| Event | 2026 Auckland Special Championships |
|---|---|
| Location |  Auckland, New Zealand |
| Date | 25 January 2026 |
| Capacity | Undisclosed |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2026 Season – Ruleset TBD |
| Format | Swiss rounds + asymmetrical top cut Open team lists |
| Organizer | PlayNZ! |
Check the organizer’s website here for further info!
Table of Contents
Sign-up instructions
Sign-ups for the event are done through the Play LATAM platform, and you will first need to set up your Play LATAM profile and have a Play! Pokémon Player ID.
Sign-ups are NZ$60 for Masters players and NZ$45 for Senior and Junior players, and they open on 5 October at 7 pm NZDT (06:00 UTC)*. You have 48 hours to complete the payment after signing up and receiving an email with instructions, otherwise your registration will be cancelled.
* Sign-ups were initially announced to open on 5 October at 7 am NZDT (4 October at 18:00 UTC), but they were later pushed back by 12 hours.
If the player cap is not reached, sign-ups close on 11 October. A second wave may be announced at a later date if necessary.
Streaming
This event is unfortunately not streamed.
Venue and schedule
The tournament is held at the following location:
Card Merchant West City
Shop S290, West City, Catherine Street, Henderson
Auckland, 0612 New Zealand
Badges can be picked up early on Sunday from 9 am.
Players must be in the venue by 25 January at 9 am NZDT (24 January at 20:00 UTC) for the players meeting. The tournament starts thereafter with the Swiss rounds and the Top Cut: everything will be played on the same day.
Prizes
This event is part of the 2026 official TPCi circuit and thus it rewards Championship Points (CPs).
Check out the organizer’s website for information about participation goodies.
Additionally, the best-placed players will receive the following CPs and Pokémon TCG booster packs depending on final attendance:
| Placement | Championship Points | Kicker |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | Invite to the 2026 World Championships 350 CP | 0 |
| Finalist | 325 CP | 4 |
| Semifinalists | 300 CP | 8 |
| 5th to 8th | 280 CP | 17 |
| 9th to 16th | 200 CP | 33 |
| 17th to 32nd | 160 CP | 65 |
| 33rd to 64th | 120 CP | 129 |
| 65th to 128th | 80 CP | 257 |
| 129th to 256th | 60 CP | 513 |
| 257th to 512th | 40 CP | 1025 |
| 513th to 1024th | 20 CP | 2049 |
| Players per age division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placement | <33 | 33-64 | 65-128 | 129-256 | 257-512 | 513-1024 | 1025-2048 | 2049+ |
| Champion | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| Finalist | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| Semifinalists | 36 | 72 | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| 5th to 8th | 18 | 36 | 36 | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| 9th to 16th | 9 | 18 | 36 | 36 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 108 |
| 17th to 32nd | 18 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | |||
| 33rd to 64th | 9 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | |||
| 65th to 128th | 18 | 18 | 36 | 36 | ||||
| 129th to 256th | 9 | 18 | 18 | |||||
| 257th to 512th | 9 | |||||||
Overview
The Auckland Special Championships is an official TPCi Regional-level event for Pokémon VGC, TCG and Pokémon GO. It is the first Special Championships and second Regional-level event of the 2026 season in the Oceanian circuit.
The ruleset is VGC Regulation Set F, and it is played using open team lists. This returning ruleset was last used in an Oceanian tournament in April 2024!
A little bit of history
New Zealand has been part of the Oceania region of the official TPCi circuit since 2014. It has hosted multiple major events, including Special Events and Regionals. New Zealand’s greatest VGC success come from Bronson Kung, the only Regional Champion from the country, as well as in the younger divisions, with Tin Tin Nguyen being the 2023 OCIC Senior finalist and Damon Zhu being the 2024 NAIC Junior finalist.
The most recent tournament held in New Zealand was the 2019 Auckland SC, played in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon with the VGC19 Ultra Series ruleset in June 2019. The finals saw 2019 Perth Regional Champion Meaghan Rattle defeat 2017 Worlds finalist Sam Pandelis to win her second major title!
