Game Theory: How RICH is a Pokemon Master?

Special Thanks to Honey for Partnering With Us for this episode!

I want to be...the very best...and also very RICH!! Being a Pokemon Champion is the dream of many a child and adult, if we are being honest. Except, after you get past all the glory and the cute Pokemon, you have to wonder - is being a Pokemon Master a viable career choice? Can you survive on the money that you'd make? Well today Loyal Theorists, we are about to find out!!

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[vipero]

This is the exact reason Ash (and his mom, since he was only 10 at the time) signed a contract to have a camera crew follow him around and start a reality show of his own.

[daltooinewestwood]

When you become champion you become famous. You get brand deals, merchandising, you go on tour, and anyone that wants to become champion has to beat you to do it. You also gain a significant role as part of federal law enforcement, with almost no restrictions on how you act in the pursuit of that duty. The champion in Pokémon is the equivalent to a Specter in Mass Effect

[tyreemason]

No wonder Ash hasn't bought Misty a new bike yet...

[lancercool]

With that conversion, the bike is actually priced surprisingly fittingly

[susballmapping]

The fact that ash started his Pokémon journey on April fools day just makes things better

[malvernwilson]

"And make them fight TO THE DEATH!"

"To the faint, I mean, to the faint."

Nuzlocke: *Am I a joke to you?*

[Sh-ndfu]

If you chose pikachu you wouldn't have to pay electric bills

[RJFlute]

A year and 3 months pokemon journey having an initial overhead of $6, 000 isn't too bad to be honest. It seems like the Pokemon Journey acts more like an internship where you gain exposure to all the avenues of the workforce in the Pokemon World, from the towns to the government, and then at the end of the journey, you specialize into your field and pursue that, using your contacts and recommendations of your peers.

[brunomuller]

YOURE TELLING ME I SOLD I GIANT PIECE OF PURE GOLD FOR TEN DOLLARS!!?!!!!

[Toopoo_]

I would cut transportation costs too since you just walk everywhere

[aazenmahrajan]

"Can't afford a home"

"Then there's the house payment"

seems right

[murderousduck]

funny thing is, he didnt have to do the lemonade comparison, he could have just translated the yen to pokedollars directly from the japan games

[shadowmarauder]

This actually makes a lot of sense. In the adventure manga, even the gym leaders have another job that they do and the anime shows this as well.

[noobnor]

You forgot to factor in the fact that medical bills in the pokemon world are TOTALLY FREE because their medical care is so insanely good. In addition to that you're only factoring in how profitable being a champion in Kanto specifically is. In Pokemon Platinum which takes place in Sinnoh you get a house for free and make enough money to totally furnish the place out. All in all, lemonade might not be the best way to convert that worlds money into cash. It's probably so much more expensive there because all the necessities are so much more affordable because their economy is in such crazy good shape. For reference you can buy a chandelier for 120000 pokedollars amounting to about 465 usd according to your calculations. That's WAY cheaper than it would be in real life to pay for the purchase and installation of a chandelier. So while it may seem like pokemon trainers are super poor, you're also forgetting that their world is in much much better shape economically than we are in real life.

[kaniurombom]

Matpat: Pokémon trainers are broke

Payday: Allow me to introduce myself

[SalsaRat]

*I swear if the next theory isn’t “what is Brock’s eye color” or “will Brock ever open his eyes”-*

[mr.cowlick]

“And we didn’t even *talk* about *taxes* !!”
*”DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON TAXES !!”*
- MatPat, 2018
At 13:02

[NoiseBerryGames]

Hmm, I wonder how much it changes if you account for the fact that original Red and Green were released 20 years ago now. Does inflation change it at all?

[randomgeneratedname]

“Real life sucks”
But that’s just a fact, a depressing sad fact.

[augustomoreira]

me after seeing the value of a dollar on brazil:
me:*looks at cat* have you ever been in a journey?
cat:
me: would you like to?