What to know about the incredibly popular annual event coming to the Bay Area next weekend, how you can participate and street closures to know.

Carlos Cabrera-LomelíCarly Severn

The 2025 Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, California on Aug. 15, 2025. Here’s what to know about the championships, how to get involved and how your commute could be impacted by street closures around SOMA. (Courtesy of The Pokémon Company International)

Next week, San Francisco will host the 2026 Pokémon World Championships — along with the inaugural PokémonXP fan convention — from Friday, Aug. 28, through Sunday, Aug. 30.

Organizers are expecting more than 50,000 people to descend on Moscone Convention Center throughout the weekend, which will include events like scavenger hunts, opportunities to trade pins and playing cards, DJ booths playing classic Pokémon tracks and even panels featuring the minds behind this decades-spanning, globe-trotting franchise.

It’s only the second time ever that San Francisco has hosted this super-popular annual event, and die-hard Pokémon players — known as trainers — and fans have been eagerly awaiting the weekend’s events for months.

The 2025 Pokémon World Championships on Aug. 15, 2025, in Anaheim, California.

Keep reading for what to know about the championships, how to get involved and how street closures around SOMA could impact your commute.

Who competes in the Pokémon World Championships, and how does the tournament work?

First launched as a video game for the Game Boy console in 1996, Pokémon has since expanded to include movies, television, manga, trading cards, clothing and theme parks.

And the franchise will be celebrating its 30th birthday — along with 10 years since the launch of the hit mobile app Pokémon GO — as part of the big weekend in San Francisco. 

The Pokémon World Championships — also known as “Worlds” — feature the best trainers across different Pokémon platforms, including the Trading Card Game, Pokémon GO, UNITE and the newly released Pokémon Champions video game.

The 2025 Pokémon World Championships on Aug. 15, 2025, in Anaheim, California.

“This is really the cream of the crop — the best of the best,” said Nick Salazar, from The Pokémon Company International’s public relations team.

To get an invitation to compete at Worlds, someone has to earn a certain amount of points, Salazar said. “You can earn points at your local hobby shop,” he said, adding that you can earn more points by competing at regional or international tournaments held year-round.

Most of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships will be held at Moscone, but the final matches will be at Chase Center on Sunday.

At Worlds, both kids and adults compete in their own age-specific categories. The youngest category, junior, features players 12 or younger. 

Can I go check out the 2026 Pokémon World Championships myself?

Sign-ups for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships’ “interest lists” for badge purchases began months ago, and the last available sign-up list — for single-day access — recently closed.

So unfortunately, all that buzz means that if you were hoping to casually check out the festivities as a spectator, entry badges for both the Pokémon World Championships and PokémonXP fan convention are completely sold out — and you can’t enter Moscone Center next weekend without one.

The 2025 Pokémon World Championships on Aug. 15, 2025, in Anaheim, California.

Thinking about buying a badge from someone else online? Keep in mind that this comes with big risks.

If someone bought a badge, that’s linked to both their name and their Pokémon Trainer Central account. When you show up to Moscone Center, you will have to show a government-issued ID to pick up your badge.

On Reddit, users have cautioned against paying money for someone else’s badge, with some saying it’s very likely that you would fall for a scam.

If I can’t go in person, how else can I get involved with the 2026 Pokémon World Championships?

You can watch livestreams of the competitions, panels and award ceremonies for free on PokemonXP.com.

Ahead of the big weekend, the San Francisco Giants will be hosting a Pokémon Worlds Night — which includes Pokémon GO activations around Oracle Park and a themed drone show — during their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, Aug. 27.

Mike Yastrzemski and Heliot Ramos of the San Francisco Giants celebrate after Yastrzemski hit a three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners in the bottom of the fourth inning at Oracle Park on April 6, 2025 in San Francisco, California.

While tickets for Pokémon Worlds Night itself are currently sold out, single-game tickets are still available for the Giants-Diamondbacks game — and according to the Giants’ site, you can stay to watch the drone show afterward. 

But if you were hoping to snag a special Worlds Pikachu Jersey designed for the occasion, bad news: the item has sold out already. 

Will the 2026 Pokémon World Championships mean any road closures in San Francisco?

Yes: According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the event will spell street closures and traffic detours in the SOMA neighborhood around the Moscone Center — not just during the Aug. 28-30 event period, but starting Tuesday, Aug. 19, and lasting into Tuesday, Sept. 1.

The biggest closures will be:

A full closure of Howard Street between Third and Fourth streets (starts 6 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, ends 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1.)A full closure of a stretch of Minna Street by Fourth Street (from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily from Tuesday, Aug. 25, to Sunday, Aug. 30)

See the full list of street closures for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships.

Parking garages in the area will remain fully open to the public during the 2026 Pokémon World Championships. And while there’ll be no impact on Muni service, SFMTA warns that “some minor delays may be possible in the area.”