Pokemon Organized Play for Parents

POP for short

When your child first convinces you to go to an Pokemon Organized Play event, it can be a rough ride. It seems as though the biggest events attract the most new players. Parents can get completely overwhelmed by the experience.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this. Honestly it is a shock how many participants this game attracts and it is surprising to walk in expecting to see small children and coming face to face with far more adults and teens than 7 to 10 year olds. It can give a parent pause.

Have no fear. The players are separated into age divisions almost all events are age separated.

The POP age divisions are as follows:

Juniors - 10 and under

Seniors - 11 - 15

Masters 16 and up

This is the general rule. Sometimes a player will age up a little earlier because POP breaks up the ages based on a calender year. The season for Pokemon starts in September and if you were born later in the year sometimes you will age up sooner rather than later.

Pokemon Organized Play or POP is the organization that runs all the official Pokemon events and the leagues. You can read all about it here. Pokemon Orgaized play creates a fun, safe environment for your child to learn how to build decks and play the game, it also gives them the opportunity to get ready to participate in tournaments and other Pokemon events.

The first thing your child will need to play in a POP sanctioned event or league is a POP I.D. These can be gotten on-line here or you can get one at any league or tournament location.

There are Pokemon Leagues in many locations around the world. Within 25 miles of my house there are 4 or 5. You can find a Pokemon League near you here My boys and I play regularly at two different leagues and every now and then we will go to a third. I cannot stress enough that POKEMON LEAGUE IS THE BEST PLACE for your child to get their feet wet. League is free, and you child earns promo cards and Pokemon League Badges (just like on TV and in the video game.)

There is always a League Leader present and you can ask all the questions you want. They will happily help your child acclimate to the league experience. If your first event is a big tournament or pre-release the Professor may not have the time to walk you through it as thoroughly.