CJ's First Pokemon Tournament

CJ is crazy about Pokemon. It all started right before our move. CJ found a trainer pack of Pokemon cards that Maki had purchased for him a long time ago. Since they had never been used, I was going to donate them to Goodwill but CJ found the deck and asked Maki to play with him. The rest is history.

Turns out that this is the age when boys and girls get interested in Pokemon. A bunch of CJ's friends from school also love Pokemon, but most of them only collect cards. CJ and Maki, however, actually play the card game.

CJ also plays Pokemon in his Nintendo DS, which he got for his birthday. All he plays are his Pokemon games.

I downloaded a Pokedex (Pokemon index) on the iPad for him, he watches Pokemon videos on the computer, he watches other kids talk about their cards on YouTube, and he studies his cards intently. As a result, CJ seems to know his cards very well and talks non-stop about them. He talks about attacks, which cards evolve into which cards, which types have a weakness to which types, etc. It's pretty funny and amazing how much information he's stored in his brain about Pokemon.

We were supposed to go to Boston this past weekend to visit Uncle Kevin (Maki's best friend from high school) and let Maki, CJ and Kevin play in a Pokemon tournament. We canceled our trip at the last minute because of Hurricane Irene, which devastated the East Coast from North Carolina to Canada.

CJ was so upset when I told him we had canceled our trip so as a consolation prize, Maki offered to take him to a tournament in Warrenton, VA. The boys tried to prepare hard for the tournament. Maki and CJ played a lot of games and Maki made CJ practice making his own decks in 30 minutes.

So on Sunday morning, the boys braved the rain (which was tapering off) and made it to Warrenton in time for the tournament. There were about 50 people at the tournament, of which 6 were in the Junior Division (under 11) and over 20 were in the Masters Division (over 16).

CJ took 2nd place in the Juniors category! He won his first game with a bye and then won his 2nd game against a kid who was about the same age. I cannot believe it. CJ was beyond thrilled because he won a game and, most importantly, he got to take home 16 packs of cards (8 were from Maki).

CJ won with a Cobalion card (see above). The boys are so into Pokemon that I think I'm going to try my hand at the game this weekend. Stay tuned.