'I was hooked' - Hull's Pokémon resurgence

The Pokémon franchise's trading card game is having a resurgence in the city of Hull, according to players. With new vending machines installed to sell the cards on demand and a long-running tournament league growing in popularity, the BBC's Josh Gorroño Chapman has been speaking to fans.

Alex Harrison is unwrapping his newest Pokémon card vending machine as I arrive at the North Point Shopping Centre in Bransholme, Hull.

The 24-year-old says: "I know there's a lot of Pokémon fans in Hull, being a fan myself, I knew if there was one of these machines around, I'd want to use it."

"Hull's a great spot, we have some really popular Comic-Cons here, people love Pokémon at them [so] I knew Hull would be a good spot."

He initially intended to set up an online store selling items for the franchise's hugely popular trading card game.

But a company suggested the vending machines and after the first one he installed proved to be a big success, he has just purchased a second.

The Japanese Pokémon franchise that sparked videogames, cartoons and the trading card game has been around since 1996.

But its popularity hasn't waned.

Some trading card sets are so in demand that they are fetching six figure sums at auction.

A rare first edition pack recently sold for more than $400,000 (£282,000).

A single card featuring one of the game's most popular characters Charizard sold for $300,000 (£222,000) in 2021.

Here in Hull, Alex tells me the franchise experienced "a bit of a boom" in popularity following the pandemic.

He says he enjoyed the game when he was younger and when he was self-isolating with Covid-19, he began playing the videogames again to keep busy.

"Then I was hooked," he said.

"Nostalgia hit a lot of people with digging stuff out of the loft, old Pokémon cards, old games."

At gaming shop Viridian Forest on Hull's Caroline Street, players sitting opposite one another on long tables challenge each other to a game while they wait to look at the new set of trading cards before its official release.

Co-owner Pat Gleeson, 35, tells me their Pokémon league, which has been running for about 10 years, is one of the longest-running in the UK.

But it's about more than trading and playing.

"I would say that we have had a really long period of time to build a really tight-knit community."

Pat and Paul, a regular customer, agree that nostalgia during the pandemic played a big part in the game's resurgence.

It isn't simply players wanting to re-live their childhood who are taking a seat at their tables twice a week though, Paul says.

"Customers that are parents, are saying: 'My son's obsessed, you know, he's on YouTube all day, he's really into it.'

Recent developments in technology have helped the franchise's popularity grow, he says.

Pokémon Go was a record-breaking phenomenon when it launched in 2016, tempting gamers out of their homes to capture cute and colourful virtual creatures outdoors.

During the pandemic, the game's creators even made changes to make it easier for people to play while they were self-isolating with Covid-19.

"For a while, there may have been a bit of a stigma, but Pokémon Go, it felt like everyone was playing it for that period of time, you know, even people who weren't fans, they got into it for something to do and I think for some people it just stuck," Paul says.

Social media and YouTube stars have also helped to raise the franchise's profile, he believes.

Back at Viridian Forest the range of the players shows the ability of Pokémon to appeal to people of all ages.

Participants include Matthew Cooper, 25, who has played most of his life, and Nigel Coyle, 45, who started coming with his son and has been playing for six months.

"I'm in a group with other dads," he tells me.

"We're a little bit slower, we don't play it quite as well as the youngsters, but it's a good game."

As far as Pokémon's future is concerned, Pat believes it will "get bigger and bigger".

"Pokémon are printing more and more cards. It's like a massively booming industry and I think it's just going to get stronger."

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