Battle judge

If you were looking for the NPC in the Pokémon games who assesses a Pokémon's IVs, see Stats judge.

Battle judge Olivier

A battle judge (Japanese: バトル審判 battle referee), also known as a referee, is a person who presides over the judgment of Pokémon battles between Trainers in official, designated challenges in the anime. They are identifiable by the Poké Ball symbol on their shirts.

Role

A battle judge is responsible for determining whether or not a Pokémon is able to continue battling. They can be found in Pokémon League Conferences and several other Pokémon competitions featuring battles. They are in charge of officially beginning a match and upholding its rules, such as how many Pokémon a Trainer is allowed to use and if there are any substitution limitations.

Battle judges have to make it clear to all of the Trainers involved what the parameters of the match are. The terms for a win are also in their ruling, as in what is required for a Trainer to lose the match. In general practice, the default appears to be until all of the available Pokémon on one side have fainted.

Pokémon battles conducted at Gyms and Battle Frontier facilities are also observed by an appointed judge. These are, most of the time, a capable student, intern, assistant, or even a relative to the Gym Leader or Frontier Brain who assist in calling battles against the challenger. Robots can also referee battles, as seen in the Battle Palace, the Sunyshore Gym, and the Lumiose Gym. In a similar capacity, it is shown in Destination: Coronation! that offical battles in the World Coronation Series are presided over by a Rotom Drone.

The Sunyshore Gym referee

The calls made by a referee are official and determine the outcome of the battle. This is not the case in most Kanto Gyms, where there is no referee present to rule, except in the case of Agatha in the Viridian Gym, who allowed Scott to judge her match against Ash; the Gym Leaders primarily self-judged the match.

Gym Leaders themselves are qualified judges. Brock has provided judgment for many battles over the course of the series, Roark presided over an official Gym match between Byron and Ash, and Flannery's grandfather—the former Lavaridge Gym Leader—took up the position as the judge for Flannery's match against Ash.

According to Brock, there are not many judges capable of evaluating a battle at the level necessary for battles sanctioned by the Pokémon League. Max hints at the profession's prestige and esteem: given that so few are capable of judging a League battle, simply being able to is an honor.

In Alola's trials, the residing Island Kahuna typically watches over the Trainer's battle with the Totem Pokémon. During Ash's grand trials against Hala and Olivia, Professor Kukui has judged in the Kahuna's stead. In his grand trials against Nanu and Hapu, Acerola and Kiawe took on the role of referee, respectively. During the Manalo Conference, all four Kahunas serve as referees.

Requirements

A female referee

Judges are trained to critically evaluate the battlefield, which includes the Pokémon, the Trainers, and the field itself, if the terrain is not ordinary. They have to be able to recognize when a Pokémon has fainted and announce a winner through defeat, by determining all aspects of a Pokémon, including its type-cast and what a species as a whole is capable of.

The training a person must go through to become a judge was shown in Judgment Day!. In the Hoenn region, aspiring battle judges study at the Pokémon Battle Judge Training Institute located on Bomba Island, where Serena teaches and Jimmy studied.

Their ruling is usually absolute, so making the correct call is imperative to the eventual announcement of a match. A wrong call might lead to the questioning of a judge's abilities to referee, especially in a professional setting. According to Serena, a battle judge must have confidence that the decision and ruling they are making is correct, otherwise it leaves room for error.

Notable battle judges

Jamero

Jamero

Jamero (Japanese: ジャメカくん Jameka-kun) is a floating, mechanical surveillance device used at the Battle Palace, and a character of the day that appeared in Ka Boom with a View!.

Jamero is a robotic Gym assistant used to judge Spenser and Ash's battle over an area that encompassed an entire section of land with various environmental terrains and obstacles. Scott described its abilities as being able to hit high speeds in the air or underwater, and is capable of making decisions in less than a split second. Also, what Jamero views is fed back through a laptop, which was in the balloon that Scott and Ash's friends were riding in during the match. It declared Ash the winner when his Sceptile defeated Spenser's Claydol.

Voice actors

Language Voice actor Japanese 石塚運昇 Unshō Ishizuka English Rodger Parsons Finnish Petri Hanttu Brazilian Portuguese Vágner Santos European Spanish Eduardo del Hoyo

A Drone Rotom

Drone Rotom

The Drone Rotom (Japanese: ドローンロトム Drone Rotom) is a Rotom inhabiting a drone that acts as the official judge for World Coronation Series battles. Like the Rotom Pokédex, the Rotom Phone, and Rotomi, this form of Rotom cannot be used in battle.

As soon as a battle appointment between two Trainers is made for a World Coronation Series match, the Drone Rotom is sent flying to the location where the battle takes place. The Drone Rotom can display a hologram picturing the participants in the battle and how many Pokémon they can send out. Like regular referees, it also explains the battle rules to Trainers. After the battle, the Drone Rotom will announce that the rankings have been updated and then leave the site.

In the games

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, a Drone Rotom can be seen flying inside Stadiums when the player faces a Gym Leader.

In the anime

The Drone Rotom first appeared in Destination: Coronation!, where it judged the battle between Ash and Visquez. It has since judged all of Ash's World Coronation Series matches.

Voice actors

Language Voice actor Japanese マックスウェル・パワーズ Maxwell Powers English Jake Paque Brazilian Portuguese Ricardo Juarez

In the manga

In the Pocket Monsters manga

A Drone Rotom appeared in JNM09, fulfilling the same role as in the anime.

Another Drone Rotom appeared in JNM10.

Other notable battle judges

See also: List of Gym assistants

• Charlene
• Clembot
• Gurkinn

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Judges in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Judge Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Card	Type	English Expansion	Rarity	#	Japanese Expansion	Rarity	#
Judge	Su	Unleashed		78/95	Metagross Deck		014/014
					Raichu Battle Starter Deck		011/011
		BREAKthrough		143/162	Noivern BREAK Evolution Pack		009/010
					BREAK Starter Pack		065/072
		Forbidden Light		108/131	Forbidden Light		087/094
					Thunderclap Spark		057/060
		Lost Thunder		209/214	Thunderclap Spark		066/060
					Tag Bolt		085/095
					Tag Team GX Deck Build Box		023/029
					SM-P Promotional cards		334/SM-P
					Remix Bout		057/064
Judge Whistle	I	Team Up		146/181	Tag Bolt		078/095
		Team Up		194/181	Tag Bolt		117/095
Drone Rotom	I	Vivid Voltage		151/185	Amazing Volt Tackle		090/100

In the TFG

Judge appears as a unique type of figure at the Pokémon Trading Figure Game, allowing to be used as a substitute for a coin flip.

In other languages

Language Title Danish Dommer Dutch Rechter Finnish Tuomari Italian Arbitro di lotta Norwegian Dommer Polish Sędzia Brazilian Portuguese Árbitro Russian Судья Sud'ya Spanish Latin America Árbitro Pokémon Spain Juez Pokémon Swedish Domare

See also

• Contest Judge

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.