Is Pokémon Europe International Championships worth attending if you don't follow battles?!
- Pokemon Centre Pop-up
- Carnival Games
- Pokemon Play Lab
If you have been reading the weekly Wrapps or generally seeing any of my content, you would know that I love Pokemon, but most specifically I love Pokemon Go. I do not play any of the Nintendo Switch games, I do not collect cards, I just play Pokemon Go intensely all the time. As a lover of Pokemon Go, and as a result, Pokemon, I do enjoy its physical events that happen around the world, although some of the wider Pokemon events are still worth going to, even if they aren't Pokemon Go specific. This month, I went to the Pokémon Europe International Championships, which... isn't really all that focused on Pokemon Go at all.
The Pokémon Europe International Championships or Pokemon EUIC, is a battle-focused Pokemon event where trainers take part in PvP battles in Pokemon Go and the Nintendo Switch games or battle it out via the trading card game. There is an entire system to getting selected to take part in these events, with physical prizes and even trophies up for grabs, but as someone who doesn't find this entertaining, is it still worth going?
Pokemon Centre Pop-UpThe first thing I always look forward to when Pokemon tournaments show up in London is the Pokemon Centre Pop-up. I also do not understand why they don't have a Pokemon Centre in London, so I am always excited to get along and buy some merch. Each of these tournaments have a sort of 'front and centre Pokemon' with this year being Psyduck, Wooper and Ogrepon (which is not in Pokemon Go). The merch at the Pokemon Centre Pop-up featrures a bunch of exclusives that you can only find there.
You do not actually need a ticket to the Pokemon EUIC to go to the Pokemon Centre Pop-up, and instead need to book a timeslot and head there for that time. The front of the centre has tons of photo points while the inside has a lot of different merch. There was a big trend in color and crop tops this year, which was neat to see. I ended up spending quite a bit of time and money here!
Play LabAnother pop-up outside of the main Pokemon EUIC area, was the Play Lab. You do not need an appointment or a ticket to actually interact with this area. Instead, it's a part of the building broken into three parts, with different activities in each area.
You can get a crash course in Pokemon Go, following a member of staff around the Excel to compete tasks before taking on PvP battles, earning you a Pin. You can also get a crash course in the trading card game, against another newbie player, before getting your own starter deck of cards.
Lastly, you can do a quick match of Pokemon Unite, with a guide telling you how it works, to get a notebook to keep. This area is meant to introduce people into different aspects of Pokemon and enjoy the various other games they have.
Inside EUIC
When it comes to the inside of the actual Pokémon Europe International Championships, there is actually a lot to do. Granted, a bunch of the space is set up for the competitions, with areas designated for PvP battles and card games for those who are registered and officially competing. There is also a massive stage at the front, where you can watch a lot of the final matches. At the start of the day, they had a live band with pyrotechnics, which was absolutely fantastic to watch.
If you don't want to watch the battles then you can head to the fair ground area at the back, which had a few food trucks, some smaller stalls of items to purchase, and fairground games. These challenges will net you some stickers if you complete them.
This year they had ring toss (on diglets), a scavenger hunt that involes finding Pokemon around the venue and taking pictures, and a Who's That Pokemon? Triva guessing game. Although I could do an entire fairground of Pokemon activities on it's own, this is a good number to play on.
There was a booth dedicated to Pokemon Go at EUIC, which had trainer posting a picture on Instagram to win a prize from a massive spinning wheel, as well as an area where you can have your picture taken on different digital, Pokemon backgrounds, a face painting booth to get the starts painted on your face, a board game area full of Pokemon themed board games like Monopoly and Labaryth, and a Pokemon oragami and coloring station to do some crafting.
If you are interested in Meet and Greets, there was a smaller stage that had both Pokemon to meet and influencers, as well as Pokemon meeting in specific photo areas throughout the day. If you are looking to take part in more structured, yet casual callenges for prizes, at EUIC, they have some side events like PvP matches with only Pokemon caught at the Excel during the event and card game matches with specific decks, which can be signed up to the day before the event starts.
So, with all that said, there is absolutely plenty to do at Pokémon Europe International Championships even if you dont care about battles or battling, and that's before I even mention that there are special stops in Pokemon Go, a quest line that you get for being in the area, and a bunch of new gyms to take on! Really, it's well worth attending if you are a Pokemon fan looking for a day out.
