The UCA Pokémon League is a new club on campus started on March 4 by Anime Club President junior Jordan Butler.
Butler said she started the group for Pokémon players to meet and battle.
The league is growing quickly. After one month, the club has grown to 36 members.
Pokémon was originally a popular show and video game in the 90s.
Butler credits Pokémon becoming popular again to the video games “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y,” which were released in October 2013 and have since sold over 12 million copies.
“Ever since the Pokémon X and Y came out, I have noticed a lot more people getting back into Pokémon,” she said.
The league is currently having a tournament to decide who will be the eight gym leaders and part of the Elite Four. There are currently 15 people competing in the tournament.
To compete, players pick which type of Pokémon they would like to specialize in, such as water, fire or grass.
Players then battle to see who is the better trainer.
Once the eight gym leaders and Elite Four are chosen, players will be able to battle each other.
The club will be set up similar to the original video game and television series, with players battling each of the gym leaders for a badge.
Once a player has collected all eight badges, he can move on to fight the Elite Four, just like in the game.
The organization hopes to find the gym leaders and Elite Four members by the end of the semester.
At the beginning of the fall 2014 semester, the club will begin battles for the badges.
Junior Drew Richardson said he plans on joining the club once he is able to start battling the gym leaders.
Even though the Pokémon league is new to UCA, Pokémon clubs have become popular on college campuses.
“A lot of colleges have Pokémon Leagues,” Butler said.
According to the National Collegiate Pokémon Association, the University of Utah and Oklahoma State University are just two of many college campuses with popular Pokémon the leagues.
UCA Pokémon League has a significant advantage over many other UCA clubs by being able to interact with club members without in-person meetings through Wi-Fi battles.
Players can battle each other without even being in the same room.
This helps many of the members who are shy or unable to make it to a meeting.
The UCA Pokémon League is still accepting members.
You can reach the club through its Facebook page facebook.com/ groups/ucapokemonleague and on Twitter at @UCAPkmnLeague.
