In the Field Museum, giant banners of a yellow cartoon mouse named “Pikachu” decorate the museum’s exterior to promote the Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibition, which is up from May 22, 2026, until April 11, 2027. The exhibit aims to spark interest in paleontology by comparing real-life dinosaur fossils with their Pokémon counterparts.
A statue of the fictional Pokémon “Tyrantrum” appears in the same room as a real-life Tyrannosaurus Rex skull cast. Both have placards describing Tyrantrum’s mane of feathers and the paleontological debate on whether the Tyrannosaurus had feathers or not.
These creatures come from their titular video game series. Pokémon like “Aerodactyl” and “Kabutops” come from the franchise’s debut of “Pokémon Red Version” and “Pokémon Blue Version” on the GameBoy handheld system: a dual release to motivate catching each Pokémon through trading Pokémon with players of the opposite version.
On a North American exhibition tour, the Pokémon Company chose the Field Museum as its first stop followed the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. When asked about why the Pokémon Company chose the Field Museum as the Pokémon Fossil’s first American stop, an anonymous Pokémon Maniac says it because of the museum’s fossil collection and transportation:
“Everyone knows we have Sue, but also the Chicago Archaeopteryx. These two are direct links to Tyrantrum and Archeops, which serve as pretty big faces of the exhibit as a whole. So it’s a natural link. Otherwise though, we are also a pretty big transit hub and have some room to host an event like this.”
The exhibition is a delight for Chicago’s already strong community of Pokémon fans. To support local players, the Pokémon Company has the Play! Pokémon program gives fans “the opportunity to compete against other Trainers in an organized setting where you can meet fellow fans, win prizes, and have fun” according to their website.
Play! Pokémon helps organize local tournaments prior to the Field Museum exhibition. They employ “Pokémon Professors” who are local fans who volunteer to help run Play! Pokémon events.
One of Chicago’s Pokémon Professors, Matthew Verive, shares how he started running local tournaments:
“Growing up, I loved going to Pokémon League at my local library. When I came to Chicago for college at DePaul University, I noticed that there were no easily accessible places running these events, so I decided to apply to become a Pokémon Professor and reached out to a local hobby shop to get one started -- Eventually running tournaments that reached store capacity and helping other stores get Pokémon events going as well.”
Select stores can even join the Play! Pokémon program by hosting events: In Chicago, Good Games Chicago in Lincoln Park and Logan Arch in Logan Square are recognized as Play! Pokémon Stores.
After the Pokémon Fossil Museum’s opening, former fans have back to Play! Pokémon events, according to Verive: “We've indeed seen new faces at events who got back into Pokémon after seeing the Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibit or realizing that there's still a large Pokémon GO community when Pokémon GO Fest was in town.”
Another Pokémon event in South Loop, Pokémon GO Fest was held in Grant Park from June 5 to 7 this year. The 3-day event was to celebrate the Pokémon GO app which adapts the video game’s mechanics into an Augmented Reality game.
As someone who recently moved to Chicago, our Pokémon Maniac discusses attending Pokémon GO Fest: “Getting to explore parts of the city as part of one of my favorite video game franchises is a feeling I'll be chasing forever. Also I caught a pretty good Zeraora, so all things considered it was awesome.”
Next year, the Pokémon Company will also host the Pokémon Championship: a circuit-style tournament for players of their Pokémon mainline video games, trading cards, and Pokémon GO.
The winners of the Regional Championships then get invited to the International Championships. This year, the North America International Championship’s (NAIC) venue is the McCormick Place Convention Center.
When asked about why Chicago was chosen as this year’s NAIC city, Verive claims that all NAIC hosts are central US cities: “As the event has continued to grow each year, McCormick Place is the only central US convention center larger than New Orleans (and the largest convention center in North America!).”
Chicago also boasts having O’Hare Airport as the busiest airfield in the world. Interstate highways 55 and 90 also connect Chicago with other American cities with a transit system linking all of Chicago to its downtown area.
All roads lead to Chicago being the main host of Pokémon events. Because of its size and community, Pokémon has an easy opening for more permanent fixtures in Chicago.
When asked about how they hope the Pokémon Company can invest in Chicago, our Pokémon Maniac answers “It would be nice to maybe get some kind of permanent fixture, like a Pokémon Center! I mean Nintendo already has a store in both New York and San Francisco, so I wouldn’t say Chicago is far off from maybe being considered.”
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