Player Junglebook Puts the First Pokémon UNITE World Championship Trophy Up for Sale for $400,000

Junglebook, an esports player and winner of the first Pokémon UNITE World Championship as part of the North American team BLVKHVND, has put his 2022 trophy up for sale. The listing, with an asking price of $400,000, appeared on X on October 30 — just days after the announcement of the game's upcoming shutdown.

Lot Details and Trophy Condition

The trophy features Pikachu holding a smaller statuette while standing on a Poké Ball. According to the seller, the cup was won at the London tournament, remains in mint condition, and was only handled during the official 2022 awards ceremony. Junglebook noted that the price is not final: he is open to negotiation and will consider trade options, particularly for rare, high-grade Pokémon trading cards.

Connection to the Pokémon UNITE Shutdown

The decision to sell is directly tied to the game's upcoming shutdown, scheduled for March 23, 2027. Once the servers go offline, the list of UNITE world champions will be permanently finalized. This makes the trophy from the first-ever championship an exclusive and virtually irreplaceable artifact, which serves as the main argument for its high valuation.

Community Appraisal and Market Context

The asking price of $400,000 significantly exceeds both fan community estimates and similar past sales:

• Shortly before the listing was published, a discussion featuring the same photos appeared in the r/PokeInvesting community. Respondents estimated the trophy's value to range from $10,000 to $50,000.
• For comparison, in May 2025, a cup from the 2024 Pokémon World Championships (Honolulu) was sold at Goldin Auctions for $12,810 (including buyer's premium) after 22 bids.
• The requested price is 30 times higher than the 2024 auction precedent and four times larger than the entire prize pool ($100,000) that team BLVKHVND earned for winning the tournament.

Experts note that rare trading cards remain the primary high-value collectibles in the Pokémon market, while tournament trophies are purchased much less frequently. The true value of the cup will only be determined by the outcome of a potential deal.

Historical Context of the 2022 Tournament

Pokémon UNITE was released on Nintendo Switch in July 2021 and on mobile devices in September of the same year. By February 2022, a championship series with a $1 million prize pool was announced, culminating in the finals in London (ExCeL London) on August 18–21, 2022.

The prize pool for the world finals alone was $500,000. In the grand finals, team BLVKHVND defeated Nouns Esports to take home $100,000, while the silver medalists received $75,000. Later, the same roster, playing for Luminosity Gaming, won the 2023 championship in Yokohama, making them the game's only two-time champions. The winners of subsequent years were FENNEL (2024) and ZETA DIVISION (2025).

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