ROCHESTER – Elliot McPike sees more than just a video game when he plays Pokemon. He sees numbers, values, strategies — all kinds of variables that make him one of the world’s top players.
The 12-year-old boy steadily trains at his home in Rochester between traveling across the U.S. and parts of Europe to battle in Pokemon tournaments, using his team of lovable creatures to compete against other players his age.
“I kind of like the feeling of battles,” he said. “Games and matches are much quicker than they are in other games.”
Two years ago, Elliot placed 40th in the Pokemon World Championships in London. He’ll return to the world stage in a few weeks, aiming to become one of the top 32 players in the world ages 12 or younger and win major tournament prizes.
Elliot began playing Pokemon when he was 7, following in his parents’ footsteps. His parents are Pokemon fanatics — his dad, Daniel McPike, and mom, Tali McPike, competed in Pokemon card game tournaments, which Elliot wanted to attend.
“I told him if he was going to come along, he either had to learn how to play the card game or the video game,” Tali said with a laugh. “He chose the video game.”
Pokemon has been around longer than Elliot has been alive; the original games came out in the 1990s.
The core concept is simple: Players catch all kinds of interesting creatures throughout the game’s world, then train them to battle other so-called trainers. They journey across the land, defeating those trainers before taking on a series of Pokemon masters in a big, flashy tournament.
