The Pokémon Local Acts program has unveiled six new Poké Lid designs today, which will be the first ever to be installed in Nagano Prefecture in Japan. Poké Lids are donations from The Pokémon Company to prefectures, and along with events and merchandise hosted by Pokémon Local Acts, are intended to encourage tourism to various areas of Japan.

As previewed last week, Pokémon Sleep is celebrating its third anniversary on Monday July 20th with a special two-week-long Third Anniversary Fest event commencing Monday July 13th, at 4:00am local time, running through until Monday July 27th at 3:59am local time. Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup, and their evolutions, will all be making their Pokémon Sleep debuts as part of this event.

If you have ever watched a Pokémon Trading Card Game stream, you know the experience: a fixed overhead camera, a flat mat, cards being played and moved around. The commentator does their best, but unless you already follow the format closely, it is genuinely hard to know what is going on from the footage alone. What if the Pokémon on each card could just... appear? Live, on stream, as the cards are played? We are a team of researchers from the University of Liege, Belgium, and we have spent more than a year building TCG-AR, a free, open-source tool that automatically detects every Pokémon card on the playing field, recognises which card it is, and overlays its animated Pokémon sprite directly onto the card in the live camera feed.

The Pokémon Company International and LEGO are further expanding their partnership with new collector sets, which are available for preorder now at the Pokémon Center websites serving the US, UK, and Canada, and at LEGO’s website. The new drop includes four collector sets - Rayquaza, Arcanine, Munchlax, and a Poké Ball that opens to reveal a minifigure scene. Some of these sets contain the very first Pokémon minifigures by LEGO. There will also be a play set featuring Red’s minifigure scaled up and buildable. These items are expected to sell out quickly.

In celebration of the Japanese festival of Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, official social media accounts for the Pokémon Trading Card Game have today revealed a new Jirachi ex card from the game's upcoming anniversary expansion, 30th Celebration. 30th Celebration will release simultaneously worldwide later this year on September 16th.

The Pokémon Company has been doing plenty of collaboration with professional sports this year, and have announced yet another partnership, this time with Japan’s top pro football association. Each of the 60 clubs in the J.League have received their very own Pokémon mascot, along with an overall “Evolution!” theme for the upcoming season. The collab is currently offering free souvenir merchandise to one million attendees of upcoming matches, plus even more merch and events to be announced.

Past Seasonal Sync Pairs are making a comeback to Pokémon Masters EX in a new Presents! Limit 1! 5★-Select Seasonal Scout ×11 requiring 3,000 Paid Gems, and running through to July 28th, at 10:59pm (PDT).

The folks over at the independent video game record label GameChops have announced the upcoming release of Poké Ambient 2, the latest work of Italian lofi and synthwave producer Helynt. This album features slow-moving ambient arrangements and interpretations of classic Pokémon music using a mix of gentle synthesizers, soft piano, and guitar, created for relaxation, studying, and quiet everyday listening.

Razer, the American-Singaporean manufacturer known best for their lines of gaming-focused PC peripherals, have launched the latest collection in their continuing collaboration with The Pokémon Company International, with officially licensed Espeon & Umbreon editions of four popular products from their catalog. The Espeon & Umbreon collection is available for purchase now on Razer.com, at RazerStores, and through select retailers across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

I wonder if this episode of Pokémon Horizons would be considered a Z-A mini arc. I’ve never actually played Pokémon Legends: Z-A myself, but I do know a few things like characters. The most notable thing that showcases the promotion is that Emma is in her time skip outfit. Regardless, I think this was a good episode, and a great way to introduce Navi, the future new member of the Rising Volt Tacklers.

The Summer Games Done Quick 2026 charity marathon is being held live at the Hilton Minneapolis Downtown from July 5th to July 11th. A race of Pokémon FireRed is set to feature as part of the event, which will attempt to defeat the Elite Four's upgraded teams (and therefore will feature a recently discovered bug). Like all SGDQ events, it will be raising money for Doctors Without Borders, and can be watched live on the GDQ Twitch channel.

A video posted on the Pokémon Trading Card Game's official Japanese YouTube channel has unveiled new cards for Sableye, Inkay, and Mega Malamar ex. These cards will be released together in the upcoming Storm Emeralda expansion that hits store shelves in Japan on July 31st.

The latest Pokémon to join the fray in Pokémon UNITE is Yveltal, a Ranged Attacker with Novice difficulty that deals Special damage. Until Tuesday, July 28th, players can clear event missions to collect exclusive coins and exchange them for Yveltal's Unite License.

The Everyday Wonders Emblem Event is now underway in Pokémon TCG Pocket, giving players the opportunity to acquire emblems to set on their in-game player profiles. This event is set to run through to July 12th, at 10:59pm (PDT) / July 13th, at 5:59am (UTC).

Following on from the recent summer Story Event, Pokémon Masters EX is launching a new Solo Event today featuring Manaphy. The Brave Heroes of the Sea Solo Event will run through to July 21st, at 10:59pm (PDT).

The English and other western dubs of the second episode of the second season of the POKÉTOON series have been released on the official Pokémon YouTube channels. Titled "Diary of an Angry Primeape", it features a boy observing his Primeape throughout the summer to find what will calm it down.

The Pokémon Company International have announced a brand-new tournament, the Pokémon Champions of Champions tournament, designed to highlight how anybody "from a range of unique and competitive disciplines" can easily pick up and compete in Pokémon Champions following its release on Android and iOS.

The Pokémon Company International and LEGO are expanding their collaboration, bringing not only new Pokémon LEGO sets to customers this coming August 1st, but also setting up a Pokémon Play Zone in the LEGOLAND Florida Resort as part of their LEGO Festival. The festival runs from July 20th until August 16th, and features interactive Pokémon activities, previews of the upcoming Pokémon SMART Brick sets, and plenty of other experiences.

At about 4:30 PM on June 28th, a father-and-son team of vendors at the Woodbridge Card Show in Woodbridge, New Jersey were packing up their merchandise when approached by two men. The assailants physically assaulted the younger man and threatened both at gunpoint, eventually making off with $150,000 USD worth of Pokémon cards and $12,000 USD cash. The suspects fled, and Woodbridge police are currently investigating the incident.

Arezu (Summer 2026) & Basculegion are making their playable debut in Pokémon Masters EX today in a set of Seasonal Scouts alongside the continuing Sea's Legend and Raging Souls Story Event. The Arezu Seasonal Scout and Arezu Seasonal Tiered Scout will run through to July 21st, at 10:59pm (PDT). while the associated Arezu Seasonal Featured Ticket Scout, and Arezu Seasonal Guaranteed Ticket Scout meanwhile will run through to July 28th, at 10:59pm (PDT).