Frankfurt
Pokémon fans compete in Championship
At the Pokémon European Championship, players also compete against each other with cards. Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Pokémon are loose in Frankfurt: At the European Championship, around 1,300 players compete against each other – with trading cards, on video game consoles or on mobile phones. The age range of the participants is large.
Around 1,300 Pokémon players met in the Frankfurt exhibition halls on Saturday for the Pokémon Europe International Championships, i.e. European Championships.
The contestants competed against each other in numerous games revolving around the monster characters invented in Japan. The Main metropolis is a “meeting place for the whole scene,” said a spokesman. It was played with trading cards, video game consoles and mobile phones.
Pokémon revolves around collecting and training the monsters. The name derives from «Pocketmonster» – i.e. «pocket monster». Pokémon became known through the games of the video game company Nintendo.
There was no age limit at the competitions in Frankfurt. The range of participants ranged from 6 years to over 60 and even 70 years, said the spokesman. Prizes for winners could run into thousands of dollars, depending on the game and the number of participants. Overall, the organizers expected around 2000 people on the tournament weekend, which ends on Sunday.