If you're not into Pokemon, this post will be kind of boring for you....

Yesterday we were in Kettering for the Pokemon Nationals.  For those not in the know, and for those who want to bother to read on,  this is the pivotal event in the UK calendar for the Trading Card Game using Pokemon cards.  Oliver has been playing this game competitively for some years, and this is the first time he has taken part in this competition.  To give you some idea of how 'big' it really is, the winners of this over 3 age groups get an invitation (and paid for travel) to play in 'The Worlds', which takes place in Hawaii in August.  It is a far bigger deal in Japan (where the game originated about 15 years ago) and the US, and to be fair, Oliver was in with a chance of placing in this.  This nugget of knowledge made the whole day a hugely nerve-racking affair for Mark and I who didn't watch a single game and hid away at the back of the hall chewing our fingers and wishing Oliver good luck through telepathy.  (Oliver was happy with this arrangement btw, we were not just laming it out as rubbish parents).

I did, however, sneak in this shot of his first game:

The lad he was playing against here is wearing a World's t-shirt from last year, which meant he actually played there last year, which meant he actually qualified to play there, which meant he was a bit good.  Gulp.  Turns out he was the reigning National Junior Champion, and Oliver beat him.  Yay!  A nice confidence boost early on.  Then it transpires that winning your first game places you against other first-game winners, and then if you win your second game, you are placed against other kids who have won their second games, and so on, and so forth.  Clearly a pattern emerges, and in the end, the kids who win at least 5 out of 6 games will go through to the 'final cut' (8 kids in total).  Winning games early on means a tougher route to the final cut, but a better win percentage if push comes to shove in the end results, but losing early on gives you an easier route playing against weaker players.  Wow.  So gamey.  Oliver narrowly lost his third game, no worries, won his fourth, then had an 'auto-loss' against him in the fifth.  It is basically a disqualification from that particular game.  In this case, Oliver's opponent played a card down which signified certain other cards could not be played.  Oliver did not spot this, played a certain card, and upon shuffling his deck ensured that the mistake could not be rectified, which would have meant a warning instead of an auto-loss.  Seemingly this kid was waiting for Oliver to make just such a mistake, summoned the referee and it was, literally, game over.  He was understandably upset, and worried we would be angry.  We weren't, (not with him anyway), but sooooo disappointed for him.  His game play is too fast sometimes, and I suppose, under current (bloody harsh) rules, he was expected to spot the abilities in an opponent's cards.

That game done and dusted, his last game was a bit of a disaster for him, only pulling out a weak first card and not getting the first turn meant his Pokemon was knocked out immediately, ending the game.  What upset Oliver the most in this was that his opponent had, within the short space of this game, two warnings against him for quite big mistakes he'd made, but still had the game awarded to him without Oliver being allowed a turn.  This frustration and sense of unfairness caused tears, which in turn caused me to spend the next 15 minutes railing against the referee and the organiser.  They were very good, and I kept my temper which is a first, and they completely agreed that it was an unfair situation.  It is seemingly a flaw in the game and game rules that this can happen, and it must be accepted.  It has apparently caused many tears and tantrums over the years for other players, and that's that. 

On the plus side, he still wants to play next year, and also yesterday they handed out the trophies from the regional tournaments which took place earlier this year, and Oliver had one to collect for runner up. 

He finished 16th overall (out of 38), won some booster packs and seemed happy with that.  His friend (who travelled up with us) came 19th, and the boy who beat Oliver despite his two warnings finished 13th, which meant Oliver would not have made final cut anyhow.  This was a small comfort to him (and me I can tell you).

It was quite an intimidating event, taking place at Wicksteed Park in the Pavillion:

There were Juniors (Oliver's age group), Seniors (up to age 15 I think) and Masters (there was someone older than Mark and I competing in this age group!).  We left at about 6pm - the organiser reckoned he had another 5 hours ahead of him to finish the final rounds with everyone else.  Bloody hell.  Apparently last year they got kicked out of the venue before the Masters finished and so played out the final the following day in Burger King with an interested crowd in attendance.  How bizarre.

During our chat following my bitter complaining over Oliver's last game, the (very kind and very lovely) organiser was telling me that his son (in the Masters) had lost two games that day in similar circumstances, and consequently not qualified.  This was a huge blow considering that he is apparently a) a very skilful player, b) was expecting/ed to do well that day, c) was autistic and struggling to come to terms with the unfairness of what had happened in the games and d) already had his plane ticket to the states booked and paid for.  Fuckarooney.  Made my upset seem positively trite.  And I said so.  And he was still very kind, and still very lovely.  And he still had to endure another 5 hours or so of the tournament bearing his son's disappointment and hurt. 

Further evidence that bad things happen to good people.  And they shouldn't.