Pokémon Trading Card Game - Wikipedia

 

The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a strategy-based card game that is usually played on a designated playmat or digitally on an official game client where two players (assuming the role of Pokémon Trainer) use their Pokémon to battle one another. Pokémon that have sustained enough damage from attacks–that reaches or exceeds its HP–is referred to as being "Knocked Out", granting the opponent a prize card; however, powerful card mechanics like Pokémon-V and Pokémon ex grant extra prize cards when Knocked Out.[1]

Taking all six prize cards is the most common win condition. Other ways to win are by "Knocking Out" or by removing all opponent's Pokémon in play–the Active and those on the Bench (i.e. the row behind the Active that can house up to five additional Pokémon to support and substitute Active Pokémon if it retreats or is "Knocked Out"), or by Decked Out–if at the opponent's next turn they have no cards left in deck to draw into.[1]

Players begin by having one player select heads or tails, and the other flips a coin; the winner of the coin flip will decide who goes first or second. (Dice may be used in place of coins, with even numbers representing heads and odd numbers representing tails; dice are also primarily used in official tournaments organized by The Pokémon Company). The player going first cannot attack or play a Supporter card (powerful Trainer effects card) on their first turn. Players shuffle their decks and draw seven cards, and then each puts one Basic Pokémon in play as their Active Pokémon. This Pokémon is the one that is actively attacking and receiving damage. If a player does not have any Basic Pokémon, they must call mulligan, shuffle, and then draw another hand until they draw a Basic Pokémon; the opponent may draw one additional card per mulligan. Once both players have at least one Basic Pokémon, they can play up to five more Basic Pokémon onto their Bench, and then take the top six cards of their deck and place them to the side as Prize cards.[6][1]

Play alternates between players who may take several actions during their turn, including playing additional Basic Pokémon, evolving their Pokémon, attaching an Energy card, playing Trainer cards, and using Pokémon abilities and attacks. After Trainer cards are played, cards are discarded by effects from Trainer cards or Abilities, and after Pokémon were "Knocked Out", they are put into the discard pile.[1] A player may also retreat their Active Pokémon, switching the Active Pokémon with one on the Bench by paying the Active Pokémon's retreat cost of a certain number of Energies. At the cost of ending the turn, players may use one of their Active Pokémon's attacks once the prerequisite number and types of Energy attached to that Pokémon is fulfilled. Effects from that attack are then activated and damage may be dealt on the defending Pokémon, which may modify based on the defender Pokémon's type weakness or a resistance policies, and/or by any other effects on the defending Pokémon. Players alternate attacking until a player wins either through one of the above win conditions or by concession.[7][1]

Card types

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Pokémon cards depict one or multiple Pokémon from the Pokémon franchise, one to two elemental types, one or more attacks and/or an Ability, and a certain amount of HP. Basic Pokémon are Pokémon that have not evolved and can be played directly onto the Bench; they have Stage 1, Stage 2, and/or special mechanic evolutions. Each player may have up to six Pokémon in play: one in the Active Spot and five on the Bench.[7]

Most Pokémon have attacks that require a certain amount of Energies to use. Attacks deal damage to the opponent's Active Pokémon and sometimes deal additional damage to their Benched Pokémon; they may have additional effects like drawing cards, inflicting Special Conditions (Asleep, Burned, Confused, Paralyzed, or Poisoned) or altering the opponent's deck and/or board state. Abilities, previously called Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies until 2011,[8] are not attacks, but special effects on Pokémon that may be activated once or multiple times during their turn, such as drawing additional cards or switching the opponent's Active Pokémon with one of their Benched Pokémon, or can be passive, i.e. they remain in effect as long as the Pokémon with the Ability remains in play.[1]

The other type of Pokémon cards are Evolution Pokémon. In contrast to a Basic Pokémon, Evolution Pokémon cannot be directly put into play; they must be placed on top of the corresponding previous Stage Pokémon to evolve it, and they cannot be played onto a Pokémon the same turn that Pokémon was put into the Bench or during the player's first turn. Stage 1 Pokémon evolve from Basic Pokémon, and Stage 2 Pokémon evolve from Stage 1 Pokémon. As a Pokémon evolves, it gains HP and their attacks change, usually becoming more powerful.[8] Over the years many different variations to the standard mechanics have been added, the most prominent of which are the signature feature of their respective expansion series.

Major Pokémon Card Attributes

Card Type	Release Expansion	Evolution Stage(s)	Mechanics
Shining Pokémon, Pokémon ☆, Radiant Pokémon	Neo Revelation & Shining Legends[9] (Shining), EX Team Rocket Returns[10] (☆), Astral Radiance[11] (Radiant)	Basic	One per deck (excluding Shining Pokémon released after Shining Legends)
Pokémon-ex, Pokémon ex	EX Ruby & Sapphire series, Scarlet & Violet series	Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2	2 Prizes, official documentation writes the names from the two releases differently but they function the same and are treated as such.[12]
Pokémon LV.X	Diamond & Pearl series	LEVEL-UP	Can use attacks, Poké-Powers, and Poké-Bodies from its previous evolution[13]
Pokémon LEGEND	HeartGold & SoulSilver series	LEGEND	2 Prizes, 2 cards must be played onto the Bench at the same time[14]
Pokémon-EX	Next Destinies	Basic	2 Prizes, distinct from Pokémon-ex
Mega Pokémon-EX	XY series Mega Evolution series	MEGA	2 Prizes, turn ends after evolving from Pokémon-EX (XY Series) 3 Prizes, turn does not end after playing either an evolution or basic Mega (Mega Evolution Series)
Pokémon BREAK	BREAKthrough	BREAK	Increases HP and gives an additional attack/Ability to its previous evolution.
Pokémon GX	Sun and Moon series	Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2	2 Prizes, each player can use a GX attack once per battle
TAG TEAM Pokémon GX	Team Up	Basic	3 prizes, each player can use a GX attack once per battle[15]
Prism Star Cards	Ultra Prism	Basic	One of each Prism Star card per deck, sent to the Lost Zone when discarded
Pokémon V	Sword and Shield series	Basic	2 Prizes
Pokémon VMAX	Sword and Shield series	VMAX	3 Prizes, evolves from Pokémon V[16]
Pokémon V-UNION	SWSH Black Star Promos	V-UNION	3 Prizes, once per game for each V-UNION name: add four V-UNION cards with the same name to the Bench[17]
Pokémon VSTAR	Brilliant Stars	VSTAR	2 Prizes, each player can use a VSTAR Power once per battle, evolves from Pokémon V[18]
Tera Pokémon ex	Scarlet & Violet series	Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2	2 Prizes, different types than normal but uses the same energy, cannot be dealt damage by attacks while on the Bench[19]

Other Pokémon attributes include Owner's Pokémon,[20] Baby Pokémon,[21] Crystal Pokémon,[22] Dark Pokémon,[23] Light Pokémon,[24] Team Magma's cards,[25] Team Aqua's cards,[25] δ Delta Species,[26] Pokémon Prime,[27] Pokémon SP, Restored Pokémon, Team Plasma cards,[28] Ancient Trait, Ultra Beasts,[29] Single Strike,[30] Rapid Strike, Fusion Strike,[31] Ancient,[32] and Future cards.

Trainer cards perform various effects to affect the game, including but not limited to: drawing cards, healing Pokémon, discarding Energy from opposing Pokémon, or retrieving cards from the discard pile. Before the Diamond & Pearl series, all cards that were not Pokémon or Energy were considered Trainer cards. Afterward, Trainer cards were subdivided into three categories, Item, Stadium, and Supporter. Item cards directly affect the battling Pokémon and include the subcategory Pokémon Tool cards to attach to a Pokémon and provide for different effects. Stadium cards provide global effects both players can use, usually once per turn. Supporter cards have considerably the strongest effects, but they are limited to one per turn.[1] Starting with Scarlet & Violet, Pokémon Tool cards are considered as a separate category from Item cards; existing Pokémon Tool cards have received errata to conform to this change.[33] ACE SPEC Trainer cards have powerful unique effects but only one ACE SPEC card is allowed in the deck.

Energy cards are attached to Pokémon in play to power their attacks. Only one Energy card may be attached per turn, unless a player has an effect that specifies otherwise. There are two categories of Energy cards: Basic Energy and Special Energy. The nine different Basic Energy types which correspond to Pokémon card types are Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Metal, and Fairy.[34][35] The Dragon type does not have a corresponding Basic Energy card, and instead uses multiple types of Energy cards. Basic Energy cards fulfill costs for attacking and retreating and don't have additional effects, while most Special Energy cards have additional effects. Most attacks require a certain type and amount of Energy. If the attack has a Colorless Energy requirement, that requirement can be met by any Energy card.[1] Any amount of Basic Energy can be put in the deck, but only four of each special energy can be put in, just like Trainer and Pokémon cards.

Pokémon types

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TCG type	Game type
Grass	Grass, Bug, and Poison (1996–2007)
Fire	Fire
Water	Water and Ice
Lightning	Electric
Psychic	Psychic, Ghost, Poison (2007–2019), and Fairy (2019–)
Fighting	Fighting, Rock, and Ground
Darkness	Dark and Poison (2019–)
Metal	Steel
Dragon	Dragon (2012–2019, 2021–)
Fairy	Fairy (2014–2019)
Colorless	Normal, Flying, and Dragon (1996–2012, 2019–2021)

Pokémon Types are elemental attributes, determining the strengths and weaknesses for each Pokémon and its attacks. Pokémon take double damage from attacks of types they are weak to and less damage from attacks they resist.[36] These type matchups offset one another in rock–paper–scissors-style relationships.[37] Pokémon Types in the TCG include Fire, Fighting, Dragon, Lightning, Grass, Water, Fairy, Psychic, Darkness, Metal, and Colorless.[35] Other Pokémon types such as Ice and Ground types from the franchise, however, do not have their own types in the TCG and instead are categorized/incorporated inside other types; for example, Ice type[38] and Ground type[39] are categorized under Water type and Fighting type, respectively.[40]

Starting with Dragons Exalted, Dragon type Pokémon are now listed as Dragon-type, and they were previously categorized under the Colorless type.[41] Similarly, starting with Sword & Shield, Poison type Pokémon are categorized under Darkness-type; Poison-type were previously Psychic type,[42] and before that they were categorized under Grass type.[43]

A simplified type system was adopted from the video games for use in the trading card game. Darkness and Metal types was introduced alongside the corresponding Pokémon Gold and Silver video game, the Dragon-type was introduced in the Japanese Dragon Selection set; and Fairy type was introduced in the XY set to correspond to its introduction in the franchise, but they were later categorized under Psychic type starting with Sword and Pokémon Shield.[42][44] While most Pokémon have only one type, three exceptions are EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua which introduced dual-type Pokémon that have two different types, as well as XY and HeartGold and SoulSilver series sets.[45] Dual types were also utilized in Pokémon-Legend cards from HeartGold and SoulSilver.[46] In August 2016, XY Steam Siege reintroduced the dual-type mechanic, but this time on regular Pokémon and Pokémon-EX.[47]