KATY, Texas – Pokémon Trading Cards is a game which has taken a Katy native on all-expense paid trips to Hawaii, London, Brazil and Australia.
On Tuesday, he leaves for California but before doing that, he spoke with KPRC's reporter Chip Brewster about the game and the growing community around it.
“It's pretty surreal, honestly,” Bradley Curcio said.
Bradley had never imagined as a kid that Pokémon would propel him to the world stage.
“Uh, 21 years ago I guess now, right when it started," Curcio said. “My parents bought me the Gameboy, the original Pokémon blue, I believe, and I had some of the cards.”
Fast forward to 16-year-old Curcio and one bored weekend with friends.
“We kind of just went to the store. Didn't want to play Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon was the other thing there so we kind of just went with it,” Curcio said.
Now, 10 years later, he won fifth place in the last Pokémon Trading Card game World Championship and is gearing up for another world tournament run. It's a game which Curcio says has doubled in popularity the last two years and has plenty of room to grow.
“The community's so inviting, welcoming and helpful to newer players so you know. I didn't know anything about the game I was playing with, honestly, really bad cards and just getting destroyed frequently and they were willing to help me,” Curcio said.
And when asked if he sees himself still playing the game at 50 he responds, "If it's still around, honestly, I probably will. Hopefully, you know, I'll have kids or something as an excuse to continue playing, but I probably will still be playing.”
Interested in trying it out? Dragon's Lair: Comics and Fantasy has an open league every Thursday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with people ready to teach the game.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the winner of the world championship gets $25,000.
