My poor DS9 loves pokemon but there is nobody to play with that knows it like him. Can anyone offer advice to find pokemon buds? He has been intently into this for about 2 years.

Onthegomom - My DS about to be 9 is a wild Pokemon fan. Maybe the two boys can do something via email or something?

I'm not sure how that would work? Any ideas?

I don't know but I am in Central Ohio with an 8 1/2 who loves poke stuff.

We are in the same boat....my DS7 just found Pokemon this past Month and he is a fanatic but he can't find anyone else in our area that plays :-( So he is stuck playing with DH and myself...there are much older children that play but they are a little "off" about playing with a "little" kid who just turned 7 :-(

Our public library used to have Pokemon tournaments once a month. They stopped before DS knew how to play the game but maybe that's a good place to ask? Or maybe they'd be willing to organize it if they knew kids would come. We have a couple of comic book shops that occasionally put something together as well.

Us too!!! I have thought about setting up a message board just for "known" kids. I'm not comfortable with my guy just joining a public board. Since it looks like there would be critical mass for it, I'll look at what's involved to do it.

And my DS has played in some tournaments - they were a really good experience overall!

I'm going to approach our library and see if they will do something with pokemon. I'm thinking they would need someone who really know the game to supervise. Do you agree?

Where did he play in tournaments?

There are some sites out there for interactive play etc.

This is one example: http://tppcrpg.net/

Too bad DYS doesn't consider pokemon knowledge as something you can show "Prodigious" talent in. ;-)

thank you. I'll check it out.

There are Pokemon leagues and tournaments all over the country. They are divided into age categories, and the ones my DS has been to were very well-run and VERY "kind" to first-timers. There were prizes at the end for the winners of each division (my DS was the youngest in the Junior Division at 6...I think that division goes up to 10 or 11?). But, there were also "door prizes" and DS walked away with something each time. He just loved being in a room full of other Poke-fanatics!

Now is a great time to look into the organized leagues, because a big new release is coming (HeartGold and SoulSilver). There will be pre-release "parties" all over the country where the kids will have access to cards not yet in stores. They start in our area next weekend, and the one closest to us is in early February.

If you go to pokemon.com, you can find all of the information. It appears that they have recently re-done their website, and I found it MORE confusing rather than less, but try this link:

http://www.pokemon.com/us/organized-play/

Click around, scroll down, etc. and explore a bit...within this area is all of the information about Leagues and Tournaments.

No leagues or tournaments within 50 miles of me. :-(

They don't? We put it on our son's application ;-) It's about the only prodigious talent he has- thousands of characters, hit points, weaknesses and types all stored in his head for instant recall!

We put it on our application too. I'm not sure what there reaction was. Do they ever give a reaction to the appl. other than your in or out?