The Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) is a card-based tabletop game that people of all ages can play and enjoy. By collecting Pokémon cards, you’ll have a competitive edge while you compete. You can even collect cards with your favourite Pokémon from the television show and video games.
Let’s get started!
You Will Need:
- A 60-card deck
- Space to play
- A pen and paper
- A coin
- A timer
Before You Play
You can customize your deck so that the cards you play are suited to your strategy and preferences.
Once your deck is determined, set aside six Prize cards. These cards will be your reward for knocking out your opponent’s team! You get to pick up one Prize card each time you knock out a Pokémon.
Understanding Turns
Toss a coin. The winner of the coin toss chooses who gets to take the first turn.
Each turn has two main parts:
- Draw a card from your deck
- Take any of the following actions, in any order you want:
A. Replace a Basic Pokémon from your bench with a Basic Pokémon in your hand (you can do this as many times as you want).
(Above Image: A Basic Pokémon in Play)
B. Evolve your Pokémon (as many times as you want – you can go from Charmander to Charizard in the same turn). Sometimes it is even helpful to evolve your Pokémon at different stages of the game, rather than all at once.
(Above Image: A Basic Pokémon being evolved)
C. Attach an Energy card from your hand to one of your Pokémon in your bench, or your active card – you can only attach one per turn. Attach the card by putting it beneath the Pokémon card, and keep it there during the game.
(Above Image: Examples of energy cards which can be attached to a Pokémon in play or on the bench)
You can have more than one Energy card attached to the Pokemon, however you must discard them all if you retreat the Pokémon. For example, Appletun can have 2 Grass Energy cards attached to it, but if you take Appletun back and decide to use Vanilluxe instead, the cards don’t carry over to Vanilluxe or stay attached to Appletun. You will need to start attaching Energy cards to Appletun from scratch if you put it back in your Bench.
D. Play a Trainer card (you can use as many Trainer cards as you like each turn, but only one Supporter card and only one Stadium card).
(Above Image: Types of trainer cards: Item, Supporter and Stadium)
E. Replace your active Pokémon with a Pokémon from your bench.
- Attack. End your turn.
Discarding
Fainted Pokémon, Energy cards, and Trainer cards must be placed face down in a discard pile after you are finished using them. Do this right after you play the cards during your turn.
As you play, your 60-card deck will get smaller. This makes the gameplay more intense and strategic the longer it goes on.
While you can use as many Trainer cards as you want each turn, remember that you can’t use them again after.
Your Pokémon Team
Your Team is made up of the six Pokémon creature cards you choose to play with in a battle. Of the six cards, five of them are inactive and one of them is active. The card you choose to have active is the only Pokémon that can attack or take damage during a play. Inactive cards stay on your bench while you wait to play them.
You can set a different Pokémon as active if you change your mind.
(Above Image: Layout of Board – Where to place one Active Pokémon and where to place up to 5 other inactive Pokémon on the Bench)
Stages and Evolution
Some Pokémon will be labelled Basic in the upper left corner of the card. Basic Pokémon can be put down from your hand in your Team right away.
(Above Image: Examples of Basic Pokémon Cards)
You can evolve most Basic Pokémon to change their name, appearance, stats, and attacks.
Pokémon that are labelled Stage One or Stage Two can’t be put down right away. You will need the prior evolutions of that Pokémon down first. The Stages of evolution are: Basic, Stage One, and Stage Two. You must first start with a Basic Card and then evolve to Stage One and then Stage Two in that order.
(Above Image: Evolution of Pokémon from Basic to Stage One and Stage Two)
Evolving your Pokémon can only be done during your turn and cannot be done during your first turn. You can evolve any one Pokémon from your Team during a turn, not just the active Pokémon.
For example, if you want to play with Charizard you will need to:
- Put down the Basic card for Charmander to start the game.
- Put down the Stage One card for Charmeleon on top of Charmander.
- Finally, put down the Charizard on top of Charmeleon.
If your favourite Pokémon is an evolution, then it’s helpful to try and collect all the previous stages. That way, you can put it to good use!
Moves
Using Moves is how you deal damage and status afflictions in a battle. By using Moves on your opponent, you lower their Pokémon's Hit Points (HP). HP is how much health a Pokémon has, and once it gets to zero the Pokémon must be withdrawn from battle and should be placed into your discard pile.
(Above Image: Hit Points shown in the top right corner)
The Moves a Pokémon is able to use are listed on the bottom half of the card, along with how they work.
(Above Image: Where to find Moves and Type of Energy on a Pokémon card)
To use a Move, the Pokémon needs the correct amount of Energy cards and the correct type of card.
For example, Charizard knows fire Moves. To use the move Fire Spin, Charizard will need four fire Energy cards.
Some Pokémon Moves are dual-type.
If your Grookey knows the move Branch-Poke, you will need two grass Energy cards and one normal Energy card.
Players take turns using Moves. When a Pokémon is hit by a move, subtract the damage the Move deals for the Pokémon's HP in the upper right corner. New players may find it helpful to keep a pen and paper nearby to track HP throughout the game.
Trainer Cards
Trainer cards are special cards that change the game. Sometimes, they alter how many Energy cards you need to make a move work. Other times, they can do things like change the weather or give a player more HP.
Trainer cards are usually based on characters from the television show and video games! You can find Gou, Nurse Joy, Iris and even more of Ash’s friends!
Trainer cards can be important for strategy as you become more familiar with how the game works, but they’re not as important for beginners. When you’re just starting out it helps to focus on your Team and Energy.
(Above Image: Where to find Moves on a Pokémon Trainer card)
How to Win
There are two ways to win a battle:
- Draw all of your prize cards
- Knock out your opponent’s entire team
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can get more advanced! Some fun challenges players like to try include using only one type of Pokémon, using all the same Pokémon, or using only Pokémon at the same stage of evolution!
Have Fun!
There’s a wide world of Pokémon to explore, and the Trading Card Game introduces all sorts of strategy and excitement that is unique from the video game. If you’re looking for Pokémon cards, JR Toy Company has everything to get you started on your Pokémon Journey!
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