Minooka Boy Wins Again at Pokemon Tournament

Joey Ruettiger, 9, 4th grader at

Joey Ruettiger gave himself an early Christmas present. 

The Minooka resident was crowned second place on December 17 during the Play! Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) City Championship Tournament in Urbana, IL. 

Winning second place at the recent match not only earned Ruettiger a top city ranking, it also allowed him to rack up Championship points which count towards future competitions, including the world championships. 

Ruettiger first needs to battle and win in the State tournament in March and Regionals, being held on April 14 in Wisconsin.

Despite Ruettiger's success at regionals, he has an invite to the the Pokémon U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana next June/July. And than hopefully he will continue to the Annual Pokémon World Championships in Hawaii on August 10 -12, to compete against elite players from more than 25 countries, including Japan, U.K., France, Italy, Germany, and Spain.

While most kids Ruettiger’s age will be sleeping in, watching television or visiting museums this holiday break, he will take part in the Chicago Marathon, which in this case does not involve running.

This is a competition that runs from Tuesday, Dec. 27, starting in Joliet and runs through Saturday Dec. 31 in Oswego. Monday, January 2 is the final match in Des Plaines. Other cities hosting the event are Streamwood, Countryside and Huntley.

Ruettiger does not have to participate in the marathon every day. However the more he competes in, the better chance he has to accumulate more Championship points that are counted toward the invitation to Nationals.

Although this is not the 26.2 mile run, Joey’s mother Rose, feels like it is. Actually they will be traveling several more miles than if they participated in the annual running event. But Rose Ruettiger wouldn’t change anything.

“Joey enjoys this,” Ruettiger said. “Joey just built a new deck and he is going to test it out.”