Cary’s Own Pokemon Champion

Cary, NC — Grant Manley, 15, is now back home in Cary after claiming fourth place at the 2014 World Pokemon Championships in Washington, DC.

A Local Champion

More than 600 of the world’s most talented players competed in head-to-head Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) battles at the 2014 World Championships in Washington, DC the weekend of August 15th-17th.

Cary’s own Grant Manley finished fourth place in the senior division, therefore earning a scholarship and travel award to compete at next summer’s 2015 championships.

The Pokemon World Championships

The Pokemon competitions are huge–and far from trivial. Players from more than 30 countries have to work incredibly hard to reach the World Championships. In order to qualify for the competitions, Grant and other players were required to tread through a year-long series of both regional and national tournaments.

Over 800,000 fans from around the world tuned in live to watch the competitions, and more than 3,000 individuals attended the event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC.

A Pokemon History

For those who aren’t familiar with Pokemon, it launched in Japan in 1996 and is currently one of the world’s most popular children’s entertainment properties. Pokemon includes a trading card game, an animated TV series, an official website, video games, a multitude of merchandise, and more.

To win a Trading Card Game, your Pokemon battle those of your opponent’s. The first player to take all of his or her prize cards is declared winner. It sounds simple, right? Wrong. There are actually many components and parts to a Pokemon card that have to be taken into account while playing.

Find the official Rule Book here.

For the Winners

Winners of this year’s competition received scholarship money, an invitation and travel award for the 2015 Championships, a Pokemon World Championships trophy featuring Pikachu, and, most importantly, the title of Pokemon World Champion.

J.C. Smith, director of Consumer Marketing at the Pokemon Company International, extends his wishes:

The Pokemon World Championships is a celebration of the global Pokemon community and embodies the Pokemon spirit of fun, friendship, and  mutual respect. We extend well-earned congratulations to our new Pokemon World Champions. They will travel home as heroes and will inspire others to strive for greatness.

Watch recaps from the weekend on YouTube, and be sure to congratulate Grant Manley–our own Cary Pokemon champion.

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Story by Jessica Patrick.