2023 Pokemon Competitive Calendar: What, When, and How to Watch

Pokemon can sometimes be a disjointed competitive scene to follow, here's what you need to know to keep up.

The competitive Pokemon season is heating up as the World Championship approaches. If you’re looking to build a deck and join the action or just watch some top level Pokemon battles, you’ll need to get a better understanding of the 2023 schedule.

When it comes to the Pokemon VGC and TCG, there are a few levels of competition — all of which provide a certain amount of points. The goal? Get enough points to qualify for the Pokemon World Championship, where all the top players in the world will compete to be the best there ever was.

Most major cities have Pokemon Cups and Challenges that allow for local competition and a small amount of points. Then there are Pokemon Regionals, which include three levels of competition split by age. The best players from each level will get a lot of points towards qualifying for Worlds. International and National Championships are even bigger tournaments with more points on the line — and major cash prizes.

Pokemon Regionals 2023

Pokemon Regionals are taking place all summer leading up to this year’s World Championship. Here are the three next Regionals in the United States:

• May 19-21: Hartford, Connecticut — TGC, VGC, GO
• June 2-4: Milwaukee, Wisconsin — TCG, VGC, GO
• June 10-11: Fresno, California — TCG, VGC, GO

There is also one more upcoming Regional in Europe:

• May 20-21: Malmo, Sweden — TCG, VGC, GO

Latin America has one more Regional this season:

• June 3-4: Santiago, Chile — TCG, VGC, GO

For a full Regional schedule, check out the official Pokemon website.

Pokemon UNITE Championship Series

UNITE is Pokemon’s answer to the MOBA genre. It hasn’t caught on as much as the Pokemon community initially believed, but you’ll still find a very passionate fanbase rallying around the competitive side of the vibrant MOBA. Here’s where you can catch the action yourself.

• May 20 — May Cup
• May 27 — May Finals
• June 3 — Regional Championships Open Qualifier
• June 10-11 — Regional Finals (EU, LA, BR, OC)
• June 30-July 1 — Regional Finals (US)

Check out the full schedule here, including the $500,000 Championship.

Pokemon GO

If you are more into the mobile side of Pokemon, there are still some fun Pokemon GO events that are meant to bring the community together. Here are the upcoming Community Day dates:

• May Community Day — May 21
• June Community Day — June 10
• July Community Day Classic — July 9
• June Community Day — July 30
• August Community Day — August 13

Pokemon Worlds 2023

All of the above tournaments lead up to the Pokemon World Championship, which is located in Japan this year, starting August 11. Pokemon Worlds will feature all of the top players from the TCG, VGC, GO, and UNITE that qualified from racking up the right amount of points all season.

The action can be watched on the official Pokemon Twitch channel.