The World Championships began as a tournament and have become a show. On a press count from 2016, about 1,600 of the 3,000 people in the building were there to compete. In 2026 about 2,700 competed in a crowd of about 50,000. The price of watching has followed: a spectator badge cost £10 in 2022 and from $120 in 2026, and we estimate ticket sales at 1.86–3.5 times the $2m prize pool. None of this is big money. Ticket income from all its events is at most 0.25% of The Pokémon Company’s revenue.
In 2016 a third to a half of the room was competing, and in 2026 about one in twenty
The 2016 event in San Francisco was closed to the public. A report at the time counted more than 1,600 players among about 3,000 people; the Western arm’s director of esports and events now recalls about 1,500 among about 4,000. Honolulu in 2024 drew more than 13,000. Anaheim in 2025 drew more than 25,000. Back in San Francisco in 2026, the company’s Western arm counted about 50,000 visitors across Worlds and Pokémon XP, the fan exhibition held beside it, and The Pokémon Company’s own site says more than 48,000.
The field grew far less. On his figures players are up about 1.8× over the ten years and attendees up about 12.5×. Worlds is by invitation, so the number competing is whatever the organiser chooses to admit. The crowd is what moved, as Fig. 1 shows.
In 2016 a third to a half of the people at Worlds were competing; in 2026 about one in twenty
People at the Pokémon World Championships: everyone attending, and the players competing, 2016 to 2026. The 2016 crowd is the press count of about 3,000; the organiser recalls about 4,000. No counts were found for 2017 to 2023.
- Everyone attending
- Players competing
- Estimate
The 2026 crowd counts unique visitors across Worlds and the fan event beside it, so the direction is safe and the exact ratio is not.
Built from , and .Show the numbers
| Worlds | Everyone attending, people | Players competing, people | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | (1,500–1,700) | ||
| 2017 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2018 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2019 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2020 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2021 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2022 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2023 | no figure | no figure | |
| 2024 | no figure | ||
| 2025 | |||
| 2026 |
Everyone attending. The 2016 event was closed to the public. The 2026 figure counts unique visitors across Worlds and the Pokémon XP fan event held beside it, so it is not on the same basis as the earlier years. No counts were found for 2017 to 2023, so the line joins the years on record.
Players competing. All games and age divisions. 2016 is the range of three accounts, 1,500 to 1,700. The organisers’ 2024 figure is left out because it does not agree with the company’s later counts.
Watching costs ten times what it did in 2022, and more than entering a Regional
The notice for London in 2022 read “The registration fee for spectators of all ages is £10.” The adult multi-day badge was $39.99 in 2024 and $99 in 2025. In 2026 it started at $120, or $150 with the final day, which is 9.5–10.3 times the London price.
Playing became dearer more slowly. Adult entry to a Regional championship went from about $20 in 2013 to $80 in 2025. Children are priced in. Their Regional fee fell by 46% in two years, and an under-18 Worlds pass started at $70 with two packs of cards included. Fig. 2 sets the adult badge against the adult entry fee.
A Worlds spectator badge now costs more than entering a Regional
Adult multi-day Worlds badge against the adult Regional entry fee, US dollars, 2022 to 2026.
- Worlds adult multi-day spectator badge
- Regional entry fee, adult division
- Estimate
Show the numbers
| Year | Worlds adult multi-day spectator badge, $ | Regional entry fee, adult division, $ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | – | ||
| 2023 | (13–14) | ||
| 2024 | no figure | ||
| 2025 | |||
| 2026 | – |
Worlds adult multi-day spectator badge. London 2022 (£10, about $12) is not drawn because it was priced in sterling; Yokohama 2023 (¥2,000) is converted at ¥140–155 to the dollar. The 2026 pass is “from $120” and includes entry to Pokémon XP, a commemorative badge and two card packs, so it is not like-for-like. The $150 pass that adds the final day is not drawn.
Regional entry fee, adult division. One event a year, each set by its organiser: Baltimore 2022, Pittsburgh 2023 (includes sales tax), Las Vegas in November 2025. No dollar fee was found for 2024.
Tickets now cover a prize pool that has not moved in three years
The Worlds prize pool was announced as over $2m in 2024 and as $2m in 2025 and 2026. Ticket sales, estimated from attendance and published prices, were well under a third of the pool in 2023 and 2024. In 2025 the estimate straddled it, at $0.88–2.72m. In 2026 it was $3.71–7.02m, so even the low end is nearly twice the pool.
Japan sets the benchmark for what changed. Its national championships in 2026 drew more than 20,000 visitors and charged nothing at the gate. The Western event charges, and on our estimate what it takes at the gate now exceeds what it pays the players.
A quarter of the 2026 pool, $0.5m, belonged to Pokémon UNITE, a game that ends service on 23 March 2027. Across the whole 2026 season, stated cash prizes come to at least $7.5–10.6m, about 0.7–1.1% of The Pokémon Company’s operating profit. Fig. 3 shows the pool and the ticket estimate for each year.
Estimated ticket sales at Worlds passed the $2m prize pool in 2026
Worlds prize pool as announced against our estimate of ticket sales, US$ million, 2023 to 2026. $0.5m of the 2026 pool is for Pokémon UNITE, which closes in March 2027.
- Prize pool, as announced
- Ticket sales (our estimate)
- Estimate
Show the numbers
| Year | Prize pool, as announced, $m | Ticket sales (our estimate), $m | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | (0.1–0.2) | ||
| 2024 | (0.2–0.6) | ||
| 2025 | (0.9–2.7) | ||
| 2026 |
Prize pool, as announced. The 2023 pool, “over $1m”, rests on one report; 2024 was “over $2m”; 2025 and 2026 were $2m. Of the 2026 pool, $0.5m is for Pokémon UNITE, a game that closes in March 2027.
Ticket sales (our estimate). Attendance multiplied by published prices, before free badges and before any share kept by the venue or ticket seller, so this is not the company’s income. 2026 includes Pokémon XP. A ratio above one shows that tickets cover the prize line, and nothing about the event’s other costs.
The base under Worlds is growing, and it is adult
Below the invitation event, far more people are entering. On rosters compiled by a third-party results site, the median Regional championship had 470 entrants in the adult division in the 2018/19 season and 1,912 in 2025/26, from a similar number of events. These are entries, and one player can enter several Regionals. Fig. 4 gives each season.
The typical Regional drew 470 adult players in 2018/19 and 1,912 in 2025/26
Entrants in the adult division at the median Regional championship, by season, as listed by a third-party results site. No Regionals were held in 2020/21.
Show the numbers
| Play! season | Median Regional, adult (Masters) division, players | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | ||
| 2017/18 | ||
| 2018/19 | ||
| 2019/20 | ||
| 2021/22 | ||
| 2022/23 | ||
| 2023/24 | ||
| 2024/25 | ||
| 2025/26 |
Median Regional, adult (Masters) division. Entrants per event as listed by Limitless, a third-party results site, not unique players. No Regionals were held in 2020/21, and 2019/20 was cut short. Between 14 and 33 events a season; 25 in 2018/19 and 26 in 2025/26.
Japan’s base grew as well. The Pokémon Company says the shops in its card gym network ran about 130,000 events in 2019 and about 300,000 a year by May 2026.
The people entering are mostly adults. The two children’s divisions together were 16% of Regional entrants in 2025/26, and between 14% and 18% in the North American results we could read for earlier seasons. Fig. 5 shows no trend in that share, so adults have stayed at more than four entrants in five while the fields quadrupled.
About one Regional player in six is a child, and the share has not moved
Juniors and Seniors as a share of card-game entrants at North American Regionals, by season. Eleven events; 2017/18 and 2024/25 rest on one event each.
What it adds up to
Worlds 2027 is in Singapore from 13 to 15 August, the first without Pokémon UNITE, which accounted for $0.5m of the 2026 pool.