Have you always wanted to travel as a Pokémon Trainer, challenge the Gym Leaders, and duel with the Champion? That’s exactly what the “Grugapark Poké-Liga” makes happen once a year – as a fan event in the park.
What is the Grugapark Poké-Liga? It is an event by fans for fans that takes place once a year in “Grugapark” Essen. The idea is simple: Anyone who has always dreamed of experiencing the Pokémon world in reality should have the opportunity to do so here.
All you need is a ticket, the current Pokémon game on the Switch, maybe a costume for the day, and above all, a lot of enthusiasm. With the ticket, you receive a Trainer pass and can then take on the challenge in the park. Among other things, the event offers:
- Fights against Gym Leaders throughout the park
- Duels with the Top 4, a Champion, and various “NPCs”
- A story mode
- An evil team styled like Team Rocket
- A modified event format for kids who do not have the game themselves
When does the League run? This year, the event will take place on July 15 at Grugapark Essen. Ticket sales started on March 25. More information can be found on the Grugapark Poké-Liga website.
But what exactly makes the “Grugapark Poké-Liga” special and how did it come about? We spoke with Maike and Jan from the team behind the event.
Interview – What is the “Grugapark Poké-Liga”?
Maike and Jan are among the longest-serving team members of the league. Maike has been involved since the first event in 2014 and joined the organization a year later. Jan had his first Gruga experience in 2016 and has been an official member of the organization since 2020.
How did the Grugapark Poké-Liga come about?
In the interview, Maike and Jan discuss the background of the event. The league initially arose as a kind of counter-movement to prejudices against gamers: “We have two founders, Jacques and Flo, who set everything up back in 2014, under the motto ‘Get some fresh air’,” explains Maike.
For those who remember: Back then, there were all these discussions about the Gamescom, that they were unwashed, fat people. We took that a bit personally. We were tired of those negative gaming prejudices sticking to us.
So we thought: What if we bring Pokémon to real life for this purpose?
Maike about the beginnings of the league
As a possible location, they chose Grugapark in Essen. However, the league did not start smoothly: “The very first Gruga-League, 2014, that is the ‘lost Gruga-League’, and it had 9 participants,” Maike recalls: “There were no tickets yet, the team was very, very small. We were a group of friends who said, we are now the Gym Leaders. That was really all there was to it.”
But the team had fun and made it their goal to try again the following year – with success: “This time we wanted to do it right, with social media presence and everything. And to our great surprise, we suddenly became very, very large,” says Maike.
In 2016, the hype around Pokémon GO also played a role and awakened Pokémon in the memories of even more people: “We quickly received a lot of inquiries, became bigger and had actually planned smaller. By now, we have settled at 250 to 300 participants.”
To meet this demand, the Gruga-League needs a passionate team: The big challenge is that we have to cover the event with volunteers and want to provide enough Gym Leaders for the participants. If we cannot do that, we cannot offer as many tickets.
Maike about the team
What happens at the event?
The league takes place regularly and now attracts up to 300 enthusiastic participants annually to Grugapark (apart from a hiatus during the pandemic). Many come dressed up, in good spirits, and with the aim of enjoying a day as a Pokémon Trainer. But what exactly happens at the event?
Initially, the event started with the principle that arriving trainers could measure themselves against the Gym Leaders. You brought your Pokémon team and dove into battles against the Gym Leaders, NPCs, and trainers in the park. At the end, you faced the Top 4 and battled to find the best trainers in a final tournament. But over the years, the concept has become more comprehensive.
“What has definitely changed are the tasks and quests that we offer,” explains Jan. “Eventually, ideas emerged, such as that you could not only test combat power but also knowledge. That’s why I participate every year as a riddle master and try to challenge people with quiz questions.”
And in the Pokémon world, you also need villains: “There were already two contributors in 2016, Maren and Goldi, who said from the beginning: This event needs a big, evil team, and they set that in motion. That is now also part of it every year, always with a new concept,” explains Jan.
The competitive tournament is still seen by Maike as the highlight, but she emphasizes: “We also offer options for non-competitive players. We added a story mode and different difficulty levels. For example, we make distinctions between competitive and casual players. By now, we have up to 4 difficulty levels that depend on how skilled the players are at the game,” explains Maike.
So there is something for every type of player: From the professionals who breed perfect teams to players who only play Pikachu because Pikachu is cool. After all, everyone has their favorite Pokémon.
There are even children’s tickets this time for kids without the game: “They also receive a Trainer pass and can get a task from Gym Leaders. They simply ask questions like ‘What is the coolest Pokémon’? The answer does not matter because obviously, the one mentioned is the coolest Pokémon, and then they receive a badge and can participate without a console or game.”
A lot of work in organization: “We are looking for Gym Leaders and NPCs”
What does the preparation of the Grugapark Poké-Liga look like?
To set up the event, a lot of effort and support is needed. Usually, preparations begin as early as September of the previous year, sometimes shortly after the last event: “We take the feedback from the last event and try to incorporate it as well as possible into the planning of the next event,” explains Jan.
We are looking for Gym Leaders, but also NPCs who challenge trainers in the park during the event. Additionally, we depend on helpers, for example, in the stage area or for the care of the Gym Leaders and NPCs. And then there’s the Top 4, the Champion, and the evil team looking for new minions.
Once the applications are complete and the team is set, it goes into the concrete preparation: “I take care of Gym Leaders and cosplay aspects, Jan, for example, is the contact person for the NPCs,” explains Maike: “We plan and discuss with the Gym Leaders: What does your arena look like, where should it be, what is your concept, how will that be implemented?”
The battle teams also need to be prepared: “With the ‘Team Gameplay’, the Pokémon experts, we then plan what the teams will look like, how they will be bred, so that by the date everyone has what they need. Additionally, we have to ensure that we remain a child-friendly event and do not inadvertently commit copyright violations,” says Maike.
Community makes the event
Thus, everyone pulls together until the event takes place in summer. And even on site, the “Grugapark Poké-Liga” is characterized by collaboration and a team spirit – even among the participants, as Maike reports: “When we were already a bit more established, we had an incredible demand for tickets. We start setting up in the Gruga always by 07:00 in the morning at the latest, generally earlier,” she remembers.
“We were still in the middle of the setup, in a rush, things came late. We knew it would be a great but also stressful day. By that time, there were already participants in the park.”
They then appeared in the middle of the setup:
They suddenly stood right there – neatly, in line, in a super long queue. Then a group of participants came and I was really busy. They then said: ‘We actually wanted to ask when you open. But we changed our minds and asked: Can we help?’
For Maike, a crucial moment: “That was a moment I did not see coming. Although we declined, they then helped us, did things, and took action. That made me incredibly happy because it showed me again that the Pokémon community is such an open, friendly community that wants these events to happen. They want to help, they want to support,” she rejoices. “That was the decisive moment for me when I realized: I do this for someone, there are people who look forward to it.”
Would the event be something for you? Let us know in the comments! Are you more into Pokémon GO? Then you should probably set off and fight Team Rocket during the GO Rocket takeover.
