His schoolmates used to rank it with a geek-factor of 10.
But its fair to say that since Kabir Virgis peers learned his passion is earning thousands of dollars in scholarships and taking him all over the world, his classroom coolness has risen a few notches.
Kabir, 14, is a red-hot Pokémon card trader, who won the B.C. championship title last year, before taking third in the nationals in Toronto to claim a spot in the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) World Championship in San Diego.
The J.N. Burnett secondary student finished a close second at the 2012 regional finals in Surrey last week and has now set his sights on another tilt at the nationals in Toronto in June, with an eye on bagging an all-expenses paid trip to the worlds in Hawaii.
My friends think its pretty cool, said Kabir, who admitted the game does have a very geeky image. But only when they realized that last year, when I won the regional championship, I got a $1,500 scholarship and all-expenses paid trip to Toronto.
I also got another $750 for finishing third in the nationals. I think they liked that.
For the uninitiated and those over a certain age Pokémon is a futuristic, cartoon-character based adventure invented by Japanese gaming giant Nintendo in 1996.
In a game of Pokémon TCG, players take on the role of a Pokémon trainer, using their creatures to battle. Players play Pokémon to the field and use their attacks to reduce the opponents power (HP). When a Pokémons HP is reduced to zero, it is knocked out and the player who knocked it out takes a prize card into their hand.
Seems simple, doesnt it?
Not according to Kabir or, indeed, his mom, Amarjit Virgi, who has positively encouraged her sons devotion to Pokémon after noticing a marked surge in his cognitive skills since he took up the card game four years ago.
I love it. It can be quite demanding, but it has helped him in many ways, said Virgi, who lives on Riverdale Drive in northwest Richmond.
Thats why I have encouraged it, because it keeps him away from video games, while all his peers are streaming onto video games.
The people that he now spends a lot of time with are a good bunch of kids, and when we go to tournaments, we get to meet so many nice families. Hes met great people from all over the world.
The tournaments are said to provide players with an opportunity to succeed at an intellectual sport and test their skills, strategy, and creativity.
Additionally, many players and their parents involved in the game site improved math, reading, critical thinking and social skills as a result.
I had a huge interest in the (Pokémon) TV show and the video game, said the Grade 9 student.
One of my friends introduced me to the cards and I started collecting them. I got invited to go play with the cards at a gaming store.
But you really have to work on your logic and strategy, problem-solving and reading, lots of reading.
Ive also been getting faster at mental math and making quick decisions, because sometimes youre up against the clock in competitions.
As for the prospect of making it all the way to Hawaii, Kabir said that would be pretty nice, Im quite excited about that.
