Orlando hosted the first Pokémon World Championships in 2004.
The inaugural event took place at the Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida. It marked the beginning of an organized international championship tradition for competitive Pokémon play. Early events centered on the Pokémon Trading Card Game and later expanded to include video-game competitions and other official formats.
The championship series has moved among major convention centers and hotels in North America, Europe, and Asia. Later host cities included San Diego, Anaheim, Honolulu, Vancouver, London, Yokohama, and Washington, D.C. The event’s format and qualifying system have changed over time as the competitive Pokémon ecosystem grew.
Orlando is sometimes confused with later Florida-related Pokémon events or with other early championship locations. The first World Championships were specifically held in Orlando in 2004. That makes the city an important milestone in Pokémon’s competitive history, separate from the franchise’s original 1996 game launch.