Wolfe Glick Reigns Supreme in the US

Last weekend, the family was on pins and needles as we learned that Wolfe Glick, who is my neice’s 15 year old son, was advancing nicely in the Pokemon video game Championship Series.  A couple weeks before that, he had won the regional competition and gotten the opportunity to go to “nationals” — where kids from all over the country were competing.

You may have heard of Pokemon, which started out as a video game popular on Game Boy devices.  It has gone thru a number of generations, advancing with newer versions of Nintendo machines up through and including the Wii.  

Here’s a fact you probably didn’t know:  Pokemon has sold 200 million units, second in popularity only to Super Mario Brothers!   Needless to say it’s been a lucrative franchise for the owners, especially when you add in the 14 movies, the Anime, the trading cards, and the other merchandise.  

All Nippon Airways even decked out one of their 747s in Pokemon decor to celebrate the Pokemon characters.  It’s a big deal.

So, on July 8th, Wolfe and his mom Heather went to Indianapolis for the US Championship. Heather sent me a picture of the competition — a convention center set up with tables and chairs and a several hundred people miling around.  Every couple hours, she would text me an update.   Wolfe had some good challengers, but he ended up the day still in the tournament, … among the Sweet 16!   

He returned to the competition the next day and won his first game …. now he was in the top 8.  Another win put him into the semi-finals.  

Two more wins later, he was crowned the #1 player in the US for Pokemon.

Here he is, on the left, justifiably proud of his medal.

   (left to right) Wolfe Glick, 15; Pikachu; and Dan Zollner, 15, the runner up

Wolfe was interviewed by the editor of the Pokemon news on the victory and his strategy for winning, and you can read the whole interview here.   If you are thinking that this is an easy game, I invite you to watch over Wolfe’s shoulder when he plays (as I did in late June, at his house in Virginia), or just read the description of “Pokemon Gameplay” in Wikipedia.

There were lots of articles – in Joystiq.com, a popular gaming blog, and in TBD, a “what’s up in Washington” blog.  See also some of the other articles linked below.

Next month, Wolfe and his mom get an all-expenses paid trip to the international championships in San Diego, August 12 – 14.  It’s at the

Hilton San Diego Bayfront
1 Park Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92101

 If you are in the area, come visit … and cheer Wolfe on.

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