Sanctioning a Prerelease Event
Sanctioning is the formal scheduling and announcement of an official Play! Pokémon tournament. Anyone interested can search for sanctioned tournaments by using the Event Locator.
Your Prerelease tournament must be sanctioned through Play! Tools and run through Tournament Operations Manager (TOM). Please note that the same Organizer should sanction the tournament in Play! Tools and run the event in TOM to avoid system errors.
These instructions are supplemental to the Play! Tools Guide and specific to Prerelease events. Please note that you will not be able to sanction Prerelease events until the sanctioning date noted in your solicitation email (also titled “reservation” or “invitation”).
- To begin, log in to Pokemon.com and navigate to the Tournament Software page, where you can find a link to Play! Tools.
- Creating a Prerelease event is similar to creating other events. To begin, you must first expand the “Tournaments” menu in the upper left and select the “Create Tournament” link from the drop-down menu.
- Next, provide basic information about the Tournament Organizer (TO) and the type of event. This information is used to verify your tournament. The fields in this section are automatically populated by your account data once you log in to the Play! Tools website.
- If you are part of a League, you might notice that the drop-down menu has a League Activity Group. Look for the Activity Group tied to your League and select it.
- Select “Premier Event Series” rather than “Custom.” If you have the right permissions, the Prerelease for this set will appear in the Premier Event Series drop-down menu, starting on the sanctioning date.
- Once you have confirmed your information, select the “Next” button in the upper-right corner of the page to continue to the next step.
- Consult the TOM section of the Play! Tools Documentation page to run the tournament and generate the Tournament Data File (TDF). You can also find training videos on the Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources page.
- After the tournament, return to Play! Tools to complete the tournament there.
Tool Resources
- To navigate to the Play! Tools site and download TOM, please follow this link: Download TOM. Training videos for TOM can be found on the Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources page.
- For more information on how to use Play! Tools, please consult the Play! Tools Documentation.
- Your tournament should include “[SETNAME] Prerelease Tournament” in the name.
- For specific questions on Play! Tools or using TOM, please contact customer support.
Reporting a Prerelease Event
For your Prerelease event to be considered complete, you must report it on Play! Tools by uploading the TDF generated by TOM to your event page.
Please note that failure to complete your Prerelease event will negatively impact your League’s Prerelease Kit allocation for future expansions.
Does a Judge need to be present?
Although it is not required to have a Judge at a Prerelease event, depending on the size of your League, we recommend that Judges are present to help facilitate the event.