For me:
2000:
Saw some kids in my school playing a game of Pokemon cards. I asked my mom for some Pokemon cards. I ended up getting the Zap deck from the Base set. The rest is history.
Watched my first Pokemon episode - The Problem with Paras.
Got Pokemon Silver for my GBC.*
2001:
Visited Pokemon.com for the first time.
Got one of those fake "#-in-1" GBC cartridges.* It included every single main-series game from Gens 1 and 2, plus Pokemon Green and Pokemon TCG.
2002:
Caught my first shiny. (Red Gyarados in Crystal)
Caught my first legendary. (Suicune in Crystal)
2003:
None
2004:
Got a GBA, Ruby, and Sapphire.
Joined PKMN.NET, my first Pokemon forum.
Got a GBASP and FireRed.*
2005:
Learned about competitive battling.
Downloaded NetBattle.
Got my first Level 100. (Charizard in FireRed)
Joined The Cave of Dragonflies.
Got Emerald.*
Got LeafGreen for Christmas.
2006:
Told one of my friends about competitive battling, EV's, and the like. Now, he's surpassed me at it.
Discovered Psypoke, whose Pokedex I have used ever since.
Beat the Elite Four in a game for the first time. (<--- FAIL) (Emerald)
Caught my first non-Gyarados shiny. (Doduo in FireRed, in the Safari Zone)
Joined Acanthite.
Got Mystery Dungeon Red.*
2007:
Got a DS, Diamond, and Pearl.
Caught my first roaming legendary. (Mesprit in Pearl)
2008:
Got an R4 with Pokemon Dash on it.
Downloaded Shoddy.
Downloaded Mystery Dungeon Time and Darkness for my R4.
Got Mystery Dungeon Blue.*
2009:
Downloaded Platinum for my R4.
2010:
Used Wi-Fi for the first time. (<--- FAIL)
Oh, * denotes that I got it for my birthday.
2001:
Caught a Rattata with a Master Ball.
Also:
You Wrote:2006:
Beat the Elite Four in a game for the first time.
You Wrote:2005:
Got my first Level 100.
How did you get it to Lvl. 100 without using the E4?
Boredom most likely xD
1999: Got my first card: Scyther.
2000:
Stole my brother's cards and became addicted to the awesome looking pokemon.
2001: For my birthday, we went to the store and we bought one of those huge 12" by 11" boxes of cards you could get back then. That's when I got damage counters and five coins, and I started learning how to use them along with the energy cards.
2002: Stole more cards from my brother and we got a GBC and the original Game Boy (I stilll have both! =3) along with Silver.
2003: passive; collected cards once in awhile.
2004 - 2006: Started trading cards with friends. I got my first GBA with the added LED backlight (also still have it) with Leafgreen and some other non-pokemon related games. I beat the game in less than five months (That's dedication XD).
2007 - learned about Pokemon Acanthite, but never joined the forum (I didn't know there was even a forum at all; when I looked at Messege Board, I thought it was an update thread instead of a forum). Got Ruby and beat that too. That's when I found out about Shiny Pokemon too (.... >_<).
2008: Joined Acanthite Forums and met awesome people. This is also when I competed in my first TCG tournament (naturally, I lost because I was inexperience), and I had a good time.
2009: started making decks so when I fought in another tournament, I wouldn't lose. Also when I learned of Shoddy Battle and downloaded it.
2010: passive with the decks and such. We finally got a DS, so maybe we'll be able to get Diamond and Pearl and all that other stuff.
that's my side.
These may not be perfectly accurate... but close enough.
1999: My brother found Pokemon and showed me. Watched the show as it came out. Watched as my brother got a charizard out of his very first pack, got jealous, and started collecting.
2000: got a gb and began playing Red version. Got the original Charizard card on my birthday... traded it the next day for a mewtwo and a kangaskhan... I was dumb.
2001: Got crystal. Found out about the missingno. cheat and got my first lv.100 with it (Snorlax). Started using the duplication cheat in crystal later in the year.
2002: Duplication cheat eats my crystal version and could no longer save. Bought my first deck and started battling with my siblings.
2003-2006: Kept up with the new pokemon games, bought cards, built decks, started spriting and increased my pokemon fandom. Stopped watching the show when Hoenn came in.
2007-2008: pokemon continued to rule my world, however the cards faded in and out of my life.
2009: Embraced the fourth gen, just to have my hopes and dreams crushed by how lame it was compared to previous generations. JOINED ACANTHITE :). visited the pokemon website for the first time. Got my first legit lv.100 in fire red (Tyrannatar)
2010: Obsessed with pokemon. Am hoping that B/W doesn't suck, got Heart Gold(yosh!), and have unbeatable decks. Still waiting for Ash to go back and get the pokemon he said he would go back for and use them to finally beat at least the Kanto elite four.
If theres anything I forgot, I'll add it in as I remember it.
2000- Got Silver and a GBa
2001- 2009- obsessed with Pokemon horribly and got every pokemon thing. Except for the cards. Stopped collecting those in '07
2010- Joined Acanthite! w00t!
2011- Getting White
1999: In Manchester airport and watched some kid play on Pokemon Red. Whilst on holiday I bought myself a spanish version of the game, which I then basically traded with Nintendo when I got back home. I had to play this on my dad's original gameboy.
2000: On my birthday my Aunt bought me a GBA and Pokemon Gold. I finished it on the second day. I also got my first level 100 which was a Feraligatr (BLASTER) and I got quite a few more including a shiny Tyranitar (First Larvitar I found). The first Chinchou I found was also shiny.
Watched the anime religiously. And also saved up money to buy pokemon cards whenever I could.
2001: Quiet year, didn't buy Crystal. Managed to get a link cable though which worked so I could trade with my friends. Completed Gold Pokedex (Celebi and Mew hack).
Me and a good friend also begun to by the booster boxes to complete each card set.
2002: Played Pokemon Gold after I restarted and managed to complete the pokedex again (Again hacking to get event pokemon), something that was quite difficult back in the day :L.
Bought one of those fake Pokemon Diamond games which I never managed to fully understand.
2003: While on holiday, someone I met there had bought a copy of Pokemon Ruby early, I had no idea that there were going to be more pokemon games, and I honestly thought that it wasn't a pokemon game (Blaziken completely threw me off, I had no idea what it was :L).
Upon returning home I hunted down the shop that sold imported versions of Pokemon Sapphire and bought it, I then finished the gym challenge later that day and only had the Elite Four to do.
2004: Begun to lose interest in the franchise, the anime begun to bore me and I was frustrated by how my time on Pokemon Gold was basically wasted. Unhappy with Ruby and Sapphire I kept myself busy with the TCG until FireRed and LeafGreen were released.
2005: Quit the franchise
2006: Got into playing Pokemon again thanks to nostalgia and a few people at my school, mainly playing LeafGreen though. Heard rumours of a set of new games and learnt the names of two new pokemon (Mukkubird and Naetoru).
2007: It was either this year or the year before (I don't remember), which I read about this site on PokeCommunity. I then talked to someone at school about the game, who was surprised that I knew about it... that same person also had a copy of Pearl before anyone else, so I watched him play it one lunchtime at school.
My friend had bought both Diamond and Pearl, so I played through his pearl while he played through diamond.
Learnt about EVs etc but never got into competitive play.
Lost touch with this project near to the time that the new site was set to be up.
2008: Again this was another quiet year. Lost touch with all sites I went on, except this one which I randomly remembered had got a new site.
2009: Borrowed a friend's Diamond version to play through because I got bored. I then researched competitive play and devoted a lot of time to it. My first match was against our very own FK and I got trouced 6-0. Since then I got better and better and I'm still battling competitively on and off now.
Bought Platinum when it was released.
2010: Nostalgia-gasmed all over Pokemon HeartGold basically. Begun to watch the odd anime episode if I was bored. Considered getting back into the TCG but decided I didn't want to splash the cash.
I think I missed a few things, but those are the main parts...I think.
??? - somewhere around 2004: Grampa got me the Silver version (i think i was 4 or something...i wanted it kaws it was shiny) didnt play it for about a year then saw the tv show idk wat epi then wanted one of the games mom said i had one and that basicly started me off XD
i cant remember:...when the first GBA games came out my aunt got me a silver sp and FireRed
when emerald came out: my aunt got me emerald
D/P: aunt got me a ds (pink....woulda prefered black but i wasnt complaining) and Pearl...within a week i got diamond....within 2 months i got another diamond (self bought for once)
Plat: i bought my dsi...BLUE...and idk how i got platinum =/
HG/SS: bought a blue nerf case for dsi (not rly pokemon but hey) bought both HG and SS...gave HG to friend.
terrible XD
i have all the handheld games except red and gold...was there a green version? dont have that either =/
There was a Green version in Japan, but it got changed to Blue when it got to US
o ok then, i have blue...........
Mod Edit (MK): There is a 25 char limit. Warned. Please try and read the rules more carefully.
1997: Officially started watching Pokémon on TV, starting with the first episode. Was amazed by the awesomeness of Pikachu and 'that three-headed thing' (Dodrio).
1998: MOAR ANIME. Got myself my first deck of Pokémon cards and was disappointed because there weren't that many different cards. xD
1999: My Dad bought me a Game Boy and Pokémon Blue. Reading that the Master Ball can catch every Pokémon without fail, and throwing at Lance's Dragonite. Missingno cheat was amazing. Trained every Pokémon I had to Lvl 100 with the help of Rare Candies. Won my first Pokémon battle tournament by spamming Hyper Beam and Psychic with Mewtwo. xD
2000: Me and my friend went on our own Pokémon adventure through our village, earning badges and using rocks to catch Pokémon. We threw rocks at cats (Meowth), ducks (Psyduck) and dogs (Growlithe). xD
2001: Full Pokédex on Pokémon Blue! Last Pokémon I caught was Tentacool, because I was afraid of Tentacruel's sprite. Got Pokémon Gold and a GBC. Got my first two Shinies (Gyarados and Jigglypuff).
2002:Got my first legit Level 100 Pokémon, Pidgeot. I beat Red in that one cave.
2003: Borrowed Sapphire and finished it. Lost my Crystal and stole my friend's Crystal (I'm a terrible friend, I know).
2004: Lost interest in the games.
2005: Found out about NetBattle, learned about competitive battling. Was invited to join a 'clan' of competitive battlers and joined their ranks. Learned everything there was about the 3rd Gen mechanics. Eventually lost the name of their forum and began playing less on NetBattle.
2006: Diamond and Pearl hyping me.
2007: Bought Pearl, downloaded Shoddy Battle.
2008: Joined Acanthite.
2009: Pokémon Platinum, lots of playing on Shoddy Battle.
2010: Hype-train for Black and White.
Also, crying when Ash released his Butterfree and that episode where he almost released Pikachu. Sad times, sad times.