The “Pokémon Europe International Championships 2023” are currently running in London. But apart from the tournament, players in Pokémon GO have another fight: the one for the most popular arena on the site.
What is this event? The “EUIC” have been running at the ExCel London since Friday, April 14, 2023. Thousands of Pokémon fans and professionals of the series are out and about on the grounds. They compete all weekend in:
At the official tournament, in side events or simply when you just feel like playing a round: Pokemon in a wide variety of forms is played all over the site. This also applies to Pokemon GO.
Matching the championship, there are currently a few event arenas and stops on the site. But one of these arenas has been standing out all weekend – because simply no one can hold the “Pokémon Play Lab – EUIC 2023”.
Great battle between Red, Yellow, Blue – Nobody can defend the arena
You can tell that everyone on the site is probably playing Pokémon GO. Basically, all arenas at the event are contested, and the stops are constantly occupied by players with lure modules. Reliably full 20-player lobbies dissect pretty much any raid here in a matter of seconds. The community day with Togetic was also attended by players without end.
If you are used to the “normal” everyday life in Pokémon GO, where there are only a few rare exceptions to such full raid lobbies on site, it is downright overwhelming. An unbelievable number of active players are out and about here.
However, the big fight for the arena “Pokémon Play Lab – EUIC 2023” is particularly striking. If you observe this arena a little more closely, you could also mistake it for a traffic light, because it changes colors so often.
This particular arena has barely rested for three days. There is basically always a fight going on here, it changes the owner team every minute – red, yellow and blue fight almost without a break for dominance of the arena.
If you look at the defense times of the Pokémon in the arenas, you will only find small amounts in minutes. In the rarest of cases, monsters can stay in the arena for double-digit minutes.
The longest I’ve seen so far was 35 minutes. It gets a little quieter towards evening at most, before the next skirmish breaks out the next morning. No monster really stays in the arena for long.
Nobody really earns coins here. So why is everyone attacking this arena?
Why is everyone fighting here? The location of the arena is probably to blame, because the “Pokémon Play Lab – EUIC 2023” is not only slightly away from the other arenas and the main area of the tournament, but also right next to the “Pokémon Center”.
This is a special shop built on the site that sells a variety of Pokémon products. From cards to stuffed animals to clothing, skateboards, replica Poké Balls and tournament merchandise, everything is sold here – and that attracts a lot of players.
So many, in fact, that you had to book times to get in at the weekend. Nevertheless, long queues formed in front of the center. The “Pokémon Play Lab” is also located here, where players are taught how to play cards, as well as some places to take a break, eat, drink, play.
For fans of the series, this combo is one of the interesting places on the site.
But you have to wait a long time. While queuing can snap a few photos with Pokémon at the edge of the line, there’s not much else to do. Except: attacking the arena in Pokémon GO.
And that’s why, by the way, an additional tough fight has developed on the premises. Except that it actually has nothing to do with the tournament.
This Sunday is the last day of the championship. At the time of this writing, Team Wisdom has held the arena for an impressive 9 minutes, but the monsters’ HP is already dwindling. Let’s see who comes out on top at the end of the event.
What else is going on in Pokemon GO? While there are a lot of players at the event in London to gamble and raid together, there are rarely comparable situations in Pokémon GO in everyday life. This is why many players rely on long-distance raids, especially when it comes to raids, but they have recently become more expensive. Players started a petition against the change, which has now reached a new milestone.