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When David Mark-Roberts was in high school, his stepdad threw out most of his Pokémon cards, saying they were too childish for a teenager.
“He thought that it was time for me to grow up, but senior year I decided, ‘I’m not going to grow up — I’m just going to hide in here in my couch-cushion fort, coloring,’” Mark-Roberts said.
Other members of UNM Pokémon Club faced similar challenges. Club President Jessica Kimmey said she started the club after playing Pokémon alone for most of her childhood.
“I’ve been pretty much socially inept for a long time,” Kimmey said. “I was bullied a lot as a kid, I started gaining weight because I was bullied and then I started getting bullied because I was gaining weight, and it was a vicious cycle. I’ve gone from a person who shrinks at the thought of social human contact to someone who’s in charge of a Pokémon club of like 20 people.”
Pokémon Club is a chartered organization at UNM that started last semester and attracts Pokémon enthusiasts from all over campus.
For students like Kimmey, it is important to have a space where those who are interested in Pokémon can play together.
“Pokémon Club is a great place for us to get together and talk about our experiences with Pokémon,” she said. “Trade, battle, chat, argue, derp around.”
Kimmey said it’s easier to make friends in a group of people who share common interests.
“It’s kind of embarrassing, but I’m so into Pokémon it’s hard to make friends with people who aren’t also into Pokémon,” Kimmey said. “If you’re not into Pokémon as well, then we have nothing whatsoever to talk about. And then it just turns into awkward small talk like on a train.”
Pokémon was created in 1996 in Japan and gained popularity and mainstream attention in the United States in the late ‘90s and early 2000s when the anime series came out along with the trading card game and Nintendo Game Boy video games. Many people think Pokémon has stopped manufacturing cards and games, but the franchise releases four new sets of cards every year and still produces new games. The next generation comes out in October.
“I’m super excited,” Kimmey said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, new Pokémon games, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.’”
Kimmey said many players stop in middle school or high school because it’s less popular, and then regain interest in college, despite it being thought of as a kids game.
“It’s nostalgia and people are coming back into the limelight of popularity and saying, ‘I play that,’” Kimmey said. “I still play that. I never stopped playing it. Popularity never stopped me, damn it.”
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For these students, Pokémon is more than just a game; it’s an enjoyable hobby that connects Pokémon players on campus.
“We welcome anyone who is even remotely interested into our club,” Kimmey said. “Even if they only played the first couple games, they can learn how to play all the games. Even if people think Pikachu is cute, you should come.”
UNM Pokémon Club
Saturdays at noon
SUB, Scholars room.
