Tournament Hygiene Controversy
A professional Pokémon player is going viral after begging his fellow competitors to keep up with their personal hygiene, claiming he literally threw up at an event due to someone’s stench.
Texas-based Pokémon VGC regional champion Donghun Youm says he lost his lunch at the 2026 Baltimore Regional Championships thanks to a super smelly player.
Youm wrote about his experience in a viral post online, where he begged players to please take care of their personal hygiene.
Youm said someone at the competition smelled so foul that he literally threw up because of it, and his friends were unable to concentrate on their own matches due to the putrid stench.
Youm stated that he had an incident at the Baltimore regionals where he had to throw up due to a nearby player's stench. He and his friends could not focus that round due to how putrid the smell was, and they even reported the issue to a judge.
Community Discourse and Rules
Youm’s post has kicked off a heated discourse about players’ hygiene at competitions, as well as jokes and memes about certain Pokémon attacks that rely on smell to deal damage or inflict adverse status effects.
Please take care of your personal hygiene. I've had an incident at Baltimore regionals where I had to throw up due to a nearby player's stench. My friends and I couldn't focus that round due to how putrid the smell was and we even told a judge due to it.
“[Washing] should be a requirement to attend an event,” one commenter replied. “People who smell bad should be kicked out.”
“If you can afford a Nintendo Switch, you can afford a $3 stick of deodorant dude,” another said.
This is far from the first time the subject of hygiene has come up regarding in-person gaming events; in June, a card shop in Oregon suspended its tournaments after receiving bad reviews and multiple complaints of smelly patrons.
Tournaments typically point to official guidelines which stipulate that attendees must maintain cleanliness and wear clean clothing, or risk being penalized.
Pokémon boasts similar rules; the official Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook includes a section regarding hygiene, requiring individuals to maintain a socially acceptable level of hygiene during the event.
If a participant refuses to comply with tournament staff’s requests, it serves as grounds for removal from the tournament and venue, requiring the participant to relinquish their badge.
It remains unclear if the individual who caused the incident was penalized. Either way, the event has sparked renewed calls from community members for better personal upkeep at competitive gatherings.
