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Pokémon Trading Card Game

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This article is about the card game. For the video game, see Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game).
A typical Pokémon card (Dragonite - stage 2 Pokémon)
Enlarge
A typical Pokémon card (Dragonite - stage 2 Pokémon)

Another typical Pokémon card (Clefairy - basic Pokémon
Enlarge
Another typical Pokémon card (Clefairy - basic Pokémon

The 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 , 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.

Contents

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.

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):

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.

Owner's 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.

Delta Species

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

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, Registeel, Pikachu, Gyarados, and Mewtwo. In the upcoming EX Crystal Guardians set are Alakazam and Celebi, and in the upcoming Furthest Ends of Offense and Defense are Charizard and Mew.

Other Information

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.

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:

Sets

Wizards of the Coast Sets

'Originals' Series 1

'Gym' Series

'Neo' Series

'Pokémon-e' Series 1

Other Series

Nintendo Sets

'Pokémon-e' Series 2

'Originals' Series 2

'Delta Species' Series

Tournaments and Leauges

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.

Tropical Mega Battle

On August 26 - 27, 2000, forty-two Pokémon trainers from around the world united at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu for the Tropical Mega Battle, an international communication event for the PokémonTM* trading card game. Jason Klaczynski, 14-year-old Orland Park, Ill., resident, was honored as the Master Trainer of the Tropical Mega Battle after winning the final round of the World Communication Match against fellow Pokémon trainer Toshiya Tanabe of Sapporo, Japan.

In an effort to transcend language and communication barriers through entertaining game-play, the Tropical Mega Battle brought together children, aged 14 and under, from the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, for two action-packed days in scenic Honolulu, Hawaii. Children participating in the Tropical Mega Battle received invitations through Qualifier tournaments, DCI rankings, and other events in their respective countries. Creatures Inc., Media Factory and Wizards of the Coast Inc. sponsored the Tropical Mega Battle.

Events throughout the weekend included competitions facilitated by translators for groups of children representing two different languages in each group; a group photo and an opening ceremony featuring remarks from Hawaiian government officials; and a harbor cruise awards ceremony for the winners of the World Communication Match.

Super Trainer Showdown

The Super Trainer Showdowns were large Pokemon TCG tournaments held by Wizards of the Coast, and all were held in the US. These tournaments were frequently bi-yearly and were open to the public. Each tournament consisted of three age groups; 10 and under, 11 to 14 years old, and 15 years old and over. Each Super Trainer Showdown was preceded by a series of Qualifier Tournaments held in cities around the United States and abroad in which players in the 11-to-14 and 10-and-under age groups could win trips for themselves and a parent or guardian to the Super Trainer Showdown event.

There have been four Super Trainer Showdowns; one in Long Beach, CA, one in San Diego, CA, and two in Seacaucus, NJ.

Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL)

The Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL) is organized by a Japanese institute, along 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, but 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.

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[link] to raise people's concern.

See also

External links

Official Pokemon TCG sites

has more about this subject:

Unofficial Pokemon TCG sites

 

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