Whenever I looked at the Pokemon Center NY website to dream about being able to order things whenever I wanted, the ChibiPokeHouses they sold always seemed like the most magical items. These playsets feel like a direct window into the fantastic world of Pokemon, and they continue to capture my imagination even today. They're all made by Tomy and are beautifully detailed.
This page will be organized a little differently compared to my other pages, so I hope it isn't too jarring! I really wanted space to share pictures of all of the fun details! Each playset has a gallery, and you can click on any image to expand it and read my captions.
There are two different categories of ChibiPokeHouses - DX and regular-sized playsets. Click on the anchor below to jump to the regular-sized playsets!
There are also a few extra accessories that don't fit into either of those categories that you can jump to using the other anchor!
This page will be organized a little differently compared to my other pages, so I hope it isn't too jarring! I really wanted space to share pictures of all of the fun details! Each playset has a gallery, and you can click on any image to expand it and read my captions.
There are two different categories of ChibiPokeHouses - DX and regular-sized playsets. Click on the anchor below to jump to the regular-sized playsets!
There are also a few extra accessories that don't fit into either of those categories that you can jump to using the other anchor!
DX ChibiPokehouse (Type c) - Viridian City Pokemon Center
Year: 1998 is in the plastic (presumably from the Japanese release), but J01 sticker for production date in US
Pokemon Included: Farfetch'd, Pikachu, Nurse Chansey, Jigglypuff, and Bulbasaur
Comments: This was my first ChibiPokeHouse set I ever received! My parents ordered it for me as a gift from the original Pokemon Center website, and I couldn't believe it when I unwrapped it. You'll notice in the overview photo above that I have some other ChibiPokeHouse and small figures displayed on here too for fun. I have more comments about the individual details in the captions of each gallery photo below!
Pokemon Included: Farfetch'd, Pikachu, Nurse Chansey, Jigglypuff, and Bulbasaur
Comments: This was my first ChibiPokeHouse set I ever received! My parents ordered it for me as a gift from the original Pokemon Center website, and I couldn't believe it when I unwrapped it. You'll notice in the overview photo above that I have some other ChibiPokeHouse and small figures displayed on here too for fun. I have more comments about the individual details in the captions of each gallery photo below!
DX ChibiPokeHouse (Type D) - Pikachu's Rescue Adventure Tree
Year: 1999 is in the plastic (presumably from the Japanese release), but K01 sticker for production date in the US
Pokemon Included: Togepi, Ledyba, Elekid, Marill, Pikachu, single Exeggcute, and Bellossom (stuck) Comments: I received this ChibiPokeHouse as a gift as well, and my favorite part was always the treetop stage! Many of my Pokemon figures gave excellent performances up there. Bellossom, Beedrill, and the Pidgey line figures have been displayed in those positions so long that they're all stuck to the ChibiPokeHouse. I have a feeling that the rubber of the Beedrill and Pidgey line figures (those are the small rubber ones made by Hasbro) just interacted that way with the plastic, and then Bellossom is on a painted part of the ChibiPokeHouse, so I bet the paint is just stuck to the figure now. |
DX ChibiPokeHouse - Ilex Forest (Celebi: a Timeless Encounter)
Year: 2001
Pokemon Included: Celebi, Suicune, Pikachu (the pictured Pikachu does not actually go with this ChibiPokeHouse, you can see the one that's supposed to be there on the box here), Tyranitar, and Scizor Comments: This ChibiPokeHouse very rarely pops up for sale, and I was stunned to have won it on Yahoo! Auctions Japan with no competition. It even came with its box!! The only downside is that the Pikachu that the seller included is not original to the playset, but I'm definitely not complaining because it's a super cute placeholder! This ChibiPokeHouse does not have a lot of interactive features, but it's super well-detailed to make up for that! |
DX ChibiPokeHouse - Pikapika Starry Sky Camp
Year: 2002
Pokemon Included: Duskull, Wynaut, Volbeat, Pikachu (with grapes), Pichu (little bro), and Pichu (big bro) Comments: Just like the Ilex Forest set above, this ChibiPokeHouse extremely rarely comes up for sale, and it's usually very expensive when it does. I was incredibly lucky to win this one for a reasonable starting bid price and I still can't believe that I own it!! The Camp Pikachu short is definitely in my top favorites, so it feels really special to own this ChibiPokeHouse. It's hard not to get the Camp Pikachu theme stuck in your head when you look at it! |
A Nap in Viridian Forest ("Forest Type" or "C-Type")
Year: 2001 (This is the year of the US release)
Pokemon Included: Pikachu and Oddish Comments: I forgot to take pictures of the Pokemon on their own WOOPS. Regardless, this playset is especially nostalgic for me because it's the playset that introduced me to this line of toys. My neighborhood friend's dad went to New York City often for business trips, so he had a bunch of Pokemon merch from PCNY that his dad brought back for him. One of my favorite things to play with in his collection was his Viridian Forest ChibiPokeHouse with its adorable swinging hammock and spinny stump! I thought it was so magical to have a portable version of the Pokemon world and seeing my friend's playset made me start asking about them when I saw them on the PCNY online store, and the rest is history haha! |
Island Adventure ("Water Type" or "D-Type")
Year: 2001 (This is the year of the US release)
Pokemon Included: Squirtle and Poliwhirl (Marill is just there for fun!) Comments: I forgot to take pictures of the Pokemon on their own for this one too, sorry! This is another playset that was purchased for me as a gift from the PCNY online store and it is packed with lovely details!! If you spin the small tree on the side pictured above, the middle island where Marill is sitting spins. You can also take the top off of the island near the foreground to hide a figure inside! The side pictured to the left is a simple serene scene with a nice water wheel. I called this playset "Island Adventure" as a description, but the Japanese packaging just says "Water Type" haha |
City Adventure/Pokemon Center
Year: 1998 (Auldey version)
Pokemon Included: Eevee and Charmander Comments: I remember getting this ChibiPokeHouse some time after they weren't available from the US Pokemon Center online store anymore from Amazon or eBay. This version is the version distributed by Auldey in China and has some English text surprisingly! The healing area on the Pokemon Center side has some small stickers for the computer screens that say "Monster Ball charge start? (Yes/No)" and "Pokemon Center network pass." I love that they chose Eevee and Charmander for this playset! |
Park Adventure (Orange Islands A-Type)
Year: 1999
Comments: I bought this ChibiPokeHouse from a vendor at a Pokemon TCG tournament in the early 2010s and I decided not to open it because the red Hasbro packaging is so nostalgic! I really love the attention to detail here. The Pokemon Center building is EXACTLY like the one on Valencia Island, and it's so cool to have a figure of the special Vileplume from there!! The Pokemon Park gates and Lapras inclusion make me think of Tangelo Island though. The back of this packaging makes me laugh because it says "Collect the entire Pokemon universe!" and it shows only two playsets and three electronic plush. What a big universe haha!
Comments: I bought this ChibiPokeHouse from a vendor at a Pokemon TCG tournament in the early 2010s and I decided not to open it because the red Hasbro packaging is so nostalgic! I really love the attention to detail here. The Pokemon Center building is EXACTLY like the one on Valencia Island, and it's so cool to have a figure of the special Vileplume from there!! The Pokemon Park gates and Lapras inclusion make me think of Tangelo Island though. The back of this packaging makes me laugh because it says "Collect the entire Pokemon universe!" and it shows only two playsets and three electronic plush. What a big universe haha!
Professor Elm's Lab
Year: 2000
Pokemon Included: Pikachu and Cyndaquil Comments: You could say that this ChibiPokeHouse is the Johto successor of the Kanto Pokemon Center one! I had just the Cyndaquil figure from this playset for many years before I finally purchased a complete set from Mercari Japan. I really love the details in this ChibiPokeHouse, especially that they included the weird red transparent globe thing from Elm's lab in the games. |
Second Generation Forest
Year: 2000
Pokemon Included: Chikorita and Pikachu Comments: I know that Ilex Forest is the main forest in Johto, but I really didn't want to call this Ilex Forest because the DX ChibiPokeHouse fits that description more, so I'll just call it "Second Gen Forest" for now haha! The official name on the packaging is just "take a nap in the forest" so that's not helpful either. ANYWAY this playset is absolutely adorable and is the direct successor to the Viridian Forest playset! It has the exact same plastic mold but has a more saturated paint job (and replaces the dirt patch with water). I love the little sign that says "pond" by the water with a Poliwag on it. I really should try to clean up the paint marks on the figures that came with this secondhand playset some day! |
Oddish and Pikachu Wind-Up PokeBall
Year: 1998
Comments: I'm including this adorable Pokeball on this page because it is part of the "Pokemon Mate" line made by Tomy, which also includes ChibiPokeHouses! This Pokeball winds up on the bottom and then Pikachu and Oddish dance around under the plastic globe. It feels like a companion to the Forest playset!
Comments: I'm including this adorable Pokeball on this page because it is part of the "Pokemon Mate" line made by Tomy, which also includes ChibiPokeHouses! This Pokeball winds up on the bottom and then Pikachu and Oddish dance around under the plastic globe. It feels like a companion to the Forest playset!
PikaPika Starry Sky Camp "Pokemon Train Theater Limited Special Set"
Year: 2002
Comments: This special set works as both an extension of the DX ChibiPokeHouse for PikaPika Starry Sky Camp and its own standalone toy! There are some important differences between this set compared to the DX ChibiPokeHouse. First, the figures are made with a different, non-glossy plastic. Second, all of the figures except for Duskull are entirely different! Pikachu has a different pose and lost his grapes, Meowth is here now, Skarmory is here now, Wynaut has a different pose, Volbeat has a different pose, and the Pichu Brothers have different poses. Third, the figures all have holes in their bottoms so that they can sit squarely on the train (or in Skarmory's case the pole)! Finally, the train has wind-up power!! |