POKÉMON CROWNS TOP VIDEO GAME AND TRADING CARD GAME PLAYERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

More Than 400 Players Representing Nearly 30 Countries Across Six Continents Competed in the 2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships and the Video Game Showdown

More Than $100,000 in Scholarships, Travel Packages, Nintendo Game Systems and More Awarded at Two Day Event

Traveling from nearly 30 countries and six continents, more than 400 players ages 6 to 62 competed for the chance to be crowned the best PokémonTM players in the world this weekend in Orlando, Florida. Hosted by Pokémon USA, Inc., the worldwide leader in trading card games and video games, the 2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) World Championships and Pokémon Video Game Showdown gave the Pokémon TCG and video game players from around the world a chance to show they were the best. Both championship events emphasized the skill, strategy, creativity and fun involved in playing the Pokémon TCG and video games.

The 350 people from nearly 30 countries who qualified for the TCG World Championships spent countless hours preparing, and survived a storm of battles through an entire season of competitions that included city, state, regional and national tournaments. Each of the three first place TCG finishers received a grand prize that includes a scholarship award worth $7,500 and an invitation to the 2009 World Championships. In total, the value of the scholarships divided amongst the TCG participants from 1st through 16th place in all age divisions totaled more than $100,000. After two full days of fierce one-on-one TCG battles, three winners were crowned in each age group, including:

2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Champions – Junior Division

First Place: Tristan Robinson (11) from Denver, CO USA
Second Place: Takuto Itagaki (11) from Japan
Third Place: Simone Zucchelli (10) from Italy

2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Champions – Senior Division

First Place: Dylan Lefavour (14) from New England USA
Second Place: Paul Atanassov (11) from Canada
Third Place: Nicholas Kolibas (14) from Boston, MA USA

2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Champions – Masters Division

First Place: Jason Klaczynski (22) from Chicago, IL USA
Second Place: Khan Le (15) from Norway
Third Place: Gino Lombardi (18) from Johnston, RI USA

Concurrently, the top 64 Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl video game players from the United States and Japan won a trip to Orlando by defeating hundreds of challengers in regional championships held in each nation. The junior and senior champions each received a grand prize that includes a six-day vacation package for four to New York City, Honolulu or Tokyo, and a custom Nintendo DSTM Game System. The winners include:

Pokémon Video Game Showdown Junior Champion
Knight Silvayne (11) from Chicago, IL USA

Pokémon Video Game Showdown Senior Champion
Izuru Yoshimura (21) from Hiroshima City, Hirsoshima Pre. Japan

Pokémon has proved its dominance over the past 10 years as one of the most successful kid’s franchises of all-time. The Pokémon animated series is broadcast in more than 30 countries in over 25 languages. Nintendo’s Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl video games sold more than 1 million copies in the first five days and more than 14 million copies since their launch. The Pokémon Trading Card Game is the number one collectible trading card game and boasts over 80,000 organized play members.

For more information, please visit: http://www.go-pokemon.com/worlds

Making of Series for Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People begins.