New Team Rocket Board Game Joins Pokémon 30th Anniversary Lineup

Pokemon’s 30th Anniversary celebrations are in full swing, with its Trading Card Game festivities already taking shape, additional details for the upcoming Winds and Waves branding turning up online, and fresh merchandise announcements rolling out—including at least one product that appears to “trap” your plush companions. To keep the momentum going, a new Team Rocket–themed board game has also been teased in collaboration with Yoka Games.

Key takeaways

• A new board game called “Are You, Perhaps, a Rocket Grunt?” has been revealed with a later-this-year release window.
• Yoka Games is the developer behind the project and is known for titles like Slay the Spire: The Board Game and Super Fantasy Brawl.
• The game was first shown via an official Poke Times Twitter post in Japanese.
• Current information points to a November launch in Japan, with no confirmed English release yet.
• The promo art suggests a card-driven format featuring a Team Rocket Grunt, a menacing Pikachu, and Koffing.

New Team Rocket-Focused Pokemon Board Game Coming Later This Year

Yoka Games is a Chinese board game designer, producer, and publisher. Its portfolio includes Slay the Spire: The Board Game, Super Fantasy Brawl, and more than 300 additional games. With “Are You, Perhaps, a Rocket Grunt?” it’s adding another major property to its roster: Pokemon.

The title was first surfaced through the official Poke Times Twitter account, with the initial reveal presented in Japanese. That post provided the first look at the board game’s branding and promotional materials.

At the moment, concrete details are limited. The game is scheduled to release in November, at least for the Japanese market. An English-language version hasn’t been confirmed, meaning international players will have to wait for further announcements.

The promotional image frames the game as card-based, and it includes what looks like a Team Rocket Grunt along with a threatening Pikachu and Koffing. The overall visual style strongly echoes the look of earlier Pokemon eras, giving it a nostalgic tone that fits the anniversary period.

Pokemon’s parent company has a long history of board games tied to the franchise. It began with the 1999 version of Monopoly, and over the last three decades there have been roughly 30 different board game releases. Among them are Yahtzee, Goita (revealed late last year), and Sorry!. The company has also produced a lineup of marbles that many fans may remember collecting—before, in some cases, losing them.

What comes next for the 30th Anniversary reveals

“Are You, Perhaps, a Rocket Grunt?” is unlikely to be the final Pokemon reveal this year. With the franchise celebrating a major milestone, more announcements are expected to follow. In fact, over the past six years, The Pokemon Company and Nintendo have held a Pokemon Presents broadcast during the summer in five of those six years.

Given how little we currently know about Winds and Waves, it’s reasonable to expect another similar presentation this year. In 2020, the event happened in June; in 2021, 2022, and 2023, it landed in August; it didn’t run in 2024; and for 2025, it took place in July. With that pattern in mind, fans could be only a few weeks away from the next batch of updates.