Pokémon champ takes his best game to Hawaii

Being top of your game is awesome, but even more fascinating if the game is Pokémon Trading Card Game (Pokémon TCG). Twelve-year-old Zac Aufrichtig has made it to number one in his age group in South Africa, having recently won the Special Event (SPE) tournament in Johannesburg. This secured him an invitation to the World Pokémon Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii, this month.

This Grade 6 Herzlia pupil, who aspires to become the number-one Pokémon player in the world, started playing the Pokémon Go mobile game four years ago after taking an interest in it while on holiday in Knysna with his uncle’s family. “I saw them playing the game, and I started playing with them,” he says.

“Zac rose through the ranks pretty quickly,” Aufrichtig’s dad, Daniel, says. “He has been playing the card game for only two years. A lot of his opponents have been playing for much, much longer. If you have a look at the age of the contenders, there are a range of Pokémon players competing, from kids all the way through to adults.”

The world championships, the pinnacle of competitive Pokémon, brings together the best Pokémon players from across the globe. The tournament is divided into three categories – Masters, Seniors, and Juniors. Aufrichtig is competing in the latter, which consists of players aged six to 12 years.

Referring to the tournament he won in Johannesburg as “one of the top events in South Africa”, Aufrichtig says, “A lot of the Western players travelled to Johannesburg for that tournament. It’s a normal tournament but a lot stricter, and you win bigger prizes.”

He went on to place fifth in the Cape Town SPE.

“All the tournaments you play accumulate points, based on which you either get invited to the world championships or not. Zac made the cut,” his dad says.

The world championships spans more than three days, with several games each day, to form a final eight. At least 19 South Africans across all age categories are competing in Hawaii.

Aufrichtig, who has tried unsuccessfully to get his family into the game, will go to Hawaii with his dad. The family has tied the championships into Aufrichtig’s Barmitzvah present, which allows father and son to go from Hawaii to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Aufrichtig loves Pokémon because he believes it’s strategic, not just based on luck, “so you get to use your skill. The game is fun, and you can meet people through it.”

He attends three lessons a week under his 14-year-old coach, a school friend of his who also qualified for the world championships.

Aufrichtig plays in Pokémon competitions on the weekends in Cape Town. “I have a few friends between the ages of 12 and 13 who go with me,” he says.

He has built his own deck of cards, which he has collected through buying and trading. It’s with this deck that he goes into each game to compete.

If Aufrichtig were to explain the game to a beginner, he would say, “You build a deck of 60 cards that work nicely together. The Pokémon have a HP – a health point”, which shows how healthy a Pokémon is, indicating how much damage it can take before fainting. “You want to try to knock out your opponents. You have six prize cards, the first one to complete their prize cards wins.

“There are three ways to win. The first is you take all your prize cards. Another is when your opponent runs out of cards in their deck”, or you knock out all your opponent’s in-play Pokémon.

Aufrichtig, who plays basketball and is part of the orchestra at Herzlia, also plays the live version of the card game on his phone, and sometimes plays the Pokémon video games on Nintendo Switch.

“Pokémon has gone way past a video game or a child’s game,” Aufrichtig says. “The strategy of some of these cards is pretty intense to understand and learn.”

Indeed, Pokémon is described as a pop-culture phenomenon that has expanded from video games to trading cards, manga, anime, films, and mobile games.

Competitors at the championship, which has been around since 2004, will be able to enjoy a museum on the history of the Pokémon World Championships; a Merchant Room, where they can find unique Pokémon items for their collection from local vendors; and a Collect & Trade Corner, where they can trade with fellow Pokémon fans.

Taiwan’s Shao Tong Yen won the junior division of the card game at last year’s championships in Japan, while a Brazilian and American won the other two categories.

Japan usually does well at the world championships, says Aufrichtig, who looks forward to competing in Honolulu, “one of the bigger Pokémon cities”.