A board game and Pokémon fan has combined the two interests to create his dream Pokémon board game, which lets you travel the Kanto region taking on the Gym Challenge, collecting Pokémon, besting the Elite 4, and losing it all gambling at the Game Corner. The Australian designer, who goes by the online handle Cisqoe, has made the title – his own upgraded spin on the Pokémon Master Trainer board game from 1999 – available online completely free.

A long-time lover of the Pokémon video game and Pokémon TCG, Cisqoe only found interest in the best board games more recently. He got the idea to make Pokémon Master Trainer: Adventure Edition after picking up a second hand copy of the old game out of “pure nostalgia” and giving it a whirl.

While he and his (then) fiance (now wife) found Master Trainer “a surprisingly fun trip”, with components that hold up well to this day, Cisqoe was shocked to discover there had never been a modern remake, nor any other more recent Pokémon board games (aside from a Master Trainer sequel in 2001) that did anything like as a good a job replicating the Pokémon journey.

“The base game is beautiful for kids, and I know I would’ve loved it as one, but in modern gaming it’s just way too random with too little control to be a fully fleshed out Pokémon experience, and I wanted to make that experience a reality myself,” he tells Wargamer.

This is not the first unofficial Pokémon Master Trainer remake we’ve seen (indeed Cisqoe’s incorporates another user, Deikkan’s, Gym Leader expansion) but while other fangames focus on adding more of Gamefreak’s 1,025 Pokémon, Cisqoe went all in on the design. His aim was to replicate the fun decision making, party building, and sense of adventure and freedom of the video games.

“I wanted to play a Pokémon board game that felt even more immersive, let me do what I want, explore as I want, save and spend money to buy gear, physically move around the board in any direction, going on quests and side quests ect., all with the same end goal of being a Master Trainer,” he explains.

As well as gyms, Pokémon Master Trainer: Adventure Edition adds new mechanics like levelling up, shops, and gambling. There’s also tons of new items to find, and quests that range from joining Team Rocket to going cycling.

While Cisqoe says “the game isn’t high strategy by any means”, it does provide a “much more immersive and fleshed out Pokémon experience” than the original. Version 1.2 is available for free on BoardGameGeek. While this includes the upgraded board, and all the new cards and features Cisqoe has added, you’re still going to need a copy of Pokémon Master Trainer for some components, such as the Pokémon themselves.

Though he’s made it available for all, via a BoardGameGeek page where the components can be freely downloaded, Ciscoe doesn’t plan to keep tweaking the game forever and obsessing over balance: hence a recent addition that asks players to use their best judgement to resolve rules complications and any head-scratching moments.

“Above all, this is a scuffed-ass fan game that was only ever meant to be seen by a couple of people in my life here in Australia,” he says. “I know I’ve shared it publicly now but to me that’s all it was ever meant to be so… who am I even balancing it for? Me, my wife, and a couple friends”.

For more great content, check out our guide to the best strategy board games or the best couples board games.