Entrance Requirements, Prizes, and Travel Awards Announced for 2015 Pokémon US National Championships
In a few short months, players from all across the United States and Canada will be flying to Indianapolis to play in the most important event of the season for those qualifying for the 2015 Pokémon World Championships. As the only National Championship in North America, it is a make or break event for most players. The players at the top of the standings will be trying to secure their Day 2 invites while the majority of players try to secure their standings in the Top 40. Today, The Pokémon Company International has made quite a few more details available for the event happening July 3rd to 5th, 2015.
Registration Requirements
You will require 5 Play! Points to play in the Pokémon US National Championships in the Masters division and 1 Play! Point to play in the Junior and Senior divisions.. You earn 3 Play! Points for participating in a Regional Championship and 1 Play! Point for participating in a Premier Challenge or attending a League.
Travel Awards & Stipends
To help make it easier to attend this crucial event, The Pokémon Company International has set aside travel stipends for top performing players throughout the season to make it to Nationals. This is what you’ll want to aim for before June 12th:
- 1st–16th: Flight, Hotel, and $300 Travel Stipend
- 17th–32nd: $1,000 Travel Stipend
- 33rd–64th: $750 Travel Stipend
All travel awards and stipends are awarded for each age division using the rankings for the US & Canada region.
Prizes
The prizing for the US National Championships will be better than ever with scholarships added to the prize pool this year:
1st Place
- $5000 Scholarship
- 32GB Nintendo Wii U Deluxe Set
- Travel Award to the 2015 Pokémon World Championships regardless of CP Ranking
- 72 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 600 Championship Points
2nd Place
- $3000 Scholarship
- New Nintendo 3DS XL
- 72 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 500 Championship Points
3rd & 4th Place
- $1500 Scholarship
- New Nintendo 3DS XL
- 72 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 400 Championship Points
5th to 8th
- 36 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 300 Championship Points
9th to 16th
- 18 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 200 Championship Points
17th to 32nd
- 8 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 150 Championship Points
33rd to 64th
- 4 Pokémon TCG Booster Packs
- 100 Championship Points (if attendance in the age division is 128 or greater)
65th to 128th
- 50 Championship Points (if attendance in the age division is 256 or greater)
About the Author
Firestorm is one of the co-founders of Nugget Bridge and the Community Manager for eSports Tournament Platform Battlefy. He has been playing Pokémon since 1999, competitively since 2007, and attending tournaments since 2010. He lives in Vancouver, Canada with a degree in Interactive Art & Technology + Communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushanshekar.
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49 Responses to Entrance Requirements, Prizes, and Travel Awards Announced for 2015 Pokémon US National Championships
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Typically they’ll cover your gas expenses but I’m not sure about the details. When a local from Vancouver Island won a trip to Worlds in… Vancouver of all places, they paid for his transportation by car and ferry ticket. I believe they also spring for parking if you’re a local and you have to pay to park at the venue.
A reminder on the Play! Point structure:
2014 Worlds LCQ – 1 Play! Point
2014 Worlds Main Tournament – 10 Play! Point
League – 1 Play! Point per League season, up to 8 total per year
Wi-fi tournaments – 1 Play! Point (Feb IC likely doesn’t count)
Premier Challenge – 2 Play! Points
Regionals – 3 Play! Points
For League Play! Points, remember to select that you want your League Play! Points to go towards Video Games:
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-trainer-club/play-pokemon/setup/
Well it would seem im eligible since i attented the regionals in Kissimmee and the PC in Maitland a few days later, Should be a pretty grand time.
I have a few novice questions. How many Championship Points do you need to qualify for the World? And what is the difference between Lifetime Play Points! and Championship Points? Is Championship Points permanent or does it get reset every year? Thank you!
Thanks for all the details! It makes sense that they wouldn’t hand out stipends unless you actually show up to the event. (My daughter says, “Mom, aren’t you glad I picked this year to do this?!”)
Am I reading this correctly? 1-16th get to travel free? So if I got 12th at the San Jose regionals, do I get this? If so, where do I register?
◾2015 World Invitations are based solely on season-ending Championship Point totals, with top X players receiving invitations within a given rating zone (e.g. North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, South Africa, and Europe)
So more you attend the events, the higher chances of amassing Championship Points for the World…I guess it is also about how much free time you have with decent amount of traveling expenses other than skills…
TerminaKid – It’s based on your overall ranking, not for one event. Check on Pokemon.com to see your ranking (Zone, not country or state) within your age group. And remember that it is the ranking on June 13, after the next round of Regionals and PCs. It sounds like they contact you after that…
It’s easy to get that impression, and in general that could be partially true, but don’t forget about Honchcrow at Nats last year. He had almost no CP going in, did fantastic at Nats and qualified for Worlds. Attending a ton of events does increase the likelyhood that you’ll amass enough CP for a Worlds invite, but it is possible to do well at a few important events.
My daughter will not have traveled out of state, except for Nats this year, and as long as she does decently well at Nats she “should” get an invite.
So, here’s another question. June 13 is pretty close to the dates for Nats. Do people who are on the bubble for travel awards vs stipends tend to get refundable / pay at time of stay types of hotel reservations? At least I’m not worrying about plane tickets – it seems like you might miss out on a good airfare deal if you wait to find out if you get a travel award. And do they tend to do a group hotel rate for Nats?
They will reimburse you for your flight if you booked it already. Hotel can also be reimbursed up to the cost of the usual hotel they book. Most hotels offer cancellation up to at least a week before the stay though.
How dO you get a Play Point through attending a League? Do you just register and compete on one day?
Will the entrance requirements be the same for European Nationals?
Thank you for the encouraging and motivating words. You are right, I should always aim to be the very best instead of collecting several Championship Points by ending up in mediocre standings.
If you are eligible for a stipend, is it just a check they give you?
Sweet summer child…
???
In the past, receiving stipends has been a mess for everyone involved. I’ve never received one myself, but many users here have had some rough times getting their money. It would be really nice to have checks, and that is what I would hope for, but know that in the past it has been more complicated.