Pokémon Trading Card Game

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This article is about the card game. For the video game, see Pokémon Trading Card.

Image:Pokemoncard.gifThe Pokémon Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on the Pokémon video game series, first introduced in Japan, then North America in 1999. It was published by Wizards of the Coast, the company which publishes Magic: The Gathering, last set published was the Pokémon-e: Skyridge.

With the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Game Boy video games and the EX Ruby and Sapphire expansion, Nintendo started publishing the cards itself. A recent incarnation of the card game is known as Pokémon-e Trading Card Game, most of the cards of which are compatible with the Nintendo e-Reader. However, sets including and after "EX Hidden Legends" do not include the "-e" in the title and do not have codes for the Nintendo e-Reader.

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Video game releases

On December 18, 1998, Nintendo released a Game Boy Color game called Pokémon Trading Card. It was a game based on the original Pokémon games, but with trading cards instead of actual "monsters". This title was released in North America on March 31, 2000 and in Europe on December 8, 2000. It included the cards from the base set as well as its first two expansions, along with cards that are exclusive to the game.

A second Game Boy game, called Pokémon Card GB2, was released in Japan on March 28, 2001. It introduced a trading card parallel to Team Rocket, called Great Team Rocket, and also added cards from the Team Rocket expansion.

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Game concepts (Original/ Full Deck)

The game is centered on the concept of the Pokémon battle, similar to that of the video games. The objective of the game is to knock out six of the opponent's Pokémon. There are three types of cards: Pokémon cards, which represent the actual Pokémon, Trainer cards, and Energy cards.

The different Pokémon characters have different attacks, defensive capabilities and Hit Points (HP). HP is the amount of damage it takes to knock that Pokémon out. Some Pokémon evolve into bigger and stronger Pokémon. Evolved Pokémon generally have more HP and stronger attacks than the lower stages.

Each Pokémon's attacks are listed on the card along with that attack's energy cost and base damage it does. Each player in turn can use one of his/her Pokémon's attacks (provided there is enough energy attached to power it) to do damage to the opponent's active Pokémon (generally referred to as the Defending Pokémon).

Pokémon cards were the actual Pokémon from the video game. One could have only six Pokémon at a time out, with only one being active and the other five being "benched" Pokémon. If a Pokémon was removed from the bench, players could place another from their hands into play, but only if there were fewer than five Pokémon on the bench. The rules of the Pokémon TCG can be easily extended as to allow multiple battles such as the two-on-two battling found in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

A simplified type system was used for the trading card game: instead of 17 types of Pokémon, only nine exist (with Darkness and Metal introduced with the Neo Genesis expansion):

  • Colorless (Gray/White/Normal) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Normal, Flying, and Dragon types
  • Darkness (Black) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Dark type
  • Fighting (Brown) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Rock, Ground, or Fighting types
  • Fire (Red) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Fire type
  • Grass (Green) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Grass, Bug, and Poison types
  • Lightning (Yellow) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Electric type
  • Metal (Silver) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Steel type
  • Psychic (Purple) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Psychic and Ghost types
  • Water (Blue) - consisting mainly of Pokémon of Water and Ice types

Many Pokémon have one and only one type (some are now beginning to have two), and unlike its video game counterpart, the type of the Pokémon and not the type of the attack that a Pokémon uses is used to determine weakness and resistance.

Pokémon that are weak to another type take twice the base damage in an attack. For example, most Fire type Pokémon are weak to Water. So, if a Water type Pokémon attacks a Fire type Pokémon with an attack that has a base damage of 20, that attack would do 40 damage to the Fire type Pokémon.

Some Pokémon have a Resistance to a particular type. Resistance decreases attack damage by 30. So if the opponent attacks with an attack that has a base damage of 40, but a Pokémon has a Resistance to the type of Pokémon the opponent is attacking with, the attack will only do 10 damage instead of 40. If the opponent's attack normally does 30 or less, then the attack will do no damage at all

Later expansion sets featured Dark Pokémon. These Pokémon were often used, story-wise, by evil trainers or evil organizations such as Team Rocket. In the card game, Dark Pokémon generally had stronger attacks than the "regular" versions, but they also tended to have lower HP so they were easier to knock out.

There were also “gym leader” versions of Pokémon that had stronger attacks and higher HP, but also required more energy. Light Pokémon, representing Pokémon that were exceptionally good, as well as Shining Pokémon, which parallels the shiny Pokémon introduced in the Pokémon Gold and Silver video games and often requires energy cards of three different types to be effective.

There are also Pokémon EX cards that are more powerful than their normal counterparts and have higher HP. However, if an EX Pokémon is knocked out, it counts the same as knocking out two regular Pokémon. Additionally, some other Pokémon have powers that protect them from EXs, so a good game player knows it's generally not a good idea to have a deck that relies exclusively on ex Pokémon.

In the EX Team Magma VS. Team Aqua Expansion, Team Magma's Pokémon and Team Aqua's Pokémon were introduced. These cards often were more effective if one had several Pokémon from the same team.

EX Delta Species introduces "Delta Pokémon." A fully-evolved Delta Pokémon would usually be a dual-type, one being Metal and the other being the Pokémon's normal color. Also, Pokémon classified as Dragon-type in the video game has either Electric or Fire-type Delta counterparts. Unlike other special versions of Pokémon, Delta Pokémon are to be played like a normal Pokémon, its benefit being that special cards released in this set are designed to work with Delta Pokémon.

Pokémon Star cards debuted at the EX-Team Rocket Returns set; these cards are very powerful, and only one can be in a deck at a time. The current list of Pokémon Star cards in America are Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Latias, Latios, Rayquaza, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Kyogre, Groudon, Metagross, Regirock, Regice and Registeel.

Pokémon featured attacks that would reduce the HP of the opposing active Pokémon. These attacks required Energy and they came in the form of Energy cards. The attacks would require certain color energy depending on the type of attack and the Pokémon using it. There were initially seven types of energy cards, including Fighting, Fire, Grass, Lightning, Psychic, Water, and Double Colorless energy.

Trainer cards were support cards that allowed players to do something to enhance the game. Cards like Potion and Super Potion removed damage from a Pokémon to keep it from being knocked out as easily. Others allowed for searching a deck for Pokémon, removing energy from the opposing Pokémon, and reviving Pokémon that has been knocked out. There are many other types of Trainer cards.

Beginning level players often do not realize the value of Trainer cards, but experienced tournament level players pay particular attention to the Trainer engine in their battle decks.

Of particular value are "draw" cards and "search" cards. In most cases, it is the player who gets his/her big attacker into play and powered up first who wins the game. In the normal course of play, players can only draw one card per turn from their deck. However, cards like Professor Oak's Research, Steven's Advice and Copycat let a player draw several new cards in a turn.

Search cards like Dual Ball, Lanette's Net Search and Celio's Network let players search through their decks and get a particular card or cards. Championship caliber players know that in order to win games consistently, their decks must contain good draw power and search power.

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Game Concepts (Half Deck/30-card deck)

The "Half Deck" is a new trend of playing Pokémon cards in Japan and Hong Kong that is not as well-known in the West.

Most of the rules are the same with Full deck, apart from the number of cards and some rules. The following is the list of differences between Full Deck and Half Deck:

  • A Half Deck has 30 cards, compared to 60 cards in a Full Deck game.
  • One only displays 3 prize cards in Half Deck, but 6 in Full Deck.
  • Half Deck is more suitable for people that have little time or patience, or want a more exciting game.
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Sets

Pokémon trading cards are loosely grouped into sets. Most sets are roughly grouped into the following order, with cards in the same group following alphabetical order:

  • Rare holographic (holofoil) cards, Pokémon cards before Trainer and Energy cards
  • Pokémon cards, in descending order of rarity
  • Trainer cards, in descending order of rarity (subdivisions of Trainer cards, such as Stadium cards not being considered)
  • Special Energy cards, in descending order of rarity.
  • Pokémon-ex Cards
  • Basic Energy Cards
  • Shining, Crystal, Pokémon Star, and "Secret" Cards

In the "Fossil" expansion the card "Mysterious Fossil" does not fall into alphabetical order but instead comes after all other trainer cards.

In general, more evolved Pokémon tended to be rarer than their less evolved counterparts.

Here is a list of all the sets:

Set Name Set Size (Japan) Set Size (North America) Release Date
Base Set 102 102  ??? in Japan / January 19 1999 in North America
Jungle 48 64  ??? in Japan / June 16 1999 in North America
Fossil 48 62  ??? in Japan / October 10 1999 in North America
Base Set 2 N/A 130 February 28 2000 in North America
Southern Islands 18 18  ??? in Japan / February 28 2000 in North America
Team Rocket 66 83  ??? in Japan / April 24 2000 in North America
Gym Heroes / Gym 1  ??? 132  ??? in Japan / August 14 2000 in North America
Gym Challenge / Gym 2 - Challenge From the Dark  ??? 132  ??? in Japan / August 14 2000 in North America
Neo Genesis / Neo 1 96 111  ??? in Japan / December 16 2000 in North America
Neo Discovery / Neo 2 56 75 July 7 2000 in Japan / June 1 2001 in North America
Pokémon *VS 141 N/A July 19 2001 in Japan
Neo Revelation / Neo 3 57 64 November 23 2000 in Japan / September 21 2001 in North America
Pokémon *Web 48 N/A October 20 2001 in Japan
Neo Destiny / Neo 4 - Darkness to Light 112 113 March 9 2001 in Japan / February 28 2002 in North America
Legendary Collection N/A 110 May 24 2002 in North America
Expedition / Card-E 1 128 165 December 1 2001 in Japan / September 15 2002 in North America
Aquapolis / Card-E 2 - The Town on No Map and Card-E 3 - Wind From the Sea  ??? 182 March 8 2002 (Card-E 2) and May 24 2002 (Card-E 3) in Japan / January 15 2003 in North America
Skyridge / Card-E 4 - Split Ground and Card-E 5 - The Mysterious Mountain  ??? 182 August 24 2002 (Card-E 4) and October 4 2002 (Card-E 5) in Japan, May 12 2003 in North America
EX Ruby and Sapphire / ADV1 100 109 January 31 2003 in Japan / June 18 2003 in North America
EX Sandstorm / ADV2 - Miracle of the Desert 53 100 April 18 2003 in Japan / September 15 2003 in North America
EX Dragon / ADV3 - Champions of the Sky 84 97 June 25 2003 in Japan / November 24 2003 in North America
EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua / ADV EX1 - Team Magma VS Team Aqua: Dual Ambitions 132 95 October 24 2003 in Japan / March 31 2004 in North America
EX Hidden Legends / ADV4 - The Broken Seal  ??? 101  ??? in Japan / June 18 2004 in Rest of World
EX FireRed & LeafGreen / PCG1 - Flight of the Legends  ??? 113  ??? in Japan / August 2004 in Rest of World
EX Team Rocket Returns / PCG3 - Attack of Team Rocket  ??? 109  ??? in Japan / November 2004 in Rest of World
EX Deoxys / PCG2 - Clash in the Green Sky ??107 Summer 2004 in Japan / February 14 2005 in Rest of World (Coinsides with the release of Movie 7)
EX Emerald / Emerald Gift Tin/Quick Construction Packs 60+106+1 ??? In Japan / May 2005 in Rest of world
EX Unseen Forces/PCG4 - Golden Sky, Silvery Sea"  ??? 115+28+2 April 2005 in Japan / August 2005 in Rest of world
EX Legend Maker/PCG5 - Eidolon Forest  ??? 92+1 Summer 2005 in Japan / February 2006 in Rest of world
EX Delta Species/PCG6 - Research Tower of Holon  ??? 113+1 October 6th 2005 in Japan / November 2005 in Rest of World
EX Holon Phantoms/PCG7 -Illusionic Shadow of Holon  ??? 110 ??? in Japan / May 4th Rest of World
EX Miracle Crystal/PCG8 - Miracle Crystal  ???  ??? March 11th in Japan

The differences in set sizes were usually attributed to the North American version having holographic and non-holographic versions of the same cards, as well as the reinclusion of Energy cards and the inclusion of cards from other sets.

Cards were available either as prebuilt theme decks, the favored method of distribution in Japan, or booster packs, the favored method of distribution in North America.

Base Set 2 and Legendary Collection were both North American re-release expansions, expansions that only included cards that have been previously released in other expansions (or the Base Set). Pokémon *Web is similarly a Japanese re-release expansion.

The Expedition, Aquapolis, Skyridge, EX Ruby and Sapphire, EX Sandstorm, EX Dragon, and some cards from the EX Team Magma VS. Team Aqua expansions are compatible with the e-Reader.

Currently the game is being localized in German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

It should be noted that officially, the Team Rocket set in Europe and North America consisted of only 82 cards. However, the Dark Raichu card, not mentioned in official set lists, is given as card 83 of 82. Apart from this, it is no better than any other card of medium rarity.

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Pokémon Organized Play Program

In addition to the collectible aspect of the card game, Pokémon USA Inc. (PUI) have also created Pokémon Organized Play (POP), which is in charge of the organization of an official program, where players can battle others in local environments and earn player points, 2-card booster packets from a promotional set, badges, stickers and other materials. These are run by League Leaders/League Owners.

A League Leader can/may assist in organizing the league; A League Owner is the one officially in charge of the league, reporting to "POP" any results and/or problems every seven weeks. The leagues run in yearly cycles, based on a certain aspect of one of the Pokémon Game Boy games; the current cycle is based upon the Battle Frontier in the Game Boy Advance game, Pokémon Emerald.

POP also runs a tournament program, where they allow individuals 18 or over to become Tournament Organizers (TOs), who can sanction and run tournaments. However, they are not allowed to play in any event(s) that they judge or organize. Players in a tournament are split into three age categories: 10 years and under, 11-14 and 15 years and older. These tournaments play out a number of rounds, where players will play a standard game against each other and wins and losses will be recorded. In most tournaments, there are a number of rounds of "Swiss-style" where players get paired up with others of the same/similar win/loss ratio, usually from their own age group (this does not always occur in "Age-Modified Swiss"). Afterwards, there will either be a cut of the top record-holders (usually the top 25% of an event) where players will play best 2 out of 3 matches, and the loser gets eliminated (standard tournament bracket style), with an eventual winner, or the tournament will just end with final rankings being announced.

POP runs a season for these said tournaments, which allows one to earn larger prizes and play in a more competitive environment. These range from City and State Championships, to national and world-wide tournaments, such as National Championships and World Championships. Players can earn invites to the World Championships by winning or ranking high at National Championships, Gym or Stadium Challenges, where areas are represented by every few states, or by qualifying in the Last Chance Qualifier competition on the eve of the World Championships, a 2 day tournament, with one eventual winner in each age group, the winner of the 15+ age group (arguably the most important one today) in 2005 being Jeremy Maron of the USA.

Most of these methods are only used in the USA, as PUI and POP are based in the USA, but they are represented by local distributors who provide the Organized Play program to their own country.

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Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL)

Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL) is organized by a Japanese institute, alongside with POP. The main differences include PCL mainly holding research and investigations, and matches following the Japanese rules. Members of PCL should all be researchers, and one doesn't have to be a member of PCL to participate in PCL matches; Rather, members act as staff instead of players in matches.

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Pokémon cards in Hong Kong

Due to the massive imports of the Japanese cards, many local players play the Japanese version of the game instead of the English one. The tournaments in Hong Kong run on different mechanics than other countries. They are operated by two different groups, the official POP distributor OTCHK and the unofficial HKPMA.

The OTC is a new distributor of the Pokémon Trading Card Game in Hong Kong that started up in June 2005, and runs POP tournaments using the American rulings. However, it has the same policy as the previous distributor (Trandy's Creation) of banning Japanese cards (which supposedly can be used in regular tournaments with appropriate reference), causing huge discontent amongst the local players. Up until 1st Dec 2005, the company had held only 1 tournament with only 16 participants.

In contrast, the HKPMA (Hong Kong Pokémon Alliance) is an experienced group that has been running 2 to 4 tournaments every year since 2000. Initially those tournaments followed American rulings, shifting to Japanese rulings after the introduction of Japanese Pokemon Card Players Rule Ver1.0 in Summer 2003. The HKPMA later on established a new branch organization, HKPCL (Hong Kong Pokémon Card Laboratory), to manage tournament matters, including the organization of tournaments, ruling support, staffing and documentation. To prevent the confusion between the 2 different rulings, HKPCL makes ruling clarifications on a regular basis, and sometimes writes articles in the PokeGym Forum[1] to raise people's concern.

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External links

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  • Pokémon Organized Play Website is the official US source of the Pokémon OP program, where one can acquire information on local leagues and tournaments and find local distributors.
  • PokéBeach is a useful resource for anyone involved with the Pokémon TCG. Includes scans from the most recent sets and the latest news on the Pokémon TCG, as well as many other resources.
  • Team Compendium is an unofficial body that archives, reconciles, and publicizes rulings for the Trading Card Game dating to its WotC days. A useful resource for card rulings and erratas.

ja:ポケモンカードゲーム

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