Pokemon Pre-Release Tournament (Summer)

I made Shane do something Sunday. It didn't start until 1, so we had to kill some time in Cville after church. Can you see how excited he was?

We ate lunch and head over to The End Games for a Pokemon pre-release tournament. I've never done a pre-release for anything. It was $50 for both of us ($25 per person).

This was high on my to-do list, because A) I like games and B) I knew Samuel and his dad were going to be there.

Shane stopped his complaining and got social the moment he spotted Samuel!

The boys perused the store while I stood in line to sign up, etc.

Not that Shane should've complained at all. Who do you think I was going to give my cards to when we were done?

It was a well attended event! There must've been at least 40 people.

Everyone was given a box and a time limit to construct a deck from it. The minimum deck size was 40 cards instead of the usual 60.

The tournament was going to be a 3 round Swiss. Basically, everyone played three rounds. Each round they would calculate standings and match records (someone who won their first 2 rounds wasn't going to get lucky and face someone who'd already lost twice!). There were only 6 kids in Shane's age level bracket, so most of the players were older.

I actually won my first round! 

Meanwhile, Shane lost. He was a grumpy gus. I encouraged him to finish strong and congratulate his opponent with a smile. He told me he was just tired, he didn't want to be there, etc.

Which immediately changed when he won the raffle for a prize. They drew names at the end of every round and the winner got to select from a prize box.

It's funny how that changed Shane's whole tune. If only I could get him to maintain a positive attitude instead of changing for every bump and swell on the way....(aka the basic human condition).

Shane became Mr. Energy and was out socializing again.

Shane won his next two rounds and ended up taking 2nd with tie breakers! He was ECSTATIC! Meanwhile, I lost my next two. My water deck went against an electric deck and was annihilated post-haste one game. I was highly competitive until the end in the last. I gave Shane the packs I won and he loved opening them with everyone else.

I told Shane we should go to The End Games again for regular play, but we'll see if that happens. I won't force it even though I think it'd be good for him.

We did an errand for Mom on the way home to say "Sorry we were gone so long!"