As part of the ongoing celebrations of Pokémon Sleep's 3rd Anniversary on Monday July 20th, a new hashtag campaign has been launched on X, rewarding Sleep Researchers for posts and reposts made on the campaign's official hashtags with points that can be redeemed for in-game items.

A new video posted today on the Pokémon Trading Card Game's official Japanese YouTube channel has given fans their first look at new cards for the four Incarnate Forces of Hisui that will be released together in the upcoming Storm Emeralda expansion in Japan on July 31st.

The Grand Champions Festival Encore was a grassroots Pokémon Champions tournament that featured an astounding 4,254 trainers battling for first place. The event was ultimately won by 3x Regional Champion Alex Underhill alongside Mega Charizard Y and Venusaur.

Pokémon Masters EX's latest High Score Event, Water and Grass Conqueror, has launched today alongside a one-time-only 5★-Select Fair-Exclusive Scout ×11. Both the event and scout will be running through to July 22nd, at 10:59pm (PDT).

The Champions Arena II was a grassroots Pokémon Champions tournament that featured 706 players battling for prize money. The event was ultimately won by 3x International Champion Marco Silva alongside Mega Charizard Y. The event was organised by Victory Road—more information regarding current and future events can be found on their official website.

Brassius & Sudowoodo and Sygna Suit Ball Guy & Electrode are making their returns to Pokémon Masters EX today in a set of Double Feature EX Fair Scouts running through to July 26th, at 10:59pm (PDT).

Updates posted today on the Pokémon Trading Card Game's official Japanese homepage and YouTube channel have given fans their first look at a selection of new cards that will be released together in the upcoming Storm Emeralda expansion that hits store shelves in Japan on July 31st.

Pokémon Korea has officially announced today that a Pokémon: The Orchestra performance will be coming sometime in November of this year in celebration of the Pokémon franchise’s 30th anniversary. Details regarding the program and its venue have not been announced, though Pokémon Korea has previously celebrated with Pokémon: The Orchestra for performances of music from Pokémon video games.

The third season of Ranked Battles in Pokémon Champions, Ranked Season M-3, ran from 17 June to 8 July 2026. 2023 World Champion Shohei Kimura took first place alongside Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Charizard Y. This was the first season to use the Regulation Set M-B ruleset, restricting teams to the 76 Mega Evolutions and 208 Pokémon species currently available in Pokémon Champions.

The Pokémon Local Acts program has unveiled six new Poké Lid designs today, which will be the first ever to be installed in Nagano Prefecture in Japan. Poké Lids are donations from The Pokémon Company to prefectures, and along with events and merchandise hosted by Pokémon Local Acts, are intended to encourage tourism to various areas of Japan.

As previewed last week, Pokémon Sleep is celebrating its third anniversary on Monday July 20th with a special two-week-long Third Anniversary Fest event commencing Monday July 13th, at 4:00am local time, running through until Monday July 27th at 3:59am local time. Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup, and their evolutions, will all be making their Pokémon Sleep debuts as part of this event.

If you have ever watched a Pokémon Trading Card Game stream, you know the experience: a fixed overhead camera, a flat mat, cards being played and moved around. The commentator does their best, but unless you already follow the format closely, it is genuinely hard to know what is going on from the footage alone. What if the Pokémon on each card could just... appear? Live, on stream, as the cards are played? We are a team of researchers from the University of Liege, Belgium, and we have spent more than a year building TCG-AR, a free, open-source tool that automatically detects every Pokémon card on the playing field, recognises which card it is, and overlays its animated Pokémon sprite directly onto the card in the live camera feed.

The Pokémon Company International and LEGO are further expanding their partnership with new collector sets, which are available for preorder now at the Pokémon Center websites serving the US, UK, and Canada, and at LEGO’s website. The new drop includes four collector sets - Rayquaza, Arcanine, Munchlax, and a Poké Ball that opens to reveal a minifigure scene. Some of these sets contain the very first Pokémon minifigures by LEGO. There will also be a play set featuring Red’s minifigure scaled up and buildable. These items are expected to sell out quickly.

In celebration of the Japanese festival of Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, official social media accounts for the Pokémon Trading Card Game have today revealed a new Jirachi ex card from the game's upcoming anniversary expansion, 30th Celebration. 30th Celebration will release simultaneously worldwide later this year on September 16th.

The Pokémon Company has been doing plenty of collaboration with professional sports this year, and have announced yet another partnership, this time with Japan’s top pro football association. Each of the 60 clubs in the J.League have received their very own Pokémon mascot, along with an overall “Evolution!” theme for the upcoming season. The collab is currently offering free souvenir merchandise to one million attendees of upcoming matches, plus even more merch and events to be announced.

Past Seasonal Sync Pairs are making a comeback to Pokémon Masters EX in a new Presents! Limit 1! 5★-Select Seasonal Scout ×11 requiring 3,000 Paid Gems, and running through to July 28th, at 10:59pm (PDT).

The folks over at the independent video game record label GameChops have announced the upcoming release of Poké Ambient 2, the latest work of Italian lofi and synthwave producer Helynt. This album features slow-moving ambient arrangements and interpretations of classic Pokémon music using a mix of gentle synthesizers, soft piano, and guitar, created for relaxation, studying, and quiet everyday listening.

Razer, the American-Singaporean manufacturer known best for their lines of gaming-focused PC peripherals, have launched the latest collection in their continuing collaboration with The Pokémon Company International, with officially licensed Espeon & Umbreon editions of four popular products from their catalog. The Espeon & Umbreon collection is available for purchase now on Razer.com, at RazerStores, and through select retailers across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

I wonder if this episode of Pokémon Horizons would be considered a Z-A mini arc. I’ve never actually played Pokémon Legends: Z-A myself, but I do know a few things like characters. The most notable thing that showcases the promotion is that Emma is in her time skip outfit. Regardless, I think this was a good episode, and a great way to introduce Navi, the future new member of the Rising Volt Tacklers.

The Summer Games Done Quick 2026 charity marathon is being held live at the Hilton Minneapolis Downtown from July 5th to July 11th. A race of Pokémon FireRed is set to feature as part of the event, which will attempt to defeat the Elite Four's upgraded teams (and therefore will feature a recently discovered bug). Like all SGDQ events, it will be raising money for Doctors Without Borders, and can be watched live on the GDQ Twitch channel.