Worlds 2026
Three venues, more than 50,000 fans, and a final played on an NBA court. This is what the 2026 World Championships was actually like, and why the whole shape of a Worlds trip has changed.
One of ours won it
Jake Ng of Australia took the Trading Card Game Senior Division title, beating Cobey Huh of the United States in the final on Championship Sunday. He went 12-1-2 across the whole event, out of 379 Seniors, and he did it on Alakazam, the most affordable competitive deck in the format.
A weekend across three places
Worlds used to be one hall. In 2026 it was a tournament, a fan convention and an arena final, which is worth understanding before you plan a trip to the next one.
Moscone Center
747 Howard Street, SoMa
The competition floor, Friday and Saturday
This is where the actual tournament happened. Rows of tables stretching further than you can see, a few hundred of the best players in the world in each age division, and the quiet hum of several thousand games happening at once.
The Senior Division alone had 379 players. Every one of them had spent a season earning the invitation, because you cannot buy a ticket to play at Worlds.
PokémonXP
Moscone Center and Yerba Buena Gardens
The first official Pokémon fan convention of its kind
New for 2026, and the part that matters most if you are bringing a family. PokémonXP ran alongside the tournament with panels, workshops, live performances, special guests, cosplay, retailers and a Pokémon Center pop-up store.
That changes the maths on a Worlds trip. Previously a sibling who does not play had a long weekend of watching other people play cards. Now there is a whole convention next door, and the gardens outside it.
Chase Center
1 Warriors Way, Mission Bay
Championship Sunday, the Grand Finals
The finals moved out of the convention centre and into the home of the Golden State Warriors. An 18,000-seat NBA arena, the big screen overhead, the crowd in the tiers, and two children playing a card game on the floor where the basketball usually is.
This was the first time a Pokémon World Championships finals has been played in a major sports arena. Across the weekend more than 50,000 fans came through the two venues.
Watch it back
The official Play! Pokémon broadcast, so you can see the arena, the crowd and the match itself rather than take our word for it.
Cobey Huh vs Jake Ng, TCG Senior Division final
The match that made an Australian the Senior world champion. Jake Ng finished the whole event 12-1-2 and won this final on Alakazam, the cheapest competitive deck in the format.
Official broadcast, Play Pokémon.
Videos are embedded through YouTube's no-cookie player, so YouTube does not set tracking cookies unless your child presses play. We do not run ads or advertising trackers anywhere on this site. See keeping kids safe.
Photos from the weekend
PokémonXP
PokémonXP, the first official Pokémon fan convention, ran alongside the tournament at Moscone Center. This is the main stage on the Friday.
Photo: Brett A
Bayzen outside the Pokémon Center entrance on the Tuesday, three days before a card was played. Badge collection opens well before the tournament starts.
Photo: Brett A
The XP mural, which had a permanent queue. Worth knowing if you are planning 2027: the photo spots fill up fast in the first hour of each day.
Photo: Brett A
They laid green turf across the hall and built a small town on it. This is the part a sibling who does not play will actually enjoy.
Photo: Brett A
Food inside the venue, priced like a stadium. Budget for it, or plan to walk out into SoMa at lunch, which is what most families ended up doing.
Photo: Brett A
The Pokémon Center pop-up prices, in US dollars, with a limit of one Elite Trainer Box and one Booster Bundle per badge holder. The limit is the part worth reading before your child queues.
Photo: Brett A
Pin trading is its own economy at Worlds. Children swap these all weekend, and it is one of the easiest ways for a shy kid to start a conversation.
Photo: Brett A
Every attendee gets a promo card. Small thing, but it is the souvenir that still means something a year later.
Photo: Brett A
The whole city leaned in. Pokémon Goldfish crackers in an ordinary San Francisco supermarket, at 2.77 US dollars a bag.
Photo: Brett A
The competition floor
Friday, 8:27am. This is what the walk in looks like on day one, and why the advice is always to arrive earlier than you think you need to.
Photo: Brett A
The walk into the halls, built as the Golden Gate Bridge. They put real money into making a convention centre not feel like one.
Photo: Brett A
Welcome in half a dozen languages, which tells you who turns up. The Senior Division alone had 379 players from across the world.
Photo: Brett A
Between rounds the halls fill up. A tournament day is long, and most of it is not spent at a table.
Photo: Brett A
The official app, showing Day 2 Swiss rounds running 9am to 2pm. Five hours of scheduled play, before any top cut. Worth showing a child in advance so the day is not a surprise.
Photo: Brett A
The prize sheet for the side event. Every competitor gets prize wall tickets, and more for each match point earned, so a child who loses early still goes home with something.
Photo: Brett A
Championship Sunday at Chase Center
Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors play. The first time a Pokémon World Championships final has been held in a major sports arena.
Photo: Brett A
Championship Sunday from the upper tier. Two children playing a card game on the floor where the basketball usually is.
Photo: Brett A
More than 50,000 fans came through the two venues across the weekend.
Photo: Brett A
The screen over the floor carried both hands and the board state, so the whole arena could follow the game.
Photo: Brett A
The moment it was announced. Senior Finals up next, Cobey Huh versus Jake Ng, with Australia in the match.
Photo: Brett A
Jake Ng of Australia against Cobey Huh of the United States. Jake won it, on Alakazam, the cheapest competitive deck in the format.
Photo: Brett A
Us in the stands for the finals. He is eleven, and he has now watched a world championship decided in person.
Photo: Brett A
The closing ceremony, where Singapore was announced as the 2027 host from this stage.
Photo: Brett A
A drone show over Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The city gave the weekend a baseball stadium as well as an arena.
Photo: Brett A
The Tuesday after, on the bay. Build a couple of days either side into the trip. The tournament is three days, the memory is the whole week.
Photo: Brett A
🇸🇬 The next one is close to home
Worlds 2027 is at the Singapore Expo from 13 to 15 August 2027, announced from the Chase Center stage at the closing ceremony. Singapore is roughly eight hours from Sydney and about ten and a half from Auckland, against something like thirteen and a half hours to San Francisco, and it sits only two to three hours off Australian eastern time.
For an Oceania family that is the difference between a fantasy and a plan. If your child is collecting championship points this season, this is the year it is worth doing properly.