Josh Wittenkeller - an extremely likeable chap who talks about Pokemon on The Internet - tweeted a very interesting picture from The Pokemon World Championship in Washington DC this weekend.

As you can see in that link (and the pic below), it's the Pokemon Trading Card Game running on an iPad, the first time the game has been available on a non-Nintendo portable device.

According to various poke-sources, it appears to be a version of the Windows and Mac game Pokemon Trading Card Game Online, but running on a tablet.

So why's this exciting? First, the Pokemon TCG is a pretty cool card game that's been going since 1996 and has a loyal following, and getting to play it on iPad is going to be sweet. Second, it adds another load of competition into the mix for games like Magic 2015 and Hearthstone, which should make everyone up their game when it comes to quality.

But mostly, this is a series that's ostensibly seen as a Nintendo franchise, now on a device that isn't made by Nintendo.

The news of the Pokemon Trading Card Game appearing on iOS doesn't mean that you'll be seeing Mario and co. leaping about your iPhone any time soon - Pokemon is technically not owned by Nintendo - but it is a major intellectual property that sells Nintendo consoles, which could now begin appearing on other platforms.

We're getting in touch with The Pokemon Company to find out more about the Pokemon Trading Card Game coming to iPad, in the meantime let us know if you'd like to play a Pokemon game on iOS in the comments.