These gyms are not really like the gyms in the cartoons or games; they just share a name. In the new update – in addition to the large reward for people who have been playing since before the patches fixed the majority of the lag – there’s a new gym button on the main screen which takes players to the “Flying Gym Cup” event.
The Gym Cup works a lot like you’re playing a random person online, but instead of being rewarded you’re givien a box with a 1. Every time you win, that number increases.
Starting at the lowest tier you’re looking at prizes like a few thousand coins. Move your way up and you get things like AI Tickets, Booster Tickets, and Cubes. If you make it to 200, you get a Cube EX, which permanently boosts a chosen Pokemon’s attack.
If you cash it in at 50 wins, you get a Flying Gym Cup trophy. It’s not entirely clear what this does, and the description is simply:
There’s other trophies given out based on rank at the end of the tournament – but similarly, we know very little about what these do.
Pokemon Duel might be getting a minimal amount of publicity from Nintendo, but it does seem to be getting more frequent updates. There’s no word on future updates planned for the game.
