2014 Pokémon US National Championships are happening NOW!

2014 Pokémon US National Championship  

Right now at the Indiana convention Center in Indianapolis, the 2014 Pokémon US National Championships is already underway!  At the Championships, there are two main kinds of events that will be happening over the weekend of July 4th-6th: The Video Game Tournament and a Trading Card Game Tournament.  You can view the live streamed event at the bottom of this post, or you can check out all of the ways you can stay informed about the games!

Schedule

(times listed EST)

Saturday, July 5th, 2014

• 12:00PM to 5:00PM Pokémon Video Game
• 5:00PM to 9:00PM Pokémon Trading Card Game

Sunday, July 6th, 2014

• 9:00AM to 2:00PM Pokémon Trading Card Game
• 2:00PM to 5:00PM Pokémon Video Game

A bit about the tournament:

The tournaments are broken up by different age groups -

• the Junior Division consists of players that were born in 2003 or later
• the Senior Division consists of players born between 1999-2002
• the Masters Division consists of players born in 1998 or earlier (the OG players)

According to the Pokémon website, there are no eligibility requirements for players in good standing for the video game tournament.  Even though the National Championships are geared towards US residents, the Championships are open to all players regardless of their country of residency.  Boys and girls, young and old, anyone can play!

Players, once they become registered participants, receive points for every tournament they enter and participate in throughout the year.  After the US National Championships, the top sixteen players in each age division (based on point standings in North America) will receive an invitation to the 2014 World Championships, and the top four players (or should I say, Elite Four *cough*) also receive a Travel Award for the World Championships in August, which will be located in Washington, D.C. this year.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Tournament may not be as exciting to watch as the video game for some, but it is still a huge part of the holiday weekend event.  The age divisions are the same, but the rules differ a bit more than those of the Video Game Tournament.  The TCG National Championships are open to legal residents of the US only, for example.  Players may participate in only one National Championships event per year, even if they have dual residency in another country. 

Again, the winners of the TCG National Championships get some pretty cool stuff - the top four (top eight in the Master's division) based on point standings in North America will receive an invitation to the 2014 World Championships and will receive a Travel Award.  The top four also receive a scholarship award worth between $1,500 and $5,000 that is designed to be "applied to the tuition, books, fees, supplies and equipment required for courses of instruction at a qualified educational institution attended by the winner or the winner's permitted transferee" according to the Pokémon Scholarships webpage.

This year we're in for quite a treat!  So far I've seen TWO champions (one of them being a three-time champ) lose to underdogs who are new to the National Tournament.  Best of luck to all of the Trainers, and remember: GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!