Jul. 22, 2007 - Pokemon Battle Revolution Tournament or 7 Long Hours On Saturday Afternoon
My boys (13 & 15) have been playing Pokemon as long as I can remember. Nintendo is great about creating marketing opportunities through special events, but they have usually been held in New York or LA (that is not Lower Alabama). Every year, the kids would wistfully say something like, "can't we take a vacation to New York City and go to Nintendo World?"
Now with all the great things to do in NYC, spending hours at Nintendo World would not be high up on my list. Well, we have not gone to New York, but the kids did finally get to participate in a Nintendo sponsored Pokemon tournament. Last week, they got an email about this tournament and swore that there would be some in Alabama. I went to the EB Games website to check it out and sure enough, there was a Pokemon Battle Revolution Tournament being held in Huntsville at the EB Game, Valley Bend at Jones Farm. Now this is a good 45 minute drive, but cheaper than airplane tickets to NYC. I am the cool mom and can probably milk this good deed for a few weeks!
When we first arrived, we had 20 minutes before they would be starting. We went to the other end of the shopping center and ordered a pizza from Papa John's. I took them back to EB and got them settled. Then I went back to pick up the pizza. Unfortunately, when I came out with the pizza, my car wouldn't start! Not what I wanted for sure! I walked back to EB and made sure the kids ate (like that would be a problem - not). The store manager finally announced that they were ready to start.
32 kids, plus a dozen parents, packed into the narrow store that is typical of an EB Games. This tournament would be a single elimination with no unnatural Pokemons (those garnered from some type of cheat system) allowed. I watched both my boys go through the first round early on. Then I went back to see if my car could find it in its fuel injectors to start for me. Thank the Lord that it did. I moved the car down to in front of EB and debated on whether I should just sit there with it running. Thoughts of causing it to overheat made me decide against that. I spent about 40 minutes in the car listening to a religious teaching on my laptop. I had the windows down and the sunroof open. The thermometer that my husband had in there to test my air conditioner was reading 110 degrees, so I went back in the store.
This EB Games snagged a tournament by having the highest sales in their district. The store manager seemed excited about their first event. He is planning to hold more events even if he doesn't get prizes from Nintendo to give away. Valley Bend at Jones Farm is a wonderful shopping center. I knew that this area of Huntsville has an affluent population. What I didn't expect was to see people walking up and down the length of this shopping center in such a way that it reminded me of the 1950s. There were wooden park benches and cememt benches located along the way where people were passing the time.
Now, the people didn't look like your typical Mayberry people. I saw your goths, your skateboarders (sans the boards), soccer moms, grunge, techies and the country club set. They were shopping at Pier One, Marshalls, Barnes & Noble, Super Target and PetSmart. No McDonald's or Taco Bells here. You can enjoy Red Robin, Zaxby's, Cold Stone Creamery along with Papa John's that I already mentioned.
The kids in this tournament were such a great bunch. They ranged in age from about 8 to 16. I saw very well behaved kids coming together having a great time. Some where your anime followers and some where just your average kids. 32 kids participated. They brought their DSs with either a copy of Diamond or Pearl. Two at a time, they stepped up to the Wii and faced the challenge. There was no whining and no bad sports! At the end of each match, I saw kids, without prompting, shaking hands and telling each other "Good job!" It was a good thing to see.
My oldest son won his first battle, but lost his second battle to a young man with a cream and purple Sherlock Holmes style hat on. Oldest son is a laid back kind of kid and while he was disappointed, he certainly didn't pout. He wandered around the store, looking at games, playing demos and chatting with the other kids. His day wasn't a total loss though. He used his birthday and lawn mowing money to buy a new Halo 3 Zune.
Youngest son won his first battle, then the second. He actually said his heart was racing from the excitement and from being nervous. The tournament went from 32 to 16, then to 8. He won the third round and it was down to 4. He faced a boy who had not had even one of his Pokemon to faint in the previous battles. He was totally surprised but gracious when he was beaten. So son advanced to the finals. He faced the boy who had beaten his brother. This boy was very nice, he had even offered my son the prize shirt if he didn't make it to the finals since he didn't figure it would fit him anyway. Now they were head to head. It was a hard fought battle, and the other young man was victorious.
My son was pleased he had done so well. He won a Poketopia shirt. The other young man won the shirt (which I think will fit him) as well as a copy of Pokemon Battle Revolution (which my sons already have). So from leaving our house at 1 o'clock until reaching home at 8, it was a long day. I am so glad they had a chance to do this. They may never get the chance again, so it should be one of those childhood memories that will come back in there old age and they see a pokemon character; "I remember the time ..."
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