How I won a Mew on a flight to Disney World

My family took February school vacations to Disney World in the late ’90s, and every trip included my Game Boy. The Pokémon anime began airing in the U.S. in early September 1998 when I was nine, and I recorded every episode on the many VCRs around the house. Pokémon Red and Blue arrived a few weeks later; I probably got Pokémon Blue for Christmas and picked Squirtle because Blastoise featured on the box art.

At school I led a gang of kids who snuck Game Boys and trading cards outside during recess despite a ban. We hid in the bushes to admire foils and battle. I rarely traded cards but built a reputation for being hard to beat, offering advice and trades, and I felt like the Halliwell Memorial Elementary gym leader—basically Blue from the anime.

On a February trip to Florida, flying out of T.F. Green, I kept my face buried in my Game Boy—a Special Edition Game Boy Color if it was 2000 or a bright red Game Boy Pocket if it was 1999—with a Game Link Cable in its case.

United States, Florida

mew, game boy, pokémon, pokémon red, pokémon blue, squirtle, blastoise, disney world, t.f. green, link cable