Pokémon Dallas Regional Championships viewer’s guide: How to watch and schedule

Pokémon’s competitive scene looks set for its biggest year yet following the release of Sword and Shield, which has introduced both controversial and welcome gameplay changes. 

While the first Pokémon Regional Championships of 2020 took place in Bochum, Germany on 11-12 January, the championships in Dallas, US, marks the first to be broadcast on official channels. 

It promises to be one of the biggest Pokémon competitive events yet outside the World Championships later this year, so here’s what you need to know about the tournaments.  

When is the Pokémon Dallas Regional Championships and what games are there?

The Pokemon Regional Championships are heading to Dallas (Picture: Pokémon Company) 

The event takes place at Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, US from Friday 17 January and concludes on Sunday 19 January.  

There’s a huge range of tournaments taking place, spanning the Pokémon trading card game (TCG), Sword and Shield (VGC), Pokémon Go, and Pokken Tournament. Each tournament is split between age divisions from Juniors (age 10 and below), Seniors (11-15), to Masters (16+).  

What is the format? 

The format for the TCG tournament is the expanded format, which includes the Pokémon card expansions starting with Pokémon Black and White onwards.  

The VGC tournament will follow the standard format put into effect from 4 January. This means double battles, level 50 requirements, Dynamaxing and more you can read about here.  

Only certain predetermined Pokémon will be able to Gigantamax in battles too. They are listed below: 

• Butterfree 

• Corviknight 

• Drednaw 

• Centiskorch 

• Meowth 

• Pikachu 

• Eevee 

• Snorlax 

• Sandaconda 

• Charizard (only with Ability Blaze) 

The regional championships follow the Swiss format, whereby the number of players in a division determines the amount of rounds played. The number of rounds will be announced when the tournament begins.  

What is the prize pool and rewards?

Players are competing for the title of Pokémon Regional Champion, along with Championship points which will contribute towards qualifying for the World Championships. 

They’re also playing for up to $50,000 in prizes, scholarships and gift cards. The TCG prize pool at last year’s event was $21,500, while the VGC prize pool was $5,000.  

Who is competing in the tournaments?

The official player roster has yet to be announced, although a total of 744 players have signed up for the TCG tournaments. You can check out the full list of registered players across each division.  

On the VGC side, there’s 485 players registered to compete. You can check out the list of confirmed names as they happen here.  

What is the schedule? 

There's a schedule for the full event here, although the official Pokémon Twitch stream will only have coverage across Saturday and Sunday of certain TCG and VGC matches.

The first round of VGC matches take place from 9.45am CST (3.45pm GMT), while there’ll be a number of TCG matches shown later on the stream.  

The Top cut and finals matches take place on Sunday from 9am CST (3pm GMT). We’ll update this post as more stream timings are announced.  

Where can I watch the Pokémon Dallas Regional Championships?

You can check out coverage of the Pokémon Dallas Regional Championships on the official Pokémon Twitch channel starting on Saturday.