The Pokémon World Championships and Pokémon XP fan convention are both happening in San Francisco this weekend, and competitive players are gathering at the event for the biggest Pokémon tournament of the year. However, a few notable players, including a previous world champion, will not be playing after being banned for cutting the line at the merch booth.

Players Luca Ceribelli, Ruben Gianzini, and Luca Lussignoli had their event passes confiscated, though Ceribelli claims the group was told their passes would be reprinted so they would be able to actually enter Worlds and compete in the days ahead. In a lengthy statement, Ceribelli says that he and Lussignoli allowed Gianzini to join them in the merch line, specifically citing Gianzini’s “disability” that made him “severely uncomfortable in crowded spaces.”

He says security then took their passes to ensure they wouldn’t be allowed in the Pokémon Center store, though the group was reassured “several times” that they could be reprinted so the group could still play at Worlds. Now, he says they’ve been told that they can’t print out their passes again, meaning they can’t enter the event at all.

I believe this to be extremely unjust, as it clearly does not reflect the misdeed in the slightest, but on top of that we were misled, whether intentionally or not, into not challenging such an absurd decision.

Upon confronting the on-site stuff, we were told that nothing could have been done to get our passes back, ultimately resulting in us being unable to access the venue.

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