In 1999, TIME observed that nearly any child under 12 could recite a substantial number of the 151 Pokémon, along with their attributes, abilities and evolutionary paths.

The magazine did not mean it as a compliment.

Pokémon cards were being banned from schools. Adults worried about playground trades, expensive collections and classroom distractions. One Education Week essay compared recess trading sessions to the New York Stock Exchange, complete with bad deals, tears and older children taking advantage of younger ones.

But even skeptical observers noticed how much children had taught themselves. Students who struggled to name state capitals could rattle off the strengths, weaknesses and relationships of dozens of Pokémon. The Education Week essay called it a "veritable mini curriculum."

That description was more perceptive than its authors knew.

To play Pokémon well, children must read closely, calculate probabilities, recognize patterns, build strategies and adapt when those strategies fail. They categorize creatures according to an elaborate system of types, strengths and weaknesses. They negotiate trades, explain rules and teach new players, all because they want to.

For what it's worth, I recently found my elementary-school Pokémon cards. Nearly three decades later, I still knew which ones mattered. Take that, summer learning loss.

Pokémon also gives children something increasingly scarce: a reason to gather around a table.

Today, Pokémon completed another evolution: from playground phenomenon to structured after-school program.

The Pokémon Company International announced a new partnership with the International Society for Transforming Education (ISTE) that will allow K-12 educators across the United States and Canada to apply to operate after-school Pokémon Clubs. Kits include cards, puzzles, collaborative games, structured activities and prizes.

The program builds on a partnership with the American Library Association that has already brought Pokémon Clubs to 730 school and public libraries. Librarians say the clubs support reading, math, strategic thinking and social-emotional development.

Children voluntarily master complicated material when it belongs to a world they chose to enter. Children voluntarily master complicated material when it belongs to a world they chose to enter. Pokémon has been proving the point since 1999.

One library staffer in Chula Vista even used Pokémon inspired by characters from The Three Musketeers to introduce students to the 1844 novel. "Seeing it through a Pokémon lens makes it something they can grasp," he explained.

Educators have spent decades asking how to make children more excited about learning. Pokémon offers a different starting point: Notice what children are already excited to learn, then build from there.

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