Reallife Pokemon Tournament with Cash Prizes

Hey, guys. Wanted to highlight something I've been working on recently that I think is really cool. You may or may not be familiar with King of the Couch (KOTC) tournaments. They're an organization sponsored by Gamestop to run gaming tournaments. Their past events have had great success running competitive tournaments for various games including Madden, Call of Duty, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and more. My friend and I were recently contacted about expanding this to Pokemon tournaments. If interested, it'll be in Morristown, New Jersey on May 7, starting at about 11 am. Even if you aren't competitive but just a fan of Pokemon, it should be worth your while to show up. After all, they'll be plenty of people around to battle / trade with casually. Or you could enter any of the other tournaments they'll be offering that day. If interested, here are the Pokemon rules for these tournaments:

KOTC now offers Pokemon tournaments. Pokemon tournaments will be Round Robin, with a number of rounds determined by the number of players. After the Round Robin, the top players will enter a single elimination tournament to determine the winner. We will offer two types of tournaments, free “Casual” tournaments with no prizes and pay-to-enter “Competitive” tournaments with cash prizes determined by the number of players who enter.

$20 to enter – Up to $500 Grand Prize

In order to play KOTC tournaments, you must own a Nintendo DS with working wireless connection and your own copy of Pokemon Black or White. Default KOTC tournaments use Level 100 Single battles with the following restrictions to teams & in-battle rules:

Your team must not contain any of the following Pokemon:
Mewtwo
Lugia
Ho-oh
Kyogre
Groudon
Rayquaza
Deoxys
Dialga
Palkia
Giratina
Manaphy
Darkrai
Arceus
Shaymin-Sky
Zekrom
Reshiram
Keldeo
Meloetta
Genesect

Sleep Clause – You cannot select a move that causes sleep on an enemy Pokemon if one or more of their party is already asleep by one of your effects (Note: If the opponent is asleep by his own effect, such as Rest, this does not count towards Sleep Clause).

Species Clause – You cannot use more than 1 of the same species of Pokemon in your team.

Evasion Clause – You cannot use moves that raise evasion, such as Double Team or Minimize.

OHKO Clause – You cannot use moves that have a chance to one-hit KO the enemy Pokemon, such as Fissure.

Hax Items Clause – You cannot use the following items: Quick Claw, Focus Band, Razor Claw, Scope Lens, Razor Fang, King’s Rock, Brightpower, and Lax Insense.

Self KO Clause – If a tie occurs, the controller of the effect that caused the tie loses. This is the case with Explosion, Self Destruct, Perish Song, Destiny Bond, Sandstorm, Life Orb, etc.

Static Teams - As you enter the tournament, you must register a 6-Pokemon team and a 3-Pokemon substitute team. In the middle of rounds, you may swap substitutes with Pokemon in your main team at your discretion. However, you may not switch Pokemon with Pokemon that are not registered.

45 Minute Timed - Each round will last 45 minutes to ensure the tournament runs smoothly. If at the end of the round some games are not completed, stop play and seek a tournament official. Then, overtime regulations will apply. Each player will receive and additional 3 turns. At the end of these 3 turns, the player with the most Pokemon remaining is declared the winner. If they are tied, the player with the Active Pokemon with the highest HP is declared the winner. If this is tied, the match continues until the first change of either of those conditions.

Please note that all teams in KOTC tournaments must be able to have been obtained through normal gameplay. Using moves, abilities, stats, etc. that are not possible through normal gameplay or have not been released are not allowed. For example, using unreleased Dream World abilities or items that are unobtainable in Black and White like Soul Dew is not permitted. Our stance on hacking is currently a don’t ask, don’t tell approach. As long as hacked Pokemon do not exceed what is normally possible, we will allow them.

As a courtesy, it is strongly recommended that players interested in our Competitive tournaments research and are aware of mechanics like IVs, EVs and breeding if they do not already know them. These mechanics are vital to competitive success.

Infractions policy:

If at any time you have a question during a match about tournament rules or want to report your opponent for breaking a rule, you may call a tournament official during your match. The tournament official will make a judgment based on our infractions policy. Note that a tournament official's judgment is final. If you believe the tournament official made an incorrect judgment, you may after your match report it to the head tournament official.

Game Rules Policy - Sometimes, either accidentally or purposefully, a player may break a tournament rule highlighted above. This includes but is not limited to the Gameplay Clauses listed above, or even something like arriving at your match for a round more than 10 minutes late. Breaking any of these Game Rules will result in a match loss. In some cases, the player may have to change their active team to adhere to the Game Rules again (in such cases as Species Clause, Evasion Clause, OHKO Clause, or Hax Items Clause).

Cheating Policy - Cheating is strictly forbidden and enforced in KOTC tournaments. This category includes but is not limited to using a hacked Pokemon beyond the normal limits of gameplay, watching the opponent's screen to see what move he/she picked, seeking gameplay help from others during a tournament game, using an unregistered Pokemon, or tournament fraud. Breaking the cheating policy will result in disqualification, no matter what the offense.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct Policy - Participants of KOTC tournaments are expected to display a certain amount of sportsmanship. This category includes but is not limited to using excessive foul language, verbal abuse to other gamers, or offenses like trying to stall for time (not in gameplay, but in move selection to try to stall for the 45 Time Limit, moves are expected to be selected in 30 seconds at the longest). Breaking the sportsmanlike conduct policy will first result in a warning. The second offense will be a match loss, and a third offense will be disqualification.

If you have any questions regarding these POKEMON rules, feel free to contact me at pokemoshpit@gmail.com.

More info about the event and such here on KOTC's website: http://kotcnation.com/kotc/2011/04/genes-oct-2nd-v-17-nj/

RSVP on our Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=180316818682411

Hope to see you there!