The Boulder Cup

Announcing January's Global Cup: The Boulder Cup!

On January 6^th the 2019 competitive season begins! With it comes the first monthly Cup of the season: the Boulder Cup - inspired by the first Kanto Gym in the Pokemon^TM franchise. Here's what you need to know:

What Is the Boulder Cup?

Each month the Silph Arena holds a month-long Cup - a 'themed' PvP tournament - that provides tens of thousands of trainers around the world a specially-designed competitive challenge and a chance to prove they're the very best. The Silph Arena is the world's largest global network for ranked Pokemon GO^TM tournament play.

During the Cup (January 6^th - 31^st), local Silph League communities host and record a special tournament using the free Silph.gg tools. Wins and losses in this local tournament affect your player rank on local and global leaderboards - and may eventually even earn you an invitation to compete at Regionals and even the World Championships at 2019 GO Fest & Safari Zone!

The Boulder Cup Rules

The Boulder Cup has a few special rules (designed to provide added challenge and fun) that differ from standard PvP combat in Pokemon GO:

• Competitors will bring a team of 6 Pokemon (and register them before the tournament begins). All battle parties used must be comprised of these 6 Pokemon.
• Only Pokemon with a maximum CP of 1500 are permitted in the Cup
• Only Pokemon with at least one of the following types are permitted: Rock, Ground, Fighting, & Steel
• Arena Rules will be followed in all other particulars.

How to Compete

Registration for the January Cup will become available to local community leaders on January 6^th when the 2019 competitive season officially begins - and ranked play commences. Find a Silph League community near you via the Silph League community map here and ask if they will be participating in the Boulder Cup!

Frequently Asked Questions

Community Leader Questions:

How Do I Host a Boulder Cup Tournament in My Community?

Until January 6^th you will not be able to create a Cup tournament in Silph.gg, but on that day simply log in to Silph.gg with an authorized Community Leader account and create a Cup tournament on your community management page. You will be given an RSVP url to share with your community and, on the day of the tournament, a join code to confirm your tournament's registrants. For a guide to setting up your tournament on Silph.gg, click here.

How Do I Become Authorized to Host Tournaments on Silph.gg?

All Silph League Discord community admins simply need to add themselves as 'Tournament Admins' via the Discord @SilphRoad bot:

• On Discord, use the @SilphRoad add-tournament-admin @username#0000 command in your #silph-league channel. (You may need to log out of Silph.gg and back in again!)

Telegram channel and group admins are automatically authorized on Silph.gg.

Can I host multiple Boulder Cups in my community in January?

Yes. However, only the first Cup each participant competes in will count towards their individual player rank.

Does the Boulder Cup have to be hosted on a specific date?

Any date between January 6 and January 31, 2019 is a valid date to hold your community's Boulder Cup. The tournament registration page will not allow registering your Cup for an invalid date or time - so as long as you are able to create your tournament on Silph.gg, you will know it is set for a valid date.

I am a community leader of a Facebook Group (or other platform like Slack, Line, etc). How do I host the Boulder Cup for my community?

The Arena team is working quickly to enable non-Discord/Telegram communities to host the Cup. Stay tuned for news on this front!

Participant Questions:

How Do I Join a Boulder Cup Tournament in My Community?

Registration for the January Cup will become available to local community leaders on January 6^th when the 2019 competitive season officially begins - and ranked play commences. Find a Silph League community near you via the Silph League community map here and ask if they will be participating in the Boulder Cup!

How Important Are Monthly Cups for My Player Rank?

Very. The vast majority of player rank in the Arena is derived from performance in the global, standardized Cups. (This is because Cups allow the Arena to observe the same controlled competitive scenarios for each player!)

Why is the Boulder Cup (and all non-Cup ranked tournaments) played in Great League?

Great League (max 1500cp) provides a diverse, new playing field with many options for creative, competitive teams. It also allows more casual players to join tournaments at meetups without being completely unable to compete with level 40 trainers who often sport the same level 40 Legendary Pokemon. Great League also marks immediately irrelevant much of the amassed arsenal of those who manipulate their GPS location ('spoof') to circumvent in-game mechanic limiters and acquire unnatural advantages.

Where can I learn more about global player ranking?

More resources will be coming soon - but in the meantime, you may give the following page a read: About the 2019 Competitive Season »