One patient, an 18-year-old named Lisa, described a few flashbacks that, unlike Steve's almost humorous experiences of watching his teachers transform into Pokemon characters, were upsetting and debilitating.

Of the 150 Pokemon characters depicted on the playing cards, a few are rare, or premium, characters, like one named Charizard.

I feel blessed that I have no need to know any of the Pokemon characters or who the Teletubbies are.

Marie Summa, 12, of Beverly, N.J., sported a yellow hat with white felt horns and a T-shirt decorated with her favorite Pokemon characters.

All Nippon Airways even painted the sides of some of its planes with Pokemon characters.

Her father is the chief executive of 4Kids Entertainment in New York, which licenses and markets Pokemon characters outside Japan.

The cards, part of an elaborate marketing campaign, were created for two players to face off with their own carefully constructed decks of Pokemon characters.

I remember being struck, watching the first movie, by a panorama of the Pokemon characters flying together looking - of all things - quite beautiful.

Someone replies that it is an electronic organizer listing the attributes of the hundreds of Pokemon characters.

A game of Monopoly featuring Pokemon characters was spread across the floor in midgame clutter.