Last year, the Field Museum in Chicago announced that it would be hosting the Pokémon Fossil Museum. Exclusive to Japan, this is the first time it has appeared outside of the country. I visited the Pokémon Fossil Museum this past weekend, and it blew me away.
The exhibit is a self-guided 30-45 minute tour featuring Pokémon life-size replicas and fossils, or the real-life species they are based on. The blue backgrounds represented Pokémon facts and descriptions, while the red backgrounds discussed paleontologists’ real-world findings.
Upon entering the exhibit, the museum gives each visitor an Archeops Pokémon card. The exhibit gives background on what Pokémon is, its history, evolution, and Pokémon types. Visitors also learn about the archaeologists who put together the exhibit.
Pokémon featured in the exhibit
- Aerodactyl
- Omanyte and Omastar
- Kabuto and Kabutops
- Tyrunt and Tyrantrum
- Archen and Archeops
- Tirtouga and Carracosta
- Relicanth
- Anorith and Armaldo
- Amaura and Aurorus
- Lilleep and Cradily
- Shieldon and Bastidon
- Cranidos and Rampardos
Tyrantrum (left) is based on the Tyrannosaurus rex (right).
In the Pokémon world, Omanyte (left) can be restored from the Helix Fossil (right).
Tirtouga (left) is based on the prehistoric sea turtle (right).
Merchandise
My partner and I each received vouchers to visit the Pokémon pop-up shop within the museum. We purchased Excavator Pikachu plushies, t-shirts, notebooks, building block sets, pajamas and key chains. There were also special Pokémon cookies and Pez dispensers at the museum restaurant, separate from the exhibit.
The Pokémon Fossil Museum offers exclusive fossil-inspired merchandise to the exhibit.
Tips before you go
If you want to visit the Pokémon Fossil Museum, you must have a ticket to the Field Museum ($30), plus the add-on ticket ($18). The exhibit does sell out and I highly encourage planning in advance. Buy tickets here.
The Pokémon Fossil Museum has a timed entry. My ticket was for 12:45 p.m., but museum-goers may line up in the queue 10 minutes before entry. Don’t miss your time slot.
Visitors are allowed to buy five (5) items per voucher at the Pokémon store. Items like the Excavator Pikachu plushie and LEGO sets are capped at one (1) item per transaction. The Pokémon Center website offers merchandise not seen at the exhibit, in case you want a piece of history.
Overall, I would highly recommend this exhibit to any Pokémon fan. To see the scale of how big Pokémon would be in real life, plus learning about the animals that inspired their creation, was an incredibly unique experience. One of the coolest parts of the exhibit was seeing people of all ages enjoy history and Pokémon together.
For those who can’t make it to Chicago, fans can take a virtual tour of the museum in Japan, which hosts nearly all of the same Pokémon as in Chicago. The Pokémon Fossil Museum will be available for viewing at the Field Museum until April 11, 2027.
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