Pokémon World Championships 2026, held over three days at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, descended into chaos amid overcrowding, safety concerns and complaints of poor accessibility provision. The event, which drew an estimated 50,000 attendees, saw the San Francisco Fire Department intervene after crowds spilled onto the streets, prompting organisers to shut down one of the tournament's most popular attractions, the Pin Rally.

The Pin Rally offered fans the chance to collect exclusive pins from 12 stations, but with only 8,000 pins available each day, queues quickly spiralled out of control; half the stations had closed by 11am on the first day, and people began queuing outside as early as 6am on the second. Organisers cancelled pin stations early on the Saturday and scrapped the Pin Rally entirely for Sunday after consulting fire officials, though the Fire Department denied forcing the closure. Attendees also criticised the handling of general queues and accessibility, with one fan describing ADA provision as "essentially non-existent" and recounting a distressing crush at a pin station where staff struggled to control the crowd.