The power of Pokémon

Let the games begin at Mesa Del Sol.

The new games and entertainment store in Camana Bay hosted its first Pokémon tournament on 1 March, a competition between 13 mostly primary school students from Cayman International School and Cayman Prep & High School.

Pokémon, which is a Japanese trading card game in which people co-exist with creatures known as Pokémon, is very popular with children – and some adults as well.  Some of the collectible Pokémon cards can be quite valuable. 

Each Pokémon character has special powers and players in a tournament have their Pokémon cards battle to see who will win. To keep it fair, any advantages in the strengths of cards each competitor was provided were ignored to ensure everyone could have a good time.

Floor Manager David Bainbridge, who has a teaching background, said that although playing the game is fun, there is also an intellectual aspect to Pokémon.

“The kids have to use math, strategy and learn the valuation of things,” he said, adding that some children learn well through playing games like Pokémon.

“There are certain kids who don’t respond to blackboards and traditional [teaching] methods. They may not care about how many apples are left if two are taken away, but they care about Charizard doing 8k points of damage. Suddenly, we are seeing a math whiz blossoming because someone is speaking his or her language through games.”

After five rounds of play in the tournament, Cayman Prep student Oliver Yard emerged as the winner. For his efforts, he received a statue of the highly coveted Pokémon Charizard and packs of cards valued at $100. Second-place finisher Bobby Spirandeo from Cayman International School and third-place finisher Finn Tonner from Cayman Prep & High School received Pokémon cards as prizes.

Cayman Prep music teacher Aled Roberts helped spearhead the tournament. He said that although only Cayman International School agreed to participate in the first event, he will be reaching out to more schools about future tournaments.

“I have loads of cards available for them," he said. "I also will be reaching out to high school kids as it doesn’t matter what age you are to play.”

Bainbridge commended Roberts for his initiative.

“Without him, this tournament would not have happened,” Bainbridge said, adding that he is keen for Mesa Del Sol to enable people to make connections and learn new things in other ways as well.

“I want to bring people together. My long-term vision is to have tournaments so large that we must rent space in one of the major hotels – similar to the huge tournaments in Canada and the U.S.,” he said.

“We want to offer something new than what the island currently has.” 

This article was first published in the April/May 2025 print edition of Camana Bay Times.