How to Play Pokemon This Gym of Mine on Android with JoiPlay
Almost every Pokemon game asks you to challenge Gym Leaders. Pokemon This Gym of Mine flips the idea completely: you are the Gym Leader. You pick a type, take over a gym in Umbal City, and spend the game defending it against challengers while the town decides what it thinks of you. It is one of the most original fan games around, and because it is built with Pokemon Essentials, it runs on Android through JoiPlay and the RPG Maker Plugin like the other big fan games. This guide covers the setup step by step, then explains how the gym and reputation systems work so your first run starts smoothly.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Game | Pokemon This Gym of Mine by Omegas_RC |
| Built with | Pokemon Essentials (RPG Maker XP based) |
| App you need | JoiPlay plus the RPG Maker Plugin |
| Price | Free fan game |
| Official source | The developer’s release thread on PokeCommunity |
| File you select in JoiPlay | Game.exe |
| Editions | Original version, plus a Rank Up Edition in development with a playable demo |
One accuracy note before we start: the gym city in this game is Umbal City. You may see a similar sounding city name in fan wikis, but the developer’s own description places your gym in Umbal City, and that is where your story happens.
What Pokemon This Gym of Mine Is
You arrive in Umbal City as an up-and-coming Gym Leader, assigned to the gym after the previous Leader left one day. From there, the usual Pokemon journey structure is replaced by a management and defence loop that feels completely fresh.
The core ideas, straight from the developer’s description:
- Choose a type to specialize in. Your gym has a single type identity, and you can only use Pokemon of that type in your gym battles. The exception is narrow: an off-type Pokemon is allowed only if it can learn your gym’s signature move.
- Defend against challengers. Trainers come to your gym to earn your badge, and your job is to stop them with a team built from one type’s roster.
- Build your reputation. Winning over the town matters. Hiring a Gym Guide and Gym Trainers through applicants who arrive in your mailbox helps run the gym and grows your reputation, which drives your progress.
- Rebuild the town and push back a gang. Your story is not just battles. Umbal City has problems, and your growing gym is part of how the town fights back.
The Rank Up Edition, currently available as a demo alongside the original version, expands the idea further, including a Gauntlet mode where you face challengers without healing in between, one loss ends your day, and your Notoriety rises and falls at twice the pace. If you enjoy the original, the demo is a look at where the game is heading.
It is a smaller, more focused game than giants like Reborn or Insurgence, and that is its charm. If you want more titles in this style, browse our guide on How to Play Pokemon Games on JoiPlay and our picks of New Games to Play on JoiPlay after this one.
What You Need Before Starting
Get everything ready first and the setup takes only a few minutes:
- ✅ An Android phone with a few hundred MB of free space, plus room for the extracted game
- ✅ Download and Install the JoiPlay app.
- ✅ The RPG Maker Plugin installed, since this is an Essentials game
- ✅ The game downloaded from the developer’s official PokeCommunity release thread, which links to the current files
- ✅ A file manager or extraction app such as ZArchiver for unzipping
If the plugin is new to you, our guide to the JoiPlay RPG Maker Plugin explains what it does and how it pairs with the main app. General advice on safe sources is also in How to Download Games for JoiPlay.
Step by Step: Install This Gym of Mine on JoiPlay
Follow the standard Essentials route, exactly as you would for other fan games:
- Download the game ZIP from the official PokeCommunity thread. Choose the original version for the full game, or the Rank Up Edition demo if you want to sample the newer build.
- Extract the ZIP fully with ZArchiver into its own folder, and wait for extraction to finish with no errors.
- Confirm the extracted folder contains Game.exe alongside the game’s data folders. Do not rename or move any subfolders, because Android file paths are case-sensitive.
- Open JoiPlay and tap the + button to add a new game.
- Give the entry a name, for example Pokemon This Gym of Mine, and select Game.exe as the executable file.
- Make sure the RPG Maker Plugin is installed and detected. JoiPlay will prompt if it is missing.
- Launch the game from your JoiPlay library.
That’s it. There is no separate RTP step for most players with Essentials titles like this one, because the games ship with what they need inside the folder. If JoiPlay ever asks about a runtime package on first launch, accept and let it finish before judging the result.
First Launch Notes
A few things to expect the first time you play:
- The first load takes longer. JoiPlay and the plugin prepare the game on first launch. Give it time before assuming it has frozen.
- Your type choice is the big decision. The type you specialize in shapes your entire available roster for gym battles, so pick a type you genuinely enjoy building teams around, not just the one that sounds strongest.
- Read your mailbox. Trainer and staff applicants arrive there, and hiring a Gym Guide and Gym Trainers is part of how your reputation, and therefore your progress, grows.
- Text size is comfortable for an Essentials game, but a larger phone screen still helps during team planning.
Beginner Tips That Actually Matter
These are gameplay facts from how the game is built, not made-up strategy:
- Type choice matters more than team power at the start. Since your gym team must match your specialty type (with only the signature move exception), a type with a deep roster of available Pokemon gives you more flexibility than a rare type with few options.
- Save before defence battles. A lost defence costs you reputation progress, and on a phone it is easy to be interrupted mid-session. Saving first means a doorbell never ruins your standing in Umbal City.
- Reputation is the real progression system. Winning battles, staffing your gym and helping the town rebuild all feed into it, so do not ignore the management side and only grind battles.
- Keep a backup of your save before switching editions or updating. If you move from the original version to a newer build or the Rank Up demo, copy the save files out of the game folder first so a bad update cannot take your gym with it.
Original Version or Rank Up Edition: Which Should You Play?
The developer’s thread offers both, and they serve different players:
- The original version is the complete game. If you want the full gym leader experience now, with a beginning, middle and end, this is your download.
- The Rank Up Edition is an expanded rework still in development, currently offered as a demo. It adds ideas like the Gauntlet mode, where challengers come one after another with no healing between them, a single loss ends your day, and your Notoriety swings at twice the normal pace.
Our advice: play the original first. It teaches you the type restriction, the mailbox staff system and the reputation loop in their finished form. Then try the Rank Up demo with that knowledge and you will feel exactly what the rework is changing, and you can follow its development with informed eyes.
Your Type Choice, in Practice
It is worth slowing down on the one decision you cannot easily undo. Your specialty type decides which Pokemon can defend your gym, with only the signature move exception for off-type picks. In practice that means three things. First, a type with many available species in the game gives you answers to more challengers. Second, a type you personally understand, its strengths, weaknesses and common counters, defends better than a theoretically strong type you play badly. Third, your own starter and early catches should be planned around the gym from the beginning, not retrofitted later. Choose like a Gym Leader, not like a tourist, and the whole game gets easier.
Common Problems and Fixes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Game will not launch at all | RPG Maker Plugin missing or not detected | Reinstall the plugin, reopen JoiPlay, and add the game again |
| Black screen on first launch | First load still preparing, or extraction was incomplete | Wait longer on first launch, then re-extract the ZIP fully if it persists |
| Error about a missing file | A subfolder was renamed or extraction skipped files | Delete the folder, extract again, and change nothing inside it |
| Game runs slowly in busy scenes | Phone under load or game stored on a slow SD card | Close background apps and keep the game on internal storage |
| Save missing after changing builds | Save files were left in the old game folder | Copy the save files from the old folder into the matching place in the new one |
Conclusion
Pokemon This Gym of Mine earns its reputation by reversing the usual Pokemon formula: one type, one gym, one city whose opinion of you rises and falls with every defence. It is a fresh change of pace from the long journey fan games, and it runs on Android through JoiPlay with the same Game.exe and RPG Maker Plugin setup as the rest of the Essentials family. Download it from the developer’s official thread, choose your type carefully, hire your staff, and save before defence days. Umbal City is waiting for its new Gym Leader.