The Viral Pokémon Football Game: What All-22 Is, and Which Handhelds Can Open It

Q: What is the All-22 Pokemon game?

A free browser game where you draft 22 Pokemon, assign them to American football positions, pick a formation and simulate a 17 game season. It was built on 9 October 2026 in response to a viral social post from the day before that challenged fans to build a lineup from the original 150 Pokemon.

Q: How does it decide which Pokemon are good at football?

It grades each Pokemon on base stats, size and type, and it does not weight every position equally. Quarterback, pass rushers and cornerbacks carry the most weight, which roughly mirrors how roster value works in real football.

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2026-10-12 · News and analysis

Every so often the internet picks an argument that nobody can win and everybody wants to have. This month it was football positions for Pokémon.

On 8 October 2026, a post challenged people to field a complete starting lineup using only the original 150 Pokémon, no legendaries allowed. It did what those posts do. Within a day there were thousands of lineups, furious disagreement about the quarterback position, and a San Francisco 49ers fullback posting his own team.

Then somebody built it into an actual game. The site is called All-22 Pokémon, it went up on 9 October, and it has a draft, formations, grading and a simulated 17 game season.

Here is what it does, and whether the handheld in your bag can open it.

The Short Version

It started as an argument, not a game. The original challenge was a single social post on 8 October 2026.
The builder site went live the next day, on 9 October. Its launch post has been seen around 847,000 times.
A follow up announcing a 17-0 challenge passed 1.4 million views.
It is a browser game. Nothing to install, no emulator, no app store.
You draft 22 Pokémon, assign them to offensive and defensive positions, pick a formation and simulate a season.
Grading uses base stats, size and type, with quarterback, pass rushers and cornerbacks weighted most heavily.
There is a multiplayer snake draft with private rooms.
It is a free fan project, not affiliated with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company, and it says so plainly.
Which handhelds can run it is the interesting part, and the answer splits almost exactly along the Linux and Android line.

How an Argument Became a Game

The original post asked a simple question. If you had to field a full American football lineup out of the first 150 Pokémon, with no legendaries, who plays where?

It is a perfect internet argument because there is real reasoning available on both sides. Machamp has four arms, which is either ideal for an offensive lineman or straightforwardly illegal. Electrode is a ball. Snorlax is immovable but does not move. Every answer is defensible and every answer is also stupid, which is the ideal ratio.

The trend got big enough that actual professionals joined. 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk posted his own lineup, explaining that he picked Dugtrio at fullback because, in his words, low man wins. That is a genuinely good football joke and it is also correct.

The game came out of someone disagreeing with a lineup and deciding the right response was to let everybody build their own. That is the whole origin story, and it took about a day.

What the Game Actually Does

More than you would expect from a one day project.

The draft. You go through 22 rounds. Each round randomly assigns you a region and a type, and you pick from what that leaves you. You get up to five rerolls for the whole draft, which is the main strategic resource. There is a mode for the original 151 and a mode with every generation.

The lineup. You place your picks on a field. Offence has the positions you would expect including fullback and slot receiver. Defence runs either a 3-4 or a 4-3. There is a kicker, because of course there is.

The grading. Each Pokémon is scored on base stats, size and type. The weighting is not flat. Quarterback, pass rushers and cornerbacks count for the most, which mirrors how actual football roster value works and is a nicer touch than the premise requires.

The season. You simulate 17 games and find out how your team does. There is a leaderboard, with rankings split by difficulty tier and time period.

The 17-0 challenge. Draft a team and try to go undefeated. This is the thing that made the game spread, because it turns a static lineup picture into a result you can be beaten at.

Worth noting that the creator's own best run was 10-7, later improving to 13-4 after a draft that forced Misdreavus to play quarterback. A game whose own author struggles with it is usually a well tuned one.

Multiplayer. There is a fantasy style snake draft with private rooms, customisable pick timers and head to head play, so you can do this with friends rather than against a simulation.

Which Handhelds Can Actually Open It

This is the part no coverage has written down, and it is the reason we are covering it at all.

All-22 Pokémon needs two things: a modern web browser and an internet connection. That is a short list, and it still rules out most of the handhelds people associate with Pokémon.

Device category	Examples	Can it run this
Android handhelds	Retroid Pocket 5 and 6, AYN Odin 2 and 3, AYANEO Pocket series	Yes. Chrome is there, and the site supports touch
PC handhelds	Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go	Yes, through desktop mode or Windows
Linux CFW handhelds	Anbernic RG35XX family, Miyoo Mini Plus, TrimUI Brick	No. No browser, no practical path
Clamshell budget devices	Anbernic RG34XX SP, Miyoo Flip	No, same reason

The site explicitly supports mobile play with touch controls, which is the detail that makes Android handhelds work properly rather than awkwardly. A drafting interface is a menu, and menus are the one thing touchscreens are genuinely better at than a D-pad.

If you own an Anbernic RG40XXV or a Miyoo Mini Plus running muOS, ArkOS, OnionOS or KNULLI, there is no browser installed and no app store to get one from. Those are offline first devices by design, which is normally a strength and is disqualifying here. We covered the identical situation with Green Trainers Online, the Pokémon Emerald browser MMO, and the conclusion has not changed.

The irony repeats itself. The handhelds built to play Pokémon cannot open the Pokémon game everybody is talking about. The ones that can are the Android and PC devices people buy for PS2 emulation and other heavier work. Our Linux vs Android handhelds explainer covers that tradeoff properly, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before buying.

A Note on What It Is

The site describes itself as a free fan project and states that it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures or The Pokémon Company, and that Pokémon names and artwork belong to their owners. Its about page adds that the image files come from the PokéAPI project.

That is a clean disclosure and more than many fan projects bother with.

We will not pretend to know how long it stays up. Nintendo's enforcement record around Pokémon is the most active in the industry, and we have written about that pattern more than once. A browser game using official artwork sits in a different position from a project that ships no Nintendo material at all. Hold it loosely.

We also could not find any statement from the creator about what the site was built with, so we are not going to guess at that either.

What You Need

Nothing, if you own an Android handheld or a Steam Deck. Open a browser.

If you want a handheld that handles this kind of thing alongside normal emulation, that is the Android category rather than the Linux one, and the gap between them is covered in our Linux vs Android handhelds guide.

For the actual Pokémon games that run beautifully on a cheap handheld, our best GBA games and best Pokémon ROM hacks lists are a better use of an evening, and neither one needs Wi-Fi.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the All-22 Pokémon game?

A free browser game where you draft 22 Pokémon, assign them to American football positions, pick a formation and simulate a 17 game season. It was built on 9 October 2026 in response to a viral social post from the day before that challenged fans to build a lineup from the original 150 Pokémon.

Do you need to download anything to play it?

No. It runs entirely in a web browser and supports touch controls on mobile. There is no app, no emulator and no app store involved.

How does it decide which Pokémon are good at football?

It grades each Pokémon on base stats, size and type, and it does not weight every position equally. Quarterback, pass rushers and cornerbacks carry the most weight, which roughly mirrors how roster value works in real football.

What is the 17-0 challenge?

Drafting a team and trying to simulate a full 17 game season without losing. It is tracked on a leaderboard split by difficulty tier and time period, and it is the feature that made the game spread, with its announcement post passing 1.4 million views.

Can you play it on an Anbernic or Miyoo handheld?

No. Handhelds running custom Linux firmware like muOS, ArkOS, OnionOS or KNULLI have no web browser and no app store to install one from, and many have unreliable Wi-Fi. They are built to work offline, which rules them out.

Which handhelds can run the All-22 Pokémon game?

Android handhelds with a browser, such as the Retroid Pocket 5 and 6, AYN Odin 2 and 3, and the AYANEO Pocket series. PC handhelds work too, including the Steam Deck through desktop mode. Anything with a modern browser and a connection will load it.

Is it an official Pokémon game?

No. It is a free fan project and says so, stating that it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures or The Pokémon Company, and that its artwork comes from the PokéAPI project.

Is there a multiplayer mode?

Yes. There is a fantasy style snake draft with private rooms, adjustable pick timers and head to head play against other people rather than against the simulation.

Written 12 October 2026. Dates, view counts, game mechanics and the creator's own stated results come from the site, its about page, the creator's posts and press coverage, retrieved the same day. View counts move constantly.