Battle judge

A battle judge (Japanese: バトル審判 battle referee), also known as a referee, is a person who presides over the judgment of Pokémon battles between s in official, designated challenges in . They are identifiable by the symbol on their shirts.
==Role==
A battle judge is responsible for determining whether or not a is able to continue battling. They can be found in Pokémon League Conferences and several other featuring s. They are in charge of officially beginning a match and upholding its rules, such as how many a is allowed to use and if there are any substitution limitations.
Battle judges have to make it clear to all of the Trainers involved what the parameters of the match are. The terms for a win are also in their ruling, as in what is required for a Trainer to lose the match. In general practice, the default appears to be until all of the available Pokémon on one side have fainted.
Pokémon battles conducted at Gyms and Battle Frontier facilities are also observed by an appointed judge. These are, most of the time, a capable student, intern, assistant, or even a relative to the Gym Leader or Frontier Brain who in calling battles against the challenger. Robots can also referee battles, as seen in the Battle Palace, the Sunyshore Gym, and the Lumiose Gym. In a similar capacity, it is shown in Destination: Coronation! that official battles in the World Coronation Series are presided over by a Drone Rotom.
The calls made by a referee are official and determine the outcome of the battle. This is not the case in most Kanto Gyms, where there is no referee present to rule, except in the case of Agatha in the Viridian Gym, who allowed Scott to judge her match against Ash; the Gym Leaders primarily self-judged the match.
Gym Leaders themselves are qualified judges. has provided judgment for many battles over the course of the series, Roark presided over an official Gym match between Byron and , and Flannery's grandfather—the former Lavaridge Gym Leader—took up the position as the judge for Flannery's match against Ash.
According to Brock, there are not many judges capable of evaluating a battle at the level necessary for battles sanctioned by the Pokémon League. Max hints at the profession's prestige and esteem: given that so few are capable of judging a League battle, simply being able to is an honor.
In Alola's trials, the residing island kahuna typically watches over the Trainer's battle with the Totem Pokémon. During Ash's grand trials against Hala and Olivia, has judged in the kahuna's stead. In his grand trials against Nanu and Hapu, Acerola and took on the role of referee, respectively. During the Manalo Conference, all four kahunas serve as referees.
==Requirements==
Judges are trained to critically evaluate the battlefield, which includes the Pokémon, the Trainers, and the field itself, if the terrain is not ordinary. They have to be able to recognize when a Pokémon has fainted and announce a winner through defeat, by determining all aspects of a Pokémon, including its type-cast and what a species as a whole is capable of.
The training a person must go through to become a judge was shown in Judgment Day!. In the Hoenn region, aspiring battle judges study at the Pokémon Battle Judge Training Institute located on Bomba Island, where teaches and studied.
Their ruling is usually absolute, so making the correct call is imperative to the eventual announcement of a match. A wrong call might lead to the questioning of a judge's abilities to referee, especially in a professional setting. According to Serena, a battle judge must have confidence that the decision and ruling they are making is correct, otherwise it leaves room for error.
==Notable battle judges==
===Jamero===
Jamero (Japanese: ジャメカくん Jameka-kun) is a floating, mechanical surveillance device used at the Battle Palace, and a character of the day that appeared in Ka Boom with a View!.
Jamero is a robotic Gym assistant used to judge Spenser and 's battle over an area that encompassed an entire section of land with various environmental terrains and obstacles. Scott described its abilities as being able to hit high speeds in the air or underwater, and is capable of making decisions in less than a split second. Also, what Jamero views is fed back through a laptop, which was in the balloon that Scott and were riding in during the match. It declared Ash the winner when his defeated Spenser's .
====Voice actors====
===Other notable battle judges===
:See also: :Category:Gym assistants
* Charlene
* Clembot
* Gurkinn
* Drone Rotom
==In the TCG==
Judge was introduced as a in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English HeartGold & SoulSilver Series (the Japanese LEGEND Era). It was first released in the Japanese and the English expansion, with artwork by Kouki Saitou. It has been subsequently reprinted in the English XY Series (the Japanese XY BREAK Era), the English Sun & Moon Series (the Japanese SM Era), the English Sword & Shield Series (the Japanese SWSH Era), and the English Scarlet & Violet Series (the Japanese SV Era). Full Art versions of the card were included in the expansion ( in Japan), the expansion ( in Japan), and the Japanese subset, with artwork by Sanosuke Sakuma, Ryuta Fuse, and Hideki Ishikawa respectively. It forces both players to shuffle their hand into their deck, and draw four cards.
=====Other cards=====
The expansion ( in Japan) included the as both a Regular card and a . Both versions feature artwork by Ayaka Yoshida. It lets the player either draw a card, or put a from their discard pile into their hand.
==In the TFG==
 appears as a unique type of figure at the Pokémon Trading Figure Game, allowing to be used as a substitute for a coin flip.
==In other languages==
==Related articles==
* Contest Judge
Category:Animation characters
Category:Terminology
Category:Gym assistants
Category:Battle Frontier characters of the day
Category:Animation characters
Category:Synthetic characters
de:Schiedsrichter
es:Árbitro/Juez Pokémon
it:Arbitro di lotta
zh:裁判