“Don’t throw the game, throw POKéBALLs instead!”?

Question

The original Pokémon Red and Blue games feature a sign that says

Don’t throw the game, throw POKéBALLs instead!

There’s a video of this sign on YouTube:

I have never understood what this sign means. Is this a piece of wordplay that’s going over my head? Is this something that got lost in translation?

Answer 1

To "throw the game" means to lose on purpose, either through deliberate misplay or lack of preparation.

To "throw POKéBALLs" is a core game mechanic of the series. It would be very difficult to win without doing it.

So yes, it is wordplay. Both in- (referring to competing in Pokémon battles) and out-of-Universe (referring to playing the GameBoy game).