The world of competitive Pokémon is back in full force, with players around the globe competing in the Trading Card Game, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Pokkén and Pokémon GO to discover who truly is the very best (of 2022). The culmination of every regional and championship is the Pokémon World Championships (or ‘Worlds’) and with every Worlds comes a new location and exclusive merch only available to those who are lucky enough to attend.
For the first time ever, the event is taking place in London, UK alongside a temporary Pokémon Center pop-up shop that anyone can visit (albeit with entry dictated through an online queuing system). Here fans can grab all the Pokémon merch their heart desires, along with two event-exclusive plushes, adorable Beefeater-themed Pikachu and Roserade.
I’ll personally be grabbing one of the aptly named “Pikachu 2022 Pokémon World Championships Poké Plushes” because I’m a 30-year-old man who’s a sucker for anything Pikachu-related.
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The last Pokémon World Championship took place back in 2019 in Washington D.C.
with events from 2020 onwards cancelled because of that whole pandemic thing, so we can expect The Pokémon Company to go all out for the London finals. It’s been a strange journey for TCG and Sword and Shield competitors as the majority of this “generation” has occurred over the pandemic, with the last mainline titles releasing in the back end of 2019, not giving much time between release and lockdown for any real competitive events. But now everything is all up and going again, fans and competitors alike are incredibly excited.
The Pokémon World Championships will take place at the Excel Center in London, August 18-21 with the temporary pop-up Pokémon Center opening the day before (also at the Excel Center).