Strawberry Loft

Pokemon has always had a fascination with the past, each new region steeped in rich history and tales of ancient Pokemon that roamed the earth. Fossils have been an in-game staple item since the Red, Blue, Yellow era in 1996. Players could find three fossils from exploring. In the original set of games, one of the fossils could be used to revive Omanyte my favorite prehistoric Pokemon based off a nautilus shell. Over the years the methods for collecting fossils has become more involved. Instead of objects that can be randomly found, finding a fossil requires going on your own archaeological dig. It’s a nice little side quest if you’re burned out from being the very best at catching and training Pokemon.

A Japanese archeology team was lucky enough to find some of these rare Pokemon fossils and next spring they’re going on tour to the Chicago’s Field Museum starting on May 22^nd, 2026. The coolest thing about this exhibit is the Pokemon bones will be displayed next to real dinosaur bones showing the similarities and the inspiration pulled to create the creative Pokemon dinos.

I’d like to know if the exhibit talks about the abominations that can be created in Sword and Shield by splicing together two fossils that are actually two different Pokemon. These Pokemon are not compatible at all, one being an ice type and the other a fire type. I’d be interested to see what their skeletons look like mishmashed together and what bones fit together at all to creature one functional creature. I also think having a mini dig site that goes into the history of Pokemon archeology itself would be neat.

If you’re dying to know what these Pokemon bones look like and are unable to go to Japan or Chicago there is a virtual experience on Matterpoint Discover. I played around with it a little bit and currently all of the exhibits are in Japanese I’m hoping they’ll eventually showcase an English version of the exhibits during the bones stay in Chicago. Some of the Pokemon skeletons are much larger than I thought they would be, and I’d like to see them in person. In my head I know I’m picturing them way too small like models and not full skeletal displays.

In order to stay up to date on the latest news about the Pokemon Fossil Museum like which fossils will be displayed, behind the scenes, and eventually tickets subscribe to the Field Museum newsletter through their website. I might be taking a trip to Chicago next spring!