A professional Pokémon player is going viral after begging his fellow competitors to keep up with their personal hygiene, claiming he literally threw up at an event due to someone’s stench.

Texas-based Pokémon VGC regional champion Donghun Youm says he lost his lunch at the 2026 Baltimore Regional Championships thanks to a super smelly player.

Youm wrote about his experience in a viral post on Twitter/X, where he begged players to “please take care of [their] personal hygiene.”

Youm said someone at the competition smelled so foul that he literally threw up because of it, and his friends were unable to concentrate on their own matches due to the putrid stench.

“I've had an incident at Baltimore regionals where I had to throw up due to a nearby player's stench,” he said. “My friends and I couldn't focus that round due to how putrid the smell was, and we even told a judge due to it. Like, c'mon man....”

Youm’s post has kicked off a heated discourse about players’ hygiene at competitions, as well as no end of jokes and memes about certain Pokémon attacks that rely on smell to deal damage or inflict adverse status effects. (The ability ‘Stench’ was most popular, as it has a 10% chance of making your opponent flinch when hit by a damaging move.)

Please take care of your personal hygiene.
I've had an incident @ Baltimore regionals where I had to throw up due to a nearby player's stench. My friends and I couldn't focus that round due to how putrid the smell was and we even told a judge due to it. Like c'mon man....

— Donghun Youm (@PlaymakerYoum) September 27, 2026

“[Washing] should be a requirement to attend an event,” one commenter replied. “People who smell bad should be kicked out.”

“If you can afford a Nintendo Switch, you can afford a $3 stick of deodorant dude,” another said.

This is far from the first time the subject of hygiene has come up regarding in-person gaming events; in June, a card shop in Oregon suspended its Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments after receiving bad reviews and multiple complaints of smelly patrons.

The shop pointed to Konami’s own tournament guidelines, which stipulate that everyone at a Yu-Gi-Oh competition, not just players, must be “clean and wear clean clothing,” or risk being “penalized.”

Pokémon boasts similar rules; the official Play! Pokemon Tournament Rules Handbook includes a section regarding hygiene, which reads, “Individuals are also required to maintain a socially acceptable level of hygiene during the event. Depending on the attire or level of hygiene, the Tournament Organizer may allow for a tournament participant to change or update their personal hygiene and attire and return to the venue.

"If a participant refuses to comply with tournament staff’s requests, this is grounds for removal from the tournament and venue, and the participant must relinquish their badge to tournament staff."

It’s unclear if the stinky player who caused Youm to throw up was penalized. Either way, the incident has sparked renewed calls from community members for their fellow players to keep themselves clean and fresh at competitions to avoid unpleasant situations like this one.

Game Informer's GTA 6 coverage reveal has shed new light on Rockstar's upcoming game, and we've rounded up all the big new information.

In the story, Rockstar shared new details about GTA 6's ambitious weather systems, the wildlife and NPCs that populate the world, and the scope of GTA 6's map.

Hurricanes in GTA 6 Are Confirmed

Rockstar has managed to pull off one of the most speculated parts of GTA 6: hurricanes. Fans were hoping to see Florida's most significant weather event replicated in GTA 6, but given how intense hurricanes are, many wondered if it was even technically feasible. Speaking to Game Informer, Rockstar confirmed they will be featured in the game, but declined to share how often they will happen and if they will impact the story.

As for how they will be depicted, fans can expect “heavy clouds, strong winds, dense atmospherics, and a lot of rain combine so that everything is dripping wet, water is gushing off roof edges and lampposts, thunder rumbles and flashes of lightning light up the clouds dramatically.”

Rockstar Re-Engineered Its Weather System for GTA 6; Will Feature Realistic Rainbows

Rockstar's VP of art for lighting and rendering, Owen Shepherd, confirmed that the studio re-engineered its weather system to allow for localized, persistent, and dynamic weather. The player can soak up sunny rays in one part of the map, but still be able to see a rainstorm in the distance. The game will also feature rainbows and puddles, allowing the player to travel through an area and deduce that it recently rained there without having been present for it. Additionally, wind will create ripples in the water, blow hair around, and push debris across the world.

Rockstar's Biggest, Most Dense Map to Date

Rockstar North co-studio head Aaron Garbut confirmed that GTA 6's map is twice as big as GTA 5's, with an emphasis on density. The setting of the game, as many know, is a fictionalized version of Florida known as Leonida.

"This new world is different," Garbut said. "We obsessed about every part – the rooftops, the alleys, the internals and everything in between to the point we hit a critical mass with the numbers of our interiors, and you start to feel the buildings are more real inside and out. This world is a cohesive whole with the density of content and a hand-crafted quality to every bit."

GTA 6's Map Has Six Unique Regions

GTA 6's map will feature six different regions. The most prominent one is Vice City, a location fans are familiar with thanks to 2002's GTA: Vice City. The other regions of Leonida include Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park.

GTA 6's Regions May Have Different Factions to Contend With

Ambrosia is a more rural part of the map with factories and refineries, dominated by a biker gang who control the area. This gang appears to be different from the Lost MC, which were prominently featured in GTA 4 and GTA 5.

GTA 6's Story Is Designed to Take Players Across the Map

With a map as big as Rockstar is promising, GTA 6 may feel daunting to would-be explorers. However, Rockstar plans to use the game's story to take players around the map and show off the different areas. Of course, this won't cover every inch of the world, but it will demonstrate the strong contrast of more affluent parts of Leonida versus more "poor" areas.

GTA 6 Will Have a Fast Travel System

GTA has historically let players hop in a cab to freely fast travel through the world, but Red Dead Redemption 2 was a bit more restrictive. You could fast travel from town to town, but not any hyper specific points on the map. GTA 6 will allow you to hop in a ride share car and zip around town... however, ride sharing means just that: sharing. Players will be able to share rides with other passengers and have unique conversations.

You Can Doomscroll in GTA 6

If you don't want to make conversation with other passengers or sightsee, you can doomscroll on Snapmatic, the game's parody of Instagram.

You Can't Post on Social Media Yourself, Though

Players won't be able to post on the app themselves, as Jason and Lucia are on the run and would risk danger by being overly active on social media.

Some of GTA 6's Side Activities Revealed

GTA 6 will feature a boatload of side activities; here are just some of them, as revealed in Game Informer's story:

• Base Jumping
• Billiards
• Gyms
• Kayaking
• Mini Golf
• Scuba Diving
• Street & Off-Road Racing
• Zoos
• Air Boating
• Jet Skiing

GTA 6 Has Over 170 Animal Species

Fans will be able to see and interact with 170 different types of animals. This includes over 60 birds, over 30 land mammals, and a variety of fish and reptiles. The extended gameplay reveal in August confirmed that players will be able to pet dogs and if it's anything like Red Dead Redemption 2, this will presumably extend to other animals like cats.

“Florida has a diverse animal ecosystem that we wanted to faithfully include across the different biomes in Leonida – urban and rural environs, aquatic life both inland and ocean, and the wetland habitats like the swamps and Everglades,” Rockstar vice president of dynamic art, Michael Kane, explained. “The animal art and population teams are incredibly passionate about delivering animals that are accurately researched and look visually correct in every respect, alongside the supporting movement and animation to bring them to life.”

Aquatic Animals Will Have Distinct Behavior

Rockstar confirmed that GTA 6 features different shark species, jellyfish, whales, turtles, and rays in the game's sea. They will have "distinct movement behavior" and can be encountered while scuba diving in the water.

Hunting Seemingly Returns

One of the screenshots in Game Informer's story shows Jason approaching deer in the wild with a rifle strung over his back. It seems to suggest some form of hunting will return in the game. Hunting was a very small part of GTA 5 and a bit half-baked. The system returned in Red Dead Redemption 2 with significantly more depth.

Animal Tracking and Rare Animals Return

Players will be able to track animals as they did in Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar also confirmed there will be rare animal types, but didn't reveal any.

Multiple Ways to Rob

Robberies are a central part of the game and players will have a lot of choice in how they do that. Do they go as a duo? Do they go alone? Do they go loud? Do they go quiet? There are a lot of options, but your choices will determine the level of response you can get from the police.

Busted

Jason and Lucia can shake the cops together or split up, leaving one person to take the bulk of the heat. However, if either one of these protagonists gets overwhelmed by police, it's game over.

Carjacking Has More Variety and Risks in GTA 6

Higher end cars require special tools to steal and if successful, they may have trackers or security systems to create new obstacles for you. Players can use an app known as WAiNK to determine a car's resale value, security system, and the cost to make it your own personal vehicle. Should you want to off-load it, you'll have to take it to a fence.

Jason and Lucia's Relationship Is Influenced by Player Choice

The two protagonists, Jason and Lucia, may long for a romantic relationship together, but it is up to the player to determine whether or not they go beyond a platonic one. The player will be able to essentially court the two characters by taking them on dates, paying attention when they call or text you, and being chivalrous by opening doors or holding hands.

Choices Shape GTA 6's Story

GTA 6's story will be ripe for multiple playthoughs. Rockstar confirmed that choices big and small with not only influence Jason and Lucia's relationship, but the story as a whole, encouraging players to play the game again to see alternative story threads.

Rockstar Is Trying to Overdeliver on Players' Sky High Expectations

“As the pressure for us on this project is huge, we dealt with that by doing our best to overdeliver," said Rockstar North co-studio head Aaron Garbut. "Normally you compromise scale for detail or detail for interaction, but with this project we went the other way - everything is dialed up – detail, scope, breadth, scale, interaction and density. I don't think we have ever created anything close to this before."

GTA 6 Will Feature an Absurdly Diverse Set of NPCs

Rockstar has created a wide variety of NPCs that vary in height, weight, skin type, and more. Characters can get a tan, they can have moles, and even the sizes of their butts and chests will vary from person to person.

GTA 6 Features the Biggest Collection of Clothing and Accessories to Date

GTA 6 will feature a ton of clothing options, which players can acquire with their ill-gotten gains. NPCs will also be dressed differently based on where they are in the world. If they're in a more impoverished area, expect them to have dirtier or weathered clothing.

“We’ve been able to really go hard on that with creating the biggest range of garments and accessories we’ve ever made – supported with rich, realistic materials,” Kane says. “That surfacing includes color, patterns and branding that are both area-appropriate, but also tied to context (states of dirt/weathering and fitment) for the characters themselves and their social situation and how they inhabit Leonida. Shoes, sneakers, and colorways that we know carry cultural weight as items – likewise watches, sunglasses, or hats.”