‘Gotta catch ‘em all’: Winnipeg girl to represent Manitoba at World Pokémon Championship

A 12-year-old Winnipeg girl is competing to be the very best at Pokemon at the World Championships. Danton Unger has more.

From a comic book store in Winnipeg to the world stage, a 12-year-old girl is taking her passion for Pokémon to the next level.

Era Roulette is competing to be the very best – the best there ever was. At least when it comes to Pokémon. Her love of the trading card game started a few years back when her dad bought her a Pokémon gift set.

“Ever since, she’s been very competitive. She went from, ‘Oh, I want to try this,’ to, ‘Oh, I want to try the best version of this,’ to, ‘I want to be the best at this,’” Era’s dad, Cody Roulette, told CTV News.

Nearly every Thursday, Era would sharpen her skills at Pokémon tournaments hosted at Galaxy Comics on Henderson. But soon, she and her dad started competing at larger tournaments across Canada and the U.S.

Now Era has become one of the best players in North America. Later this summer she’ll travel across the land to ‘catch ‘em all’ at the 2025 Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, Calif.

“To be honest, not a lot of people get a chance to go to these. She’s only the second person from Manitoba to ever make it,” Cody said.

In fact, the only other Manitoban to have gone to Worlds is a regular at Galaxy Comics tournaments – Glen Henderson. He competed in the global ring back in 2018.

“It’s a very prestigious celebration of just playing well and best of the best, showing up to see who can compete,” he said.

In Era’s division, only the top 75 players in North America get an invite to the competition. Era ranks 66. He said Era will be the second Manitoban to compete and the first girl to represent Manitoba at the competition.

“I was really impressed. I was really proud,” Henderson said. “It’s a huge commitment and a huge accomplishment to make and I figured the community needs to rally around and support as much as possible. It’s a huge accomplishment and should be celebrated.”

The community has rallied.

In order to send Era to worlds, more than $900 has been raised through a GoFundMe so far to cover the cost of flights, hotels and food.

“It’s the most welcoming community you can expect,” Cody said. “It’s because we all are just playing a game we enjoy, right?”

He’s looking forward to seeing his daughter represent Manitoba on the world stage.

“I’m living vicariously through my daughter, because I think all of us enjoyed something as a kid and wanted to take it to the next level,” Cody said.