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2026 marks the 30th anniversary of Pokémon, and one company is giving fans the chance to celebrate it in a strange way, as a giant maze has appeared in the United Kingdom depicting some of the most popular creatures in the franchise.
While Pokémon games list 1995 as the original copyright date for the franchise, Pokémon Red & Green didn't actually launch until 1996 in Japan, due to last-minute delays. International fans had to wait a few more years, as Pokémon Red & Blue reached North America in 1998, and Europe in 1999. As such, it's only the original Japanese fans who can truly appreciate being around for thirty years.
The Pokémon Company has been hosting various celebratory events and selling merchandise for the 30th anniversary, but other companies are getting in on the action. One business in the United Kingdom, called Skylark Events, is taking it back to Greek mythology, with a giant Pokémon maze.
Pokémon 30th Anniversary Maze Has Appeared In England
Skylark is hosting a Pokémon-themed Maize Maze in Wimblington, Cambridgeshire, from July 18 to September 1, 2026. The maze is built across 13 acres, and from the sky, it depicts Pokémon like Pikachu, Charmander, and Squirtle, as well as a Poké Ball. Thankfully, it won't have the teleporting tiles or those spinny things from the Team Rocket bases throughout the series.
Once the maze has been explored, visitors can enjoy a picnic with Pikachu. Unfortunately, the picture on the website appears to be AI-generated, with horrific chimera faces for the children. Maybe the organizers were trying to pay homage to MissingNo, with corrupted glitch people to celebrate the release of Pokémon Red & Blue?
The Pokémon Company has been hosting various celebratory events and selling merchandise for the 30th anniversary, but other companies are getting in on the action.
Pokémon fans worldwide have been celebrating the 30th anniversary in various ways, usually with an underlying sense of "Oh no, I'm old!" The kids who first booted up Pokémon Red & Blue on their Game Boy are either in or approaching their forties, and are hopefully looking forward to Pokémon Winds & Waves on Nintendo Switch 2, when they launch sometime in 2027.
The original fans who were around during Pokémania are old enough to host big events and pass their interests onto their children, which is easy in the case of Pokémon, as it never truly went away, with new games and seasons of the anime regularly launching over the years, even if the faces changed. Ash Ketchum might be gone, but his show is still around, with new characters teaching kids about the wonders of Pokémon.
The Pokémon 30th anniversary celebrations still have a few more months to go, and companies worldwide have the chance to capitalize on the hype and let fans experience the thrills of the series in person. While the Skylark maze is only feasible available to United Kingdom fans, there's plenty of Pokémon to go around, with The Pokémon Company insuring such a huge milestone won't go to waste.
