Much like the Countdown Tournament, these match types were innovated by PCA students over the years and became popular enough that they ended up being used quite often as a way to break up the monotony of the standard-format battles. Although some of the more serious folks may shun them as being gimmicky, they still see quite a bit of use and, depending on who participates, can often end up as the "main event" of a given evening's battle program.


All three of these were inspired by some of the upcoming Pokethlon events that are in Heart Gold/Soul Silver, if you happened to be wondering.