Game Theory: How RICH is a Pokemon Master? 

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

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

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.

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.

I would cut transportation costs too since you just walk everywhere

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

With that conversion, the bike is actually priced surprisingly fittingly

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.

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

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

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

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

"Can't afford a home" "Then there's the house payment" seems right

Matpat: Pokémon trainers are broke Payday: Allow me to introduce myself

When he stopped the song and was like, real life sucks, I was like.... yea. I feel that. I relate more to this video than any other.

0:37 ahhh It sounded great, I want a full version!

"And make them fight TO THE DEATH!" "To the faint, I mean, to the faint." Nuzlocke: *Am I a joke to you?*

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.

I love going back to this video and finding the parts that made it into the song

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

4:47 line line line, line line swoop, swoop line swoop, naruto run, one legged balance, and stupid L... OMG I’M DYING

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

5:13 I can't imagine the joy I'll feel when I cut that Pikachu's head on half on my platter

The fact that Ash has been 11 for 25 years just makes it all worth it to me.

We all want Ash's age; do you accept the challenge of figuring it out?

Matpat's first words Mat: H-h-h Mum: awe his first words! Is it he- Mat: HELLO INTERNET, WELCOME TO GAME THEORY!

I just started the video, but wouldn't traveling through the wilderness, constantly on the move, be a bit more cost efficient than staying at home? With a house, you have food, water, electric, car, and house payments, and presumably less Pokémon to catch and people to fight in order to gain money. On the road, you don't have to pay a lot of those expenses, and meet more Pokémon and people to fight. Sure, hotels can be pretty expensive, but they probably spend a good chunk of the time on the road anyways.

I imagine they make most of their money by selling the Pokémon that they level up, or from tickets sold to watch their fights.

I want ash’s ageless age

Why would you use old generations for these costs? You earn a lot more money in newer generations. Defeating Rainbow Rocket can get you 2 million $P in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon. You get 57,000 $p from battling the elite four, which can double if you have an amulet coin equipped. You can also rematch the elite four and take on new challengers for the Champion title for an additional 2,000 $p per battle. With an amulet coin, that's an extra 20,000 $p. "But what about the mediocre trainers you encounter in-game?" you might ask. You have to consider what their title is before battling* them, for example Artist . Pokemon battling is a hobby to these people, and not a main source of income. Notice how actual trainers are either young, veterans, or Aces. The youngsters are just starting out, they won't realize how strong you actually have to be in order to be a professional. Aces and Veterans on the other hands give more money upon defeat. Why? Because pokemon battling is their profession. In the end, pokemon battling is like being an entertainer, whether that entertainer is an artist, actor, or musician, you either make it and profit, or you don't and you find yourself doing something else. Like being a Bug Maniac Edits marked with * - Changed encountering to battling

The missed opportunity of mat saying "teach them to understand the power that's in gold"

You should put that song on spotify

I want ashes age!!!11!1!!

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

8:25 little did Mat know what he started

I just love the fact that the first minutes of the video are just him quoting a song he made (my personal favorite)

I want Ash's age

"Real life sucks." MatPat-2018 words of wisdom

Me: *goes on a pokemon video from film theory or game theory* Video: I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST LIKE NOONE EVER WAS

1:27 GameTheory used Throw! It's super effective!

“They start their journey on April 1st after their 10th birthday” I feel bad for that one kid that was born on the 2nd of April

I want ash's age

This is why if I was in the Pokemon world I would become a Professor or Pokemon researcher so I can spend my days enjoying the company of & understanding Pokemon

Nurse Joy: Here's your bill for Healing Pikachue!" Ash: IM NOT PAYING FOR DAT!

I want ashes age please he’s probably 47

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?

I want to see this with the Amulet Coin numbers and the items you find around the game-world. It might be just enough to get you into some sort of green space.

There is also the aspect of merchandise. There are stuff like pokeberries and apricorns that you can grow and sell.

I want Ash's age

"line line line" "Naruto run" "stupid L" how I remembered the characters when taking Japanese in college XD

You can fight the elite 4 as many times as you want and with a level 100 pokemon you can ohko every pokemon they have. Elite 4 and the champ have 26 pokemon total so you can beat them in 26 turns plus a little walking. Even if each turn takes 1 minute you could beat them twice in an hour, so $117 to beat them all means you earn $234 PER HOUR! If you work a 38 hour week that you earn $462,384 A YEAR!

after hearing the song, when I hear him say the lyrics in the not song form, I still think of the song.

I respect your work Mattpat, but there are ways to get around this. You haven't included the amulet coin which doubles prize money, or O-powers which can triple you prize earnings and stacks with the amulet. There is also the move Happy hour. This move doesn't stack with the amulet but DOES stack with O- Powers. End result being *over 6x* what you came up with. Lastly, you can take away the costs of transportation since most trainers end up using Fly to travel most places.

In Sun and Moon, you can literally make more that a million pokedollars if you do side quests and part time jobs 😂

"Line line swoop" should have been smiley face

Well, it also costs you thousands of dollars to go to college but that doesn't seem to stop people.

I want Ash's age!

I want ashes age

But what about pokemon holding items like amulet coin or meowth using pay day?

The question isn't "How rich is a Pokémon Trainer?", it's "Which region produces the richest Pokémon Trainer?"

I want Ash’s age!!!

Ash is probably so old that he's body would have turn into ash if he wouldn't be stuck in Peter Pan aging spell.

9:54 Ah yes, can't forget the gun incase of misbehavior..

I love how a buff ad is the exact same just diffrent backround

I want ashes age!!!

I want Ash’s age!!!!!!1!1!!1!!!

That intro is practically a reality check for mat pat

Wait, if parents choose to send out their kids despite MatPat's perceived loss of money, wouldn't that mean the vending machine he uses as a baseline is price gouging?

I want ash’s age

Honestly, I was expecting the calculation to be based on the single, constantly proffitable item in the game that exists in real life, the nugget. A solid chunk of gold, would have DRAMATICALLY changed the calculations.

5:19 Lassi I hear you say that is like Staple of my diet

Please do a lore video on the Pokemon adventures Manga

Anyone else wish that MatPat would do a sort of post-Show livestream after theories where he would address questions or criticism for a particular theory? Because sometimes he gets a lot a flak or confusion from his fans and it’d be nice to have some clarification or follow up. I remember really early game theory where he actually had an episode dedicated to responding to comments and it was really fun. I know that there’s probably a chunk of people who won’t watch it but idk I think it’d be a fun way to connect with some of the more dedicated fans of the show

I want ash’s age!!

Stil can't unhear the song.

if you know he mostly walks so he doesn't have to spend too much on transportation and he's in the woods so he can gather food in the trees and have you seen him go to a hospital for himself he heals himself and takes care of himself (i don't know if that is true because i only watched pokemon xyz and pokemon black and white) so reduce it a bit

How could you say “Naruto run” but not say “smiley face?”

I want Ash's age! Please!

You could cut out a little of the food cost cause some Pokémon are used as food such as one episode you try to stop people from farming slowpoke tails for food

Man, no wonder I was always broke and desperate for money in my Ruby playthrough.

No but yeah I actually really wanna see Ash’s age now

As someone who can read Japanese writing, I didn’t know how to feel when you were giving names to the Kanji and Katakana symbols 😂 it was great

I’m typing this before rewatching, but is a Coin Amulet (or necklace [that increases money earned per battle depending on if the holder is switched in]) factored into the equation?

Matpat: I should calculate ash’s age Me from the future: no you shouldn’t it gets very messed up

The guy who’s birthday is April 2nd: T_T

me: watching youtube in my pajamas eating chips MatPat: calculating the net worth of a character from a fictional universe about catching small monsters

now im curious wy does matpat's logo has a 3 green on te circle but one red?

I don't usually speak up, but there are actual restaurants in the pokemon games that you could've accounted for in the prices of food, also, most of the dishes, which the *people* are eating are made with the berries that you can find and grow in the game, basically, you can make your own food and supplementive liquids out of things you find on your journey, like Brock, if you are using the anime. Ingredients such as milk and eggs can also be found in the game (From miltanks and breeding) and I bet that there is a pokemon version of wheat, since cake and bread exist, so making your own food using survivalist type farming (which on a wandering journey you would probably read up on beforehand). Not to mention that in the anime, Ash travels with 2 Gym leaders, who both probably have paychecks from the pokemon league as you said, and Brock is shown making/providing the food for the biggest part of the show. So you could most likely cut the costs of food from the journey (or at least Ash's) to lessen the cost of it. Also, since you didn't cut transportation, which in the average I assume you are using (the one that includes gas prices for owned motor vehicles, which are not used regularly by the characters in the show) you could have at least cut out gas prices because the most we see is the occasional train/boat ride since most of the transportation is done on foot. There are also the rare treasures like the gold nuggets that you get and sell for the real big bucks, increasing your profits by a large amount, plus if you get a lucky amulet (which you do in the majority of games) it would double your battle income. Some games also tackle the low income of pkmn trainers by offering jobs in hotels, serving at those aforementioned restaurants, and even becoming a farmhand. So the overall losses of the journey would be much less than you calculated :/ That being said I don't mean this as harmful in any way, just as some points that could have been added for more accuracy, because I love your videos *thumbs up*

Well, the main problem is that the two worlds are VASTLY different, even without pokemon. Aside from looker in gen 4, we never see evidence of a cohesive government. Healthcare appears to be free (which may be covered by the corporations that profit from battling), and housing is scarce (seriously, you never really find any unoccupied homes). Needless to say, comparing our world to the world of pokemon is like comparing apples to imaginary oranges. Maybe lemonade is far more expensive in the pokeworld because of a shortage of fruit trees (think about it, how many have you ever actually seen). Perhaps on these tiny islands with small economies, that money is worth far more. In fact, I think there is good evidence that there is good money to be made, because everyone and their dog in pokemon tries it, and the corporations who make money off of those people are clearly well-off. Just a thought.

I think the one aspect of the financial situation is grown up support. The parents pay for the expense that you don't see in the games. That is probably why Misty stayed with Ash the longest, she doesn't have a grown up to support her.

It would've been an absolute troll to put a midroll right after the "at least its wasn't a midroll" part

I want Ash's age !!!!1!!1!

they be living off the land 24/7

Actually, there are 5 things you forgot to mention in the video: the move Pay Day, the Amulet Coin, and the ability to rematch trainers, the Pokecoins from Pokémon Go, and the things you can sell (Stardust, Nuggets, Berrys, ETC…). Calculating the actual amount is pretty hard considering these.

Only in Stadium(Non canon game) make that reference and that is a separated universe from the principal saga. Celebrations are in different order.

Lmao I’m wearing headphones and at 0:20 when you had the soft voice singing along I go rely scared because I could have sworn someone was singing in my room 😂

I want ash's age!

You should all know that pokedollars symbol is originally called Poke-yen in japan and its value is reflective 1 to 1 to yen the national japanese currency. And basically 1 us dollar is always around 100 yen, so converting 1,000,000 poke-yen is 1,000,000 yen which equals to roughly $10,000 USD so basically with all the money earned in Pokémon just remove 2 of the zeros and thats your conversion for its rough equivalent to USD

I never considered this when I watched the video the first time, but what about items that you find and can sell?

Amulet Coins, I don't care they weren't in Red/Blue, they were literally in every single game after. Pokecenters are free hotels for trainers, sleeping and eating is free. And in Sun/Moon you get paid a million if you get all the Ultra Beasts.