In celebration of its tenth anniversary, the Twitch Plays Pokémon social experiment is set to make a comeback on February 12. 

Back in 2014, an anonymous programmer launched an experiment on the live-streaming platform where users worldwide joined forces to collectively beat the original Pokémon Red game. Participants input commands via the stream’s chatroom, leading to a chaotic tug-of-war over control of the player character. The concept quickly gained traction, earning a Guinness World Record for “most participants in a single-player online video game.”

The appeal of Twitch Plays Pokémon lies in its interactive nature, with the challenges and chaos generating widespread media attention and spawning dedicated lore. Despite the initial struggles, viewers eventually triumphed over Pokémon Red and continued to conquer subsequent mainline games. The experiment evolved over time, exploring various ROM hacks and
fan-made games, often featuring special runs for anniversaries.

To mark its tenth anniversary, the official Twitch Plays Pokémon Twitter account announced a new anniversary run, accompanied by a nostalgic image referencing memorable moments and phrases from the original run, such as “START9” and “ANARCHY.” This anniversary run will launch the 11th season of the stream.

Over the past decade, Twitch Plays Pokémon has completed ten seasons, encompassing seventy “main” runs and numerous intermission games.
Last year, the stream revisited the fan-made Pokémon Prism ROM Hack after six and a half years. Given past anniversary runs, which revisited older games, it’s likely that Twitch Plays Pokémon will return to Pokémon Red for its milestone anniversary. Furthermore, previous anniversary runs incorporated elements from past playable characters, hinting at a unique twist for this special occasion.