A TCG player from Pokémon wanted to participate in the upcoming World Championship. However, due to a mistake by the Pokémon Company, this dream has now burst.
What is the TCG? The TCG is the card game of Pokémon, where new series and cards are regularly released even today. In addition to collecting the cards, battles can also be held here.
The TCG will also be represented at the upcoming Pokémon World Championship 2024, which will take place from August 16 to 18, 2024, in Hawaii.
A player from South Africa also wanted to participate in this tournament. But due to a mistake by the Pokémon Company, this no longer seems possible.
Help is withdrawn, player is devastated
What is this mistake? The player in question is Josh Lillie. He is a TCG player from South Africa and according to his X profile is ranked No. 1 in South Africa and the Middle East in the Senior
category. In addition to this category, there are also the Junior
and Master
categories.
On X, he reports that he received an email from Play! Pokémon, a department of the Pokémon Company, in June informing him that he would receive a so-called travel prize. Since players from South Africa are generally not eligible to receive travel prizes, he was understandably surprised by the email.
Due to this promise, he began preparations to participate in the World Championships. He applied for a visa for the USA and hired a travel agency, expenses that he would not have been able to afford himself but became manageable due to the travel prize.
In the meantime, he tried several times unsuccessfully to reach the Pokémon Company for more accurate information about the travel prize through tickets.
On August 3, 2024, he finally received information from another player from South Africa that left him devastated.
This player received a response from the Pokémon Company regarding one of his opened tickets, informing him that players from South Africa are not eligible for travel prizes and travel funds.
We are embedding the post on X here for you:
What does the player say about it? The player notes on X that he and his family are not in good financial shape and that participating in the World Championship without the previously communicated travel prize is not possible. He further writes:
In conclusion, I am very disappointed with @playpokemon because they made such a massive mistake that could have positively affected my life by allowing me to play against the best of the best, and have given someone as young as I am false hopes that his dreams would come true.
Josh Lillie on X
What happens next? A user on X comments on his post asking if a crowdfunding campaign would be an option for him to cover the costs and thus participate in the World Championship.
In response, Lillie says: [I] am thinking intensely about it
.
We can only hope that a solution is found here and that the player will be allowed to participate in the World Championship.
What do you think about it? Have you heard of similar cases? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments. By the way, at the North American Pokémon International Championships 2024, there was a German player who made waves with his playing style: German “Pokémon GO” legend shakes up US Championship because he plays very differently from the Americans.
