2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships
The 2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships are held during August 18-20,
2006, in Anaheim, California. Hundreds of players from more
than 30 countries will compete at this years event. Competitors are
divided into three age categories: 10 and younger, 11 to 14, and 15 and
older. The top 32 winners in each of the three categories will be awarded
various Pokemon prizes and merchandise. Additionally, the top 16 players
in each age category will receive scholarship awards worth more than
$100,000 total.
Not Competing?
All players, even those not participating in the World
Championships competition, will also be able to take part in a variety of
other activities held during the event. Popular Pokemon characters will be
on hand for photos, league play and side tournaments will allow players to
compete in other competitions, Pokemon artists and creators will be on
hand for autographs, and much more. The 2006 Pokemon TCG World
Championships are open to the public.
Top 20 Pokemon
Getting one of the top 20 fan-voted Pokemon is one of the
various activities you can do at the event. The Pokemon available are
Bulbasaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Alakazam, Articuno, Zapdos,
Moltres, Dragonite, Typhlosion, Espeon, Umbreon, Raikou, Entei, Suicune,
Tyranitar, Blaziken, Absol, Latias, and Latios. The schedule is:
Saturday
12:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m.
Sunday
10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m.
12:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m.
WHO: Worldwide Pokemon Players
WHAT: 2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships
WHEN: August 1820, 2006
WHERE: Hilton Anaheim, Anaheim, Calif.
For more information, please visit
http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/.
Pokemon Elite 2000 Will Be There
I will be there covering the event for all three days. So
I'll see you there if you're attending! If you can't make it, Pokemon
Elite 2000 will have a full recap of the event!
Contents
Page 1: Day 1 - Last Chance Qualifier
Page 2: Day 2 - Pokemon TCG World
Championships Begin
Page 3: Day 3 - Pokemon TCG World
Championships Finals
Pictures from the Event
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Picture 1 and Picture 2: Here we are, the 2006 Pokemon
TCG World Championships at the Hilton in Anaheim, California. Picture 3:
It's not the Pikachu from Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, but this Pikachu
is still huge! It's the first thing you see when you enter the hotel.
  
Picture 1: Participants in the Last Chance Qualifier for
the World Championships lined up early in the morning, many of whom just sat
in line and played the TCG while they waited. Picture 2 and Picture 3: Inside the
tournament area, the staff are preparing for the flood of people preparing to
enter. A Main Event stage was set up for the World Championships, and a stage
for Side Events.
  
Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: The blue tables are
for the 15 and over, green for the 11 to 14, and the red tables are for the 10
and under. It's nice and quiet then, but it won't be for long as hundreds of
competitors will be battling on these tables.
  
Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: And they're in! All
the competitors had to register their decks first at the purple tables
(the purple tables are used for side events during the event).
  
Picture 1: Checking decks for every single competitor was
a really time consuming process, but it went fairly well since it was well staffed.
Picture 2 and Picture 3: People are starting to take their seats in
preparation for the start of the Last Chance Qualifier.
  
Picture 1 and Picture 2: So I was roaming around, and
then I saw someone familiar. Recognize him? It's Aziz Al-Yami, the
second place finisher in the 2006 Pokemon Video Game National Championships,
which was held just 10 days earlier before this event (which I was there to
cover as well, more information on that here:
Party of
the Decade). Right now, he's just playing for fun as they wait for their
pairings to be posted up. I didn't have a chance to meet him during the Party
of the Decade event, so this is the first time I've met him. He told me he
goes to my website frequently, so that's nice to know he's a visitor of the
site as well. Picture 3: Players in the side events are
also ready for some serious battles.
  
Picture 1: The Last Chance Qualifier began with a simple
announcement: "You may begin!" Picture 2 and Picture 3:
Again, the blue tables are for the 15 and up, but since there were so many
players in that age category (hundreds in that age category alone), many players actually had to play in the other
tables since they can't fit all the 15 plus players in the blue tables
available.
  
Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: It's William Hung,
the American Idol star. And if you didn't know by now, William is actually a
huge fan of Pokemon, and of course, does quite well in the Pokemon TCG.
  
Picture 1: I took a few pictures of these two before this
shot, and joked about how I'll put them on the front page of the website. One
of them then posed for the picture, and here's that shot. I actually did use
this picture on the front page of the website in the Sneak Peek Recap: 2006
Pokemon TCG World Championships news. So I kept my word. Picture 2 and Picture 3: The
Pokemon Center store was available at the event, so you'll be seeing a lot of
people wearing Pokemon hats and having their Pokemon plush toys with them as
well.
  
Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3: The red tables are for
the 10 and under age group (no, these are not overgrown 9 and 10 year olds), but as I've mentioned, there were a lot of
competitors for the 15 and over age group, so here are some of them that
migrated to the red tables. They had open tables there, so it wasn't a
problem.
  
Picture 1 and Picture 2: More pictures of people
battling. Picture 3: There's William again, facing a different opponent in another round.
  
Picture 1 and Picture 2: Here's Meowth and Minun. Minun
got a big hug from a big fan. Picture 3: Looks like Minun is doing just
fine after being tackled... I mean... hugged.
  
Picture 1: Pikachu! Picture 2 and Picture 3: More pictures of players
battling, this is the Pokemon TCG World Championships, what did you expect?
Picture 1: Here's Aziz again. I was rooting for him to
win. Unfortunately, he didn't make the top 8 in his age group, so he didn't
advance to the World Championships. There were plenty of side events going on
throughout the event, so even players that didn't get into the World
Championships were kept very occupied. And off to the side you see
two Pokemon Professors sorting things out in another battle right next to
them. Each age group area had a staff of Pokemon Professors, making sure
things go as smoothly as possible.
Concluding Day 1: In the schedule I was given before the
event began, it said that the Last Chance Qualifier would end at 8 PM. The
actual ending was way beyond that. It was clear to me early on that a 8 PM end
time would not be possible given the huge turn out and the number of rounds
that needed to be played still. After a dinner break, play continued well past
midnight, all the way to 3 AM in the morning of Saturday (the second day of
the event, which means the beginning of the World Championships). In the end, 32 players from the Last Chance Qualifier
moved on to the World Championships (the top 16 players from the 10 and under,
and top 8 players each from 11 to 14 and 15 and over age groups). These
players had to get quick sleep because at 8 AM, just 5 hours later, they had
to come in for deck registration.
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