waited nervously on the sidelines as her son Alex, 10, competed in the first round. He won and advanced to the second round. “These DS (Nintendo-DS) games are the new babysitters,” she said with a smile.
Find out what's happening in Chantillywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Frank Lookingglass, 19, of Alexandria, was entered to compete in the master’s division. He had won in previous competitions and said the secret to winning was in the preparation. “You just have to train your Pokemon and then trust them to do what you know they can do.”
Launched as a video game in the U.S. in 1998, the Pokemon (pronounced Poh-kay-mahn) universe includes 640 creatures available to the player, who participates as a “trainer.” The trainer collects the creatures, such as Pikachu, Zekrom or Reshiram, onto a team which he or she then uses to battle other teams of other trainers. Each creature has a specific strength as well as a weakness that play against each other in a delicate rock-paper-scissors balance.
Find out what's happening in Chantillywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The game is as whimsical (creatures are never injured, but merely faint) as it is enduring, selling 225 million games and spawning a insatiable fan base, as well as into a television series, movies, trading cards and various toys.
Helleni Donovan brought her son, Christian, 10, from their home in Woodbridge to compete. It was his first competition and he made it into the second round.
“I think this is great,” Donovan said. “It was something he really wanted to do, and he found this competition all by himself on the computer. We are going to come back next year to compete.”
