Play! Pokemon Events Resume in 2022! NAIC, EUIC, and More Announced!
Pokemon has officially announced the return of championship series events with its schedule of upcoming Regional Championships, International Championships. Events begin in March with the Salt Lake City Regional taking place from March 18th to 20th.
We previously covered details about the return of sanctioned events, including general COVID precautions and mandatory proof of vaccination for attendees and staff at large events like Regional Championships and International Championships. For the 2022 season, all Regional Championships will use the Standard format.
The text of the press release follows below.
BELLEVUE, WA—October 20, 2021— The Pokémon Company International announced today that highly anticipated Play! Pokémon Regional and International Championships will resume in North America and Europe, with the first events slated to kick off in March 2022. The Play! Pokémon 2022 Championship Series season, leading to the 2022 Pokémon World Championships planned to take place in London in August 2022, will include four different Pokémon products: the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon video games, Pokkén Tournament DX, and for the first time, Pokémon GO in partnership with Niantic.
The Pokémon North America and Europe International Championships events will feature high Championship Point payouts and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes, spread among the Pokémon TCG, video game, and Pokkén Tournament DX competitions, as well as Pokémon GO qualifiers for the 2022 Pokémon World Championships. Event dates and locations are as follows:
2022 Pokémon North America International Championships
- June 24–26, 2022
- Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, OH, USA
2022 Pokémon Europe International Championships
- April 22–24, 2022
- Messe Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Play! Pokémon Regional Championships and Special Events will also resume in North America and Europe in 2022, at the following dates and in the following locations[1]:
North America
- March 18–20, 2022: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- April 1–3, 2022: Orlando, FL, USA*
- May 6–8, 2022: Indianapolis, IN, USA
- May 20–22, 2022: Secaucus, NJ, USA
- May 27–29, 2022: Vancouver, BC, Canada*
- June 17–19, 2022: Milwaukee, WI, USA*
Europe
- March 26–27, 2022: Liverpool, UK*[2]
- May 7–8, 2022: Bilbao, Spain (Special Event)
- June 4–5, 2022: Milan, Italy (Special Event)
Additional Regional Championships and Special Events may be announced later.
Pokémon GO competitions will be open to Senior and Masters age divisions and will follow the Great League format. Placing highly at Pokémon GO competitions will earn players prize money, and top players will earn invitations to compete at the 2022 Pokémon World Championships in London in August 2022. More information on the Pokémon GO competitive series is available here.
The health and safety of the competitive play communities continue to be the most important aspects of resuming live Play! Pokémon events. The situation is being continually monitored, and the timing for the commencement of in-person Play! Pokémon events will be determined by the health mandates, guidelines, and recommendations provided by appropriate government agencies. Once in-person events resume, all competitors, vendors, staff, and spectators must comply with The Pokémon Company International’s COVID-19 policy[3] to ensure the health and safety of all attendees. More information about this policy can be found here.[4]
Information about the resumption of Play! Pokémon Premier Events and Pokémon GO qualifiers in Latin America and Oceania will be announced soon.
[1] Information subject to change.
[2] Regional Championships followed by * will include Pokémon GO competitions in partnership with Niantic.
[3] For large championship events (300+ attendees and staff), venues are to institute the following vaccination policy:
- Live attendance at Play! Pokémon events by players, audience, and staff should be restricted to individuals who are vaccinated.
- Attendees must present evidence confirming that at least 2 weeks before the start date of the event, they received the final dose of a vaccine that is recognized on the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL). Current vaccines on the WHO EUL list (as of June 18, 2021) include Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen (J&J), Sinopharm, and Sinovac.