Pokemon VGC Champ Says Rival's Stench Made Him Vomit Mid-Match

2023 Milwaukee Regional champ Donghun Youm says a nearby player's body odor at Baltimore Regionals made him throw up and lose focus, and officials already have hygiene rules on the books.

Ever been locked into a ranked match when something way worse than a bad connection hits you? For one Pokemon VGC pro, that something was the smell coming from the seat next to him.

Donghun Youm, a professional Pokemon Video Game Championships player and winner of the 2023 Milwaukee Regional, took to social media to beg competitors to take personal hygiene seriously. In his post, he described an incident at the Baltimore Regional where a nearby player's stench was so bad he actually had to throw up.

"Please take care of your personal hygiene," Youm wrote. "I've had an incident @ 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...."

That's right, it got bad enough that he and his friends flagged down a judge. Youm didn't name the player involved, and he never said whether officials took any action after the complaint. But the post blew up fast, and the community ran with it, mixing serious talk about tournament hygiene with jokes about all the smell-themed moves and abilities Pokemon has to offer.

One commenter pointed out that body odor drama is nothing new in trading card game events, where organizers routinely bake personal hygiene into their rules. Others said it simply comes down to basics: shower before the event, bring deodorant, don't be that person.

Here's the thing, though. Pokemon VGC officials already thought of this. According to IGN, Play! Pokemon's official Tournament Rules Handbook requires all participants to maintain a "socially acceptable level of hygiene" during events. If a player's clothing or hygiene doesn't meet the standard, organizers can ask them to clean up or change before returning to the venue. Refuse to cooperate, and staff can remove them from the building and demand their badge back.

And this isn't just a Pokemon problem. Super Smash Bros. tournaments have seen players scrambling for deodorant after being told they smelled, and Yu-Gi-Oh! card events have had their own hygiene controversies too. Turns out competitive gaming's oldest rival isn't a top-tier team comp, it's the person sitting next to you.

As for Youm, he finished the Baltimore Regional with a 9-4 record, landing in 60th place. He said afterward that he only locked in his team at 4 a.m. the day before, so he was pretty happy with the result. Not bad for a weekend that started with a gag reflex.

So, what do you think? Should tournaments enforce hygiene rules harder, or is this just something players have to deal with? Will you be packing deodorant in your tournament bag from now on?