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A Pokémon-themed bar in the midst of a British and American tour will appear in Boston for one weekend only next year: The PokéBar pop-up will be in town May 23 and 24, with themed food and drink, giveaways, costume contests, and more. (See update below.)
Thought it’s a long way off from its arrival in Boston, PokéBar’s other pop-ups coming up this fall indicate that tickets (a whopping $55) will grant attendees a Pokémon-themed burger (yes, the bun might look like Pikachu, Bulbasaur, or Charmander) and a drink, and there will be vegetarian options available.
Entertainment to go along with the themed food and drink will consist of trivia, live DJs, game playing (of course), and a costume contest. The specific location for Boston’s pop-up is not yet listed, but keep apprised of updates on the roving PokéBar’s website.
Boston’s no stranger to themed touring pop-up bars: The Christmas-themed Miracle Bar will be returning to the Boston area for its third year this November and December.
Update, September 30, 2019: Not so fast, PokéBar, says Nintendo. Viral Ventures, the Australian company behind PokéBar, reportedly did not actually get permission from Nintendo — which owns the Pokémon brand — to use the Pokémon name and characters for its pop-up series, which has events planned across North America in 2019 and 2020.
Denver’s upcoming event was postponed to accommodate a rebrand to Monster Burger Bar, “a themed burger and trivia brunch,” and dates for other stops on the planned tour, including Boston, no longer appear on the pop-up’s website, so it’s unclear if the definitely-not-Pokémon-related-or-Nintendo-affiliated “monster burger bar” will end up in Boston in May 2020 or not.
As Eater Montreal reports, this isn’t the first time Viral Ventures has pulled a stunt like this; after promoting a traveling pop-up called Legobar that was not affiliated with Lego, it ultimately rebranded the series as “Thebrickbar.”
• PokéBar [Official Site]
