Pokémon Pro Begs Rivals To Wash After A ‘Putrid’ Smell At A Recent Competition Made Him Throw Up
A professional Pokîmon player says he threw up at a recent regional championship because another competitor’s body odor was so intense. The story comes from Donghun Youm, who posted about the incident on X on September 27, and it has gone viral as gamers everywhere enjoy a good laugh at the expense of their own kind.
Youm’s Post And The Throw-Up Incident
Youm, a pro player in the competitive Pokîmon scene, wrote that he was forced to throw up during a match at the 2027 Baltimore Pokîmon Regional Championships. The event, held earlier this month, brought together players competing across both the video game and trading card versions of Pokîmon as the competitive circuit returns after the 2026 World Championships in August.
The problem, as Youm described it, was not the cards or the gameplay. It was the other people. “Please take care of your personal hygiene,” he wrote, before detailing the moment that went wrong.
“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. Like c’mon man…”
He added the hashtag #bro, suggesting the situation was so absurd it bordered on comedy. The post quickly went viral, as allegations about smelly gamers are often wont to do.
The Viral Reaction
The post drew a wave of responses from fellow players and observers alike. One person commented, “This goes for all TCGs,” and asked why a five-minute shower and fifteen seconds of deodorant were so difficult. Another joked, “My man was fighting two battles at once.” A third claimed they were being completely serious when they wrote, “I had a Redbull like round 3 of flame flame and i got gassy and was just farting the last 3 rounds. idk if that fucked with anyone’s games.”
The thread also included a tweet from Punk, a Pokî player. “ððð bro what??? I smelt some bad stenches during tournament matches but too throw up is insane, what smell does that too a person ð¤£ð¤£”
Punk’s tweet carried the original post’s link, further spreading the story across X.
The Reputation Problem
This is not the first time the competitive gaming scene has faced hygiene issues. Esports and TCG pros have long struggled with the perception that their events attract people who don’t bathe. The stereotype is persistent, and the stories keep backing it up.
Smash Bros. players have been put on blast for their smell. A Yu-Gi-Oh tournament was put on hold because the players smelled so bad. An anime voice actor begged fans to bathe before coming to her concert.
The pattern is consistent: large gatherings of competitive players, enclosed spaces, and a subset of individuals who apparently skipped the soap.
Youm’s Performance At Regionals
Despite the unpleasant circumstances, Youm managed to finish 60th at Baltimore Regionals with a record of 9-4. In a follow-up post, he explained that the result was not his best, but he felt he had done pretty alright considering the circumstances.
“Not my best performance but considering I locked the team [at] 4 am the night before I think I did pretty alright,” he wrote.
Whether the late-night preparation helped or hurt is unclear, but the result stands: he made it through the tournament despite vomiting mid-match.
What The Story Shows
The viral response to Youm’s post suggests that people enjoy reading about smelly gamers. The comments range from serious complaints about hygiene standards to jokes about multi-battle strategies and flatulence. The thread has become a shared space for players to discuss the less glamorous side of competitive gaming.
The fact that the story has spread so widely, with Punk’s tweet carrying the link, shows how much audiences enjoy these kinds of stories. It is a reminder that the competitive gaming world, for all its polish and spectacle, still has its share of human moments.
The Larger Pattern
The Pokémon story fits into a broader pattern of competitive gaming hygiene scandals. The Smash Bros. incident, the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament delay, and the anime voice actor’s appeal all point to the same underlying issue: large gatherings of competitive players, enclosed spaces, and a subset of individuals who apparently skipped the soap.
These stories tend to circulate quickly through gaming communities, where they are treated as cautionary tales and sources of amusement in equal measure. The Pokémon story is simply the latest entry in a long-running genre of competitive gaming hygiene scandals.
What Comes Next
Youm’s post has already done its job: it has made the hygiene issue a topic of conversation in the competitive Pokîmon community. Whether it changes behavior remains to be seen.
Players who compete regularly know the stakes. The question now is whether the viral attention will translate into action.
For now, the story stands as a reminder that even the most dedicated competitors have their limits. And sometimes those limits are reached not by skill or strategy, but by the simple failure to wash.
Key Facts Box
- Event: 2027 Baltimore Pokîmon Regional Championships
- Date: Held earlier this month
- Finish position: 60th
- Record: 9-4
- World Championships: 2026, held in August
- Post date: September 27 on X
- Hashtag: #bro
The takeaway is simple: if you want to be the very best, you might want to start by taking a shower.
Source material: “Pokémon Pro Begs Rivals To Wash After A ‘Putrid’ Smell At A Recent Competition Made Him Throw Up,” Kotaku.
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