Fans Bring the Pokémon Challenge to Life at PAX Posted by Joe Walker on February 18, 2011 · 2 Comments

Yo! Champ-in-the-making! Do you think you’re good at the Pokémon games? Ever wish you could challenge real Gym Leaders and prove you’re the very best, like no one ever was? Well, now it’s time to put your money where your Meowth is, because a group of dedicated fans have brought the Pokémon challenge to life at the Penny Arcade Expo videogame conventions in Boston and Seattle.

Starting at last year’s PAX Prime in Seattle, a group of Penny Arcade forum members took up the mantle of Gym Leaders and battled challengers in the Nintendo DS versions of the Pokémon games. Those who were victorious earned Badges, and those that collected enough earned the right to challenge the Elite Four and League Champion, just like in the games themselves.

I spoke with Andrei Krotkov, league organizer and Gym Leader “Hephaestus” about how the idea came to be and what goes into running an alternate reality game at such a large convention.

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BNB: Tell us a little bit about what the PAX Pokémon League is.

AK: All of us who grew up on Pokémon had wished for it to be real. We all wanted to be Ash, wandering the world, battling Leaders, meeting other trainers, and earning badges. This is the answer to that – a real life Pokémon League that already takes place at the friendliest con around! In short, it’s an Alternate-Reality game built on top of DS Pokémon Battles.

BNB: How did the idea for PAX Pokémon League come about?

AK: My personal idea was that I was going to go to PAX dressed up as a Pokémon Leader, and if I were doing that, I realized that I may as well battle people with a team – and then I realized Patrick was planning exactly that on the forums! Through a lot of work, we eventually got the thing off the ground, and the first year, while not without pitfalls, went off well!

BNB: What goes into the planning for the actual event? How do you go about getting Gym Leaders, deciding on rules, and things like that?

AK: There’s a lot of behind the scenes work that goes in to coordinate the seventeen [Oh whoops, did I let a number slip? ;)] members of the PAX Pokémon League at East. First off, there’s the organizational, making sure that everyone has badges ordered, bios for the website written, costumes designed. Secondly, there’s the physical work – we have to get logos designed, code the website and keep it updated, make the rewards and Leader scarves, and that takes a lot of time. Finally, and what is the most visible, we have to publicize the league. Doing interviews, updating the twitter and website, and just keeping the challengers interested is a big part of the rules. We had a three-month long discussion between a lot of forum members about the rules. The less said about that time, the better – but we eventually got a set of rules that we hope don’t exclude anyone.

BNB: What was the reaction from attendees like at PAX Prime?

AK: Mostly lukewarm. I don’t believe we advertised very much – while most people who got really into it were amazed at the result, there were a lot of people who didn’t realize what we were doing. That said, publicity is one of the things we’re focusing most on this year, so look for us!

Andrei’s Gym Leader persona, “Hephaestus, Cinnabar’s Forge.”

BNB: What was the most “into it” that someone has gotten, be it Gym Leader or challenger?

AK: From the challenger side, there were four people who defeated the Leaders, beat the Elite Four, and took down our champion. There was one person who did all that and got all the badges – we were all very impressed at that.

From the Leader side, there were a few (me included!) Leaders who went all-out with cosplay and acted as the character, and we definitely applaud the enforcers who took time out of their already busy day to accept challengers.

BNB: Have there been any sore losers or bad winners, or is the vibe generally pretty positive?

AK: From my experience, there were no sore losers. I had about a 50/50 win ratio against challengers, but those I defeated were usually happy to challenge me again the next day. I didn’t hear about any complaints about us!

BNB: Nintendo usually has some representatives at PAX, have you gotten a chance to talk to any of them about it? What do they think?

AK: Typically Nintendo is happy about fan-organized events like this, but we never had a chance to talk to them. Since this year is the release of Black and White, we’ll be sure to mention it to them. 🙂

BNB: Where do you go from here? What are some things that you’d like to do for future PAXes?

AK: We really want to reward the people who challenge us, and we want to grow as a group. Since we are still just beginning, there are lots of things we will improve, but we want to take into account what goes on at East to see where we’ll go.

Things on our mind: more scheduled meetups, more publicity, actual prizes, and live-streaming events for those who are not there. Being officially recognized either by PAX or Nintendo would be interesting as well.

BNB: Any advice for people who will be challenging you guys at PAX East?

AK: Don’t be disappointed if you lose a few, challenge every Leader you see, attend the meetups and keep your heads up for the green scarves!

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We’d like to thank Andrei for taking the time to do this interview, and wish good luck to all participants in the PAX Pokémon League! For more information, you can check out the PAX Pokémon League’s website or Twitter.

PAX East will be March 11-13 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts.



