Who That Pocket Monster?

#439
Nice Thinking: "Who That Pocket Monster?"
Nice Thinking
2026.07.09
The background screen of the iconic "Who's that Pokemon?" moment from the Pokemon anime. There is no Pokemon silhouette in the highlighted area.

In this week's episode, the Nice Hosts want to make this year's IDGATC summer picnic the very best, like no picnic ever was. Lydia brings to the table a game that relies on knowing nothing about Pokémon, Mark accuses her of knowing too much about Pokémon, and Stephen does his best as their acting Person-Who-Knows-Pokémon (nicegames.club/feedback). Will they make a game in time to play that weekend? Stay tuned as the journey continues.

Strange Finds (demo)
 - 
Steam
Pinfinity
Not-Game-of-Thrones Puzzle Room
 - 
Trapped Puzzle Rooms
Puzzle Works Escape Co.
Prompt
Turn the Pokemon guessing game Lydia plays with her husband into a party game in time for the IDGATC summer picnic.
Game type
Tabletop game
Player count
6+
Materials

Electronic device (laptop or phone)

Random Pokémon Generator (we use randompokemonpicker.com)

Grid of possible Pokémon pictures and names

Setup

Divide into two teams of at least 3 people. The two Team Captains stand in front facing both teams.

Distribute the list of the possible Pokémon to the players, either physically or digitally.

Team Captains pull up the random generator on their device. 

If you'd like to play at home, here is the graphic Lydia made for the IDGATC picnic, complete with rules and round order:

A one-page game document with the rules for Who That Pocket Monster as played at the 2026 IDGATC picnic. Contains a grid of images and names for 74 of the original Gen 1 Pokemon.
Rules
  • Gen 1, Kanto region, Unevolved, Default version Pokémon only
  • Two teams, 3+ people each, not including Team Captains
  • Both team are trying to guess the same, randomly selected Pokémon
  • Only Team Captains can see the selected Pokémon
  • Team Captains must know as little about Pokémon as possible
  • Team Captains may not reveal obvious physical characteristics in their initial description
  • 1 correctly guessed Pokémon = 1 point
  • First team to 2 points wins!

Round Order:

  1. Team A asks their Captain "Who that Pocket Monster?"
  2. Team A's Captain describes the Pokémon in a humerous, vibes-based way
  3. Team A may ask 1 obvious yes/no question about the Pokémon and it's appearance. If the Captain can't answer the question, they will say so and the team may ask a different one.
  4. Team A guesses which Pokémon their Captain is describing
  5. If correct, Team A gets a point and a new Pokémon is chose. If incorrect, the process repeats for Team B

Repeat steps 1-4 until a Team guesses the Pokémon correctly.

If the rounds are dragging on, the Team Captains may reveal the Pokémon and take a point (bragging rights) for themselves