From the legendary pocket monster known as Ogerpon on his hat, to the Croc charms of Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charizard on his shoes, a Bloomington boy proudly displays his love for Pokémon.
The franchise first launched as a video game in 1996. In the 30 years since, it exploded in popularity. Now it can be found in various forms: plushies, toys, animes, movies and trading cards.
That last category is where 9-year-old Owen Wheeler shines. Later in August, he will compete in the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco.
Wheeler received his first set of Pokémon trading cards while trick-or-treating one Halloween. The next Christmas, he received a starter kit to learn how to play the game.
There are thousands upon thousands of Pokémon trading cards. Some depict the Pokémon themselves, others show human trainers or other helpful items. Each card comes with its own set of abilities and rules.
"It needs to have either a good ability to let you like draw cards and set up your board, or it needs to have a good attack to do enough damage to your opponent," Wheeler said when describing what he looks for in a card.
After playing at home with his brother and at local card shops around Bloomington-Normal, Owen decided to try competitive play. He entered into a tournament at Illinois Game Con 2024, and won.
To an outsider, the game is complicated. Wheeler's mom, Alicia, compared it to chess.
"Pokémon has a lot of strategy, and you're frequently trying to figure out what your opponent's next moves are going to be and strategizing multiple moves in advance," she said.
Just like how chess has Grand Masters, Pokémon has master players, too. Owen is learning from one right now.
Christian Fontenot is one of the top Pokémon Trading Card players in Europe and ranked 38th in the world as of July 2026.
He lives in Denmark, but his grandparents live in Bloomington-Normal. Fontenot met the Wheeler family while visiting a local card shop. Owen's parents saw it as a chance for their son to learn more about the game he loves.
"When we started seeing that Owen was doing really well in this, we knew we needed to get him a coach that could give better advice than what we could give," she said.
Fontenot and Owen meet once a week to play some practice matches and discuss strategy. Owen said Fontenot helps him put his deck together ahead of competitions.
"He's really, really, really good for his age," Fontenot said. "He consistently surprises me."
Fontenot said for many younger players, endurance is an important part of training. Tournament days are long. Players sometimes spend eight hours in back-to-back matches.
"These are, by all means, pretty grueling competitions," Fontenot said. "It's even more pressure, I think, for the younger players."
Owen knows that intensity well. To qualify for the world championships, he had to earn "championship points" by competing in regional tournaments around North America.
"You have to get enough to where your ranking is high enough," Owen said. "This year it was the top 92 [players] in all of North America for the kids. I got 85th."
His competitors hailed from all over the Americas, places like Brazil, Argentina and Canada just to name a few.
"I have met lifelong friends from all across the world," Fontenot said of his own playing experience. "That is only a result of me playing Pokémon."
Owen, alongside his mom, dad and younger brother, have travelled to cities like Orlando, Seattle and Las Vegas for competitions. Alicia said they like to make each trip a mini-vacation to keep the pressure off.
When they went to Las Vegas, they visited Zion National Park. In Orlando, they went to Disney World.
Alicia said they also try not to pressure Owen to win. Instead, it's all about having a good time and showing good sportsmanship.
"That's always one of the first questions for us, did you have fun?" she said. "He just lights up, he loves it."
Owen said it's fun to meet new people at the tournaments, but it's also fun to try your best and see where you end up in the rankings.
"A lot of times if you set up your board really well you can do a lot of damage," he said. "Like, you don't need to do that much damage, but you can, which is fun."
Owen keeps his playing cards and mat in a Pokémon back pack. On the outside are pins depicting his some of his favorite Pokémon: Quaxly, a blue-pompadoured duck with water-based powers, and Gimmighoul, a ghostly Pokémon that loves gold.
One of the main Pokémon in his deck is Raging Bolt, an electric dragon with thunderclouds around its neck.
Pokémon are separated by type, and each monster has its strengths and weaknesses.
A player has to stay sharp, because they are managing multiple moving parts at once. It's like being the coach of a Pokémon team. The player has to balance offense and defense, while watching their players stamina and guessing what move their opponent will make.
"It's a lot of math, a lot of risk assessment, a lot of thinking on your feet," Fontenot said.
"Normally, their starting Pokémon will give you a decent idea of what deck they're playing," Owen said. "But, there has been times where they put down like a trainer card and a Pokémon and then immediately evolve it, and I'm like, huh?"
Alicia said she can see the wheels spinning in her son's head when he's competing and that it's fun to watch him strategize during a game.
Owen isn't sure exactly how many trading cards he has, but he thinks it's more than a thousand. He's likely to get more as part of the World Championship welcome kit later this summer.
The 2026 World Pokémon Championships run from Aug. 28-30 in San Francisco.
