{"673760":{"#nid":"673760","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Pok\u00e9Jackets Embrace Community, Prepare for Regional Championship ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJessie McKenzie knew there was a vast Pok\u00e9mon community beyond the walls of her dorm room during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as groups gathered to play Pok\u00e9mon Go, she saw an opportunity to create a club for Georgia Tech students to bond over their fandom.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/pokejackets\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPok\u00e9Jackets club\u003C\/a\u003E has more than 40 registered members, and seven players are getting ready for the upcoming regional championship in Orlando, Florida, April 13 \u2013 14. Players will participate in card and video game competitions to win cash prizes and secure a spot in the upcoming world championship event in Honolulu, Hawaii. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EClub president Bennett McKinney also sees it as an opportunity to engage with Pok\u00e9mon enthusiasts from all over, with some events drawing up to 8,000 people across three divisions. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It\u0027s been amazing to see this large community come together and to know that I\u0027m going to this convention center, whether it\u0027s in Charlotte, Knoxville, or Orlando, and there\u0027s going to be thousands of people there who are all like me in some sense and all like Pok\u00e9mon just as much as I do,\u0022 said McKinney, a third-year industrial engineering student. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOrlando Karam, the club\u0027s training card game director and a third-year mechanical engineering student, has been playing Pok\u00e9mon since childhood, as have many Pok\u00e9Jackets members. McKenzie envisioned the club welcoming players of all skill levels and enabling them to thrive while exploring all that the Pok\u00e9mon media universe has to offer. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We get new players all the time, and I love it,\u0022 said McKenzie, a fourth-year chemistry major. \u0022I specifically started this club with the intention of making the barrier to entry as low as possible. If anyone comes in and they have no idea how to play, we have players who don\u0027t hesitate to jump in and offer to help.\u0022 \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe video game portion of the regional competitions is played on the Nintendo Switch, but the club practices using Showdown \u2014 a free online battle simulator \u2014 to ensure access to the game. Proxy decks are also \u003Cstrong\u003Eencouraged\u003C\/strong\u003E to allow newcomers to learn the card game as they play before curating their own collection. New members can learn from Karam and McKinney, both of whom are certified Pok\u00e9mon professors. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERegardless of expertise, the club\u0027s vice president, fourth-year architecture and music technology major Sahil Parekh, sees a welcoming space for everyone. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Pok\u00e9mon has a way of getting you hooked on the franchise, and then you get to see how everybody\u0027s interests are different. Some people love the card game, or the video games, or Pok\u00e9mon Go, and there are different levels of competitiveness, but everybody you meet in the community loves Pok\u00e9mon,\u0022 he said. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe club has become a fixture at local events hosted by comic book and gaming stores throughout the Atlanta area. On campus, members often play card games in West Village, and the club hosts video game tournaments that can span one weekend or even an entire semester.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Members of the Georgia Tech Pok\u00e9Jackets club will compete against thousands of players for the regional Pok\u00e9mon championship in April. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMembers of the Georgia Tech Pok\u00e9Jackets club will compete against thousands of players for the regional Pok\u00e9mon championship in April.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Members of the Georgia Tech Pok\u00e9Jackets club will compete against thousands of players for the regional Pok\u00e9mon championship in April. "}],"uid":"36418","created_gmt":"2024-03-26 18:37:46","changed_gmt":"2024-03-26 19:43:13","author":"sgagliano3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-03-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673500":{"id":"673500","type":"image","title":"Pok\u00e9Jackets in Knoxville, Tennessee ","body":null,"created":"1711481889","gmt_created":"2024-03-26 19:38:09","changed":"1711481889","gmt_changed":"2024-03-26 19:38:09","alt":"Pok\u00e9Jackets in Knoxville, Tennessee ","file":{"fid":"256901","name":"IMG_1170_Original[10].jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/26\/IMG_1170_Original%5B10%5D.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/26\/IMG_1170_Original%5B10%5D.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5482683,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/26\/IMG_1170_Original%5B10%5D.jpeg?itok=ixgHTpEi"}}},"media_ids":["673500"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"}],"keywords":[{"id":"169206","name":"Pok\u00e9mon"},{"id":"167142","name":"student organizations"},{"id":"14241","name":"Georgia Tech students"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Gagliano \u003C\/a\u003E- Institute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}