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"Come on down — we'll take you to the battle zone," the La Crosse man said. "This is what we do in our spare time."
Pokemon posters line the walls of the family's basement. Tables are permanently set up so there is always a place to play the Pokemon trading card game. Specially constructed Pokemon card decks are locked in silver suitcases.
Troy pulled out his daughter's Pikachu collection, which numbers 450 cards all decorated with the happy yellow beast. Son Mike showed off his 210 Ninetales cards.
Then the holographic cards come out.
"Mom won't play," Dad teased. "She shops."
"I'm not the least bit interested," replied Michelle, the wife/mother of the bunch. "I can't pronounce half of the names of them either."
But Michelle doesn't mind her family's Pokemon addiction, which has evolved into league games every Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. at River City Hobbies, and state tournaments, where father, son and daughter all compete.
Danielle, 9, earned first place in her age category during the Minnesota state championships earlier this month, so the whole family will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to cheer her on during the Pokemon National Championships on July 2 and 3.
"I think it's good they're not in front of the TV," Michelle said. "I like it."
Mike, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Logan Middle School, was the first family member to become acquainted with Pokemon cards when he saw his friends playing them at school about five years ago.
He began collecting cards, and that piqued the interest of his younger sister and father. Then they started playing the game together.
Danielle, a third-grader at Roosevelt Elementary School, isn't really sure why she likes the game. But she said she loves the character, Pikachu, "because he's cute."
"She wants her room in Pikachu now," Michelle said.
Troy said the family travels to Madison, Wis., or Brooklyn Park, Minn., when they want to compete at the state level. Mike earned third place in his age category at the Minnesota championships, and Troy earned fifth place among the parents.
But Troy said titles aren't what's driving them — it's about spending time together as a family.
"That's what is most important to me," he said.
Anastasia Mercer can be reached at (608) 791-8256 or smercer@lacrossetribune.com.
