Earlier this month, a competitive Pokémon Go player called Firestar73 was stripped of a win at an Orlando tournament for what was deemed an “unsportsmanlike” pop-off. After weeks of fans flooding The Pokémon Company’s social channels to demand a repeal of the ruling, the company has finally issued a statement. Spoilers: It will not be reverting its decision.
The company’s statement omits player names, but references both Firestar and an incident with the Trading Card Game player Makani, who was also given a penalty at the Orlando Regional Championships for dropping his headphones on the game board. According to the post, Makani’s act disrupted the “game state.” The official Pokémon handbook makes several references to the “game state” of TCG, which “encompasses all parts of the game currently in play, such as competitors’ hands, the cards in play, current Pokémon on a competitor’s team (including their moves and held items), etc.” Essentially, this means that if a player does something to disrupt card placement, such as moving their opponent’s cards, it can be considered a loss.
This was the pop off that warranted the game loss for reference. I have opinions about it lol https://t.co/9l79EVRQPy pic.twitter.com/eNVoLq8ZdA
— Austin Charles 🔜 Campinas 🌤️ (@amcharles0) April 5, 2026
Makani says that he was told by judges that his action was “dangerous,” but denies that he was ever informed by judges that the penalty was due to a game state disruption. He also says he was not allowed to appeal the ruling.
This community statement is not accurate.
TWO separate head judges told me I was given a match loss for “throwing” my headset down and being “dangerous”Not a single judge told me I was given a game loss for disrupting the board.
I didn’t even get to get a chance to appeal the… https://t.co/coc9yNtQG9
— takani mran (@FishNugget4) April 21, 2026
The statement on Firestar, meanwhile, is a little more directed at the controversy surrounding that ruling, with The Pokémon Company saying it wanted to reveal information “which may not be known to the broader community.” The company claims Firestar was given a prior warning at the event for “hitting and shaking the table during gameplay” before the now viral “pop-off” moment. The scuttlebutt online had been that Firestar’s celebration was “unsportsmanlike,” but TPC describes it as “shaking the table to the point that there was a disruption to the broadcast experience.” This would have been Firestar’s second infraction, which made it the basis of the penalty. . Firestar, similar to Makani, denies ever being told that disruption of gameplay was the reasoning for the ruling until this statement was posted.
The "incident" you are now, for the first time, claiming was the basis of the decision did not affect the gameplay at all, yet decided the whole tournament. Section 2.1 requires a "clear explanation of any infraction and its penalty" and I was never given this as the basis at all https://t.co/aXVLSda8Z7
— Firestar73 (@Firestar73_) April 21, 2026
The company ends its statement by saying it will uphold these calls and says it expects its judges to be “treated with the same respect as all people in the community.” It then responds to claims that players are not allowed to celebrate wins at its events, as has become the narrative after Firestar’s fairly tame pop-off spread around the internet.
In the moment of a win, emotions are high, and we recognize that these emotions can lead to energetic reactions celebrating a win. We want to support this authentic, positive reaction, and not discourage this excitement. Celebrations are not an issue, but actions that disrupt or can negatively impact competitive integrity can be.
