Nintendo’s Pokémon Pokopia adds Bulbasaur Jump Rope Contest for April 19 event

Bulbasaur walked Pokopia into another limited-time check-in, and the hook is as simple as it sounds: jump over a vine, build a streak, and chase a better score before April 26. The Bulbasaur Jump Rope Contest opened April 19 at 5:00 a.m. local time and runs until April 26 at 4:59 a.m., unlocking only after players clear the important request Yawn up a storm! in Withered Wasteland.

That simplicity is the point. Players can find Bulbasaur in front of the Pokémon Center in any town, then keep jumping for prizes tied to the number of consecutive jumps achieved. In another player’s world, or on a Cloud Island, the contest turns into a shared high-score chase, with the highest recorded jump count for that world or island becoming the number that matters. It is a tiny loop, but it is the kind of loop that gets people back into a game after the first rush of launch has passed.

Nintendo has also built the surrounding systems to support that behavior. Cloud Island play can be created or visited for online building and multiplayer, with support for up to four players online. Nintendo’s store listing says visitors who do not own the game can join via GameShare, while Nintendo Support says a Nintendo Switch Online membership is required for the game’s online features. For a title built around quick returns rather than long campaign sessions, those rules matter as much as the minigame itself.

Pokopia launched on March 5, 2026 on Nintendo Switch 2, and The Pokémon Company describes it as the company’s first life simulation game. Since then, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have already used timed content to keep the title moving, including More Spores for Hoppip, which ran from March 10 to March 25, and the CopyCat Challenge promoted for April 1. Bulbasaur’s contest fits the same pattern: a recognizable Pokémon, a narrow window, and a clear reason to log back in now instead of later.

For Nintendo teams, that makes the event more than a novelty. Designers get a character-driven retention mechanic built around a familiar face. QA and localization have to make sure the event, the rewards, and the multiplayer states behave cleanly across regions and play setups. Business teams get a live example of how a cozy Switch 2 release can stay active between bigger beats through short-session challenges, social bragging rights, and a franchise tone that feels warm without needing to be loud.