With its giant inflatable Pikachu, fairground games and friendly vibe, this just might be my favourite esports event around, and it’s touching to see kids living out their trainer dreams

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I spent much of my weekend at the ExCeL convention centre in London, where about 10,000 people from across Europe were gathered for the European Pokémon championships. There were 4,500 competitors, playing the perennially popular trading card game, Pokémon Go, the arena battle game Pokémon Unite and, of course, the video games (currently Scarlet and Violet).

The Pokémon championships aren’t like many of the other esports events I’ve been to over the years. The prizes are only a few thousand dollars and a lot of the 340 Pokémon professors (who act as judges and facilitators) attended on their own dime. The crowd is also significantly younger, as you might expect. Among the competitors were plenty of kids and teenagers, and there were even more among the spectators.