Over the weekend, D.C. played host to the Pokémon World Championships, a three-day celebration of the video and trading card game that spawned an entertainment empire.

More than 3,000 people watched players from 30 countries compete in matches at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Spectators fluent in the language of Pokémon watched as 12 boys and men competed on a stage flanked by Metro maps in the different video game and trading card game divisions. See photos from the scene in the above gallery.