Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

If you are a fan of Pokémon movies, TV shows or video games, you should not miss the Pokémon Trading Card Game (Pokémon TCG or Pokémon TCG) strategy game. This is a great way to have fun with friends and experience immersive Pokémon battles in real life. Please read the article below to learn how to play Pokémon TCG.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Prepare lesson

1. 

   Shuffle. Your deck must contain more than 25 cards and be well shuffled. 1 / 4-1 / 3 deck of cards must be Energy cards.

2. 

   
   
   Draw 7 cards. Take out 7 cards from the top of the deck and then turn them aside.

3. 

   Draw 6 more cards without looking and face them aside. These are your bonus cards.

4. 

   
   
   Set the rest of the deck to the side. Usually the deck should be on your right hand, facing the bonus cards. The discarded stack will be next to the deck.

5. 

   Find your basic Pokémon. Find a basic Pokémon card from the 7 cards you draw. If you don't have one in your hand, you must re-enter 7 cards back into the deck and shuffle again, then draw another 7 cards. Each time you do this, your opponent will be drawn an additional card.

6. 

   
   
   Choose your active Pokémon. If you have at least one basic Pokémon in hand, place the card you want to use to fight first on the battle area, 5-7 cm from you. If you have more basic Pokémon cards, you can place them upside down in the battle area, which is a section for reserve Pokémon. Each game, players can place up to 5 Pokémon in this queue.

7. 

   Draw 6 bonus cards. Put the stack of cards aside, face down without looking at them. Every time you knock out an opponent's Pokémon, get a bonus card. Whoever gets all the prize cards first is the winner. The less the number of bonus cards, the faster the game is played.

8. 

   Decide who will go first. Flip a coin to see who will start. The first player cannot attack.

9. 

   Flip the cards up to the right side. When you are ready to start, make sure that your active and backup cards are both turned up. The rest in your hand, the prize cards and the deck must be face down. You can look at your cards, but you cannot see the cards or prize cards.

10. 

    Play until someone wins. You win when you get all the bonus cards, when the opponent has to hand but no more cards to hit, or when you take down all Pokémon in the opponent's field. advertisement

Part 2 of 4: Playing cards

1. 

   At the beginning of the turn, draw a card.

2. 

   Basic Pokémon reserves. If you have a basic Pokémon in hand, you can place that Pokémon in the queue. You can do this as many times as you want. There are up to five Pokémon on the bench.

3. 

   Use Energy cards. Each turn, you can use an Energy card by placing it underneath one of your Pokémon, under all its un-evolved form.

4. 

   Use Item cards. These cards have easy-to-understand rules and you can do a lot with them. The different types of Item cards are Trainer, Supporter, and Stadium. Each turn, you can activate as many Trainer cards as you want, but you can only use one Supporter card. Once used, they go to the discard stack. Pokémon Tool is a tool card, used to attach to one of the Pokémon that has not been tagged with an opponent's tool. The tool card will remain next to it until the Pokémon is defeated, at which point the Pokémon and all tools that apply to it are disqualified. When you use the field card, it is placed horizontally between the two player fields. Stadium Cards will remain present during the match until another card has removed it. There are also special Energy cards that can be used to power up and do something special outlined on the card.

5. 

   Pokémon evolution. If you have evolution cards for active or standby Pokémon, you can evolve them by placing the card on top of the Pokémon card. Basic Pokémon will evolve to Level 1 (Stage 1), while Level 1 Pokémon will evolve to Level 2 (Stage 2).You cannot evolve a new Pokémon sent into battle by either stocking them or evolving them, unless you use an effect. You also won't be able to evolve a Pokémon on your first turn.

6. 

   Use an ability. Some Pokémon have special abilities. You can see these possibilities on their cards.

7. 

   Summon your Pokémon. Summoning a Pokémon is to replace it with another Pokémon from the queue. Usually, you will have to trade a summoning loss by discarding the Energy cards attached to the Pokémon. The retreat cost is stated at the bottom of the card. You can only summon once per turn.

8. 

   Attack the opponent. The last thing you can do during your turn is to use your active Pokémon to attack your opponent's active Pokémon. After the attack, your turn will end. You cannot attack on the first turn if you get ahead. This action will be explained in more detail in the next section. advertisement

Part 3 of 4: Attacking the opponent

1. 

   Attack. You must attach the correct amount of Energy cards (listed on the card, to the left of the attack name) to the Pokémon before you can attack.
   • Some attacks require colorless energy. They are identified by white stars and can be any type of energy. Other attacks will require specific types of energy.

2. 

   Pay attention to your opponent's weaknesses. Most cards have a Weakness for a certain type of Pokémon. The opponent's Pokémon will take damage if your active Pokémon is of the same type as the opponent's weakness.

3. 

   Check the opposing Pokémon's resistance system. The opponent's Pokémon will take less damage if they have a resistance of the same type as your Pokémon.

4. 

   Deals damage. The damage an attack does will be to the right of the attack name. Damage will be dealt to the opponent Pokémon. In the game, damage will be calculated as damage points, with every 10 damage equal to one damage mark. You can keep track of damage points using standard markers, any kind of small and flat objects, or dice.

5. 

   Eliminate the defeated Pokémon. Pokémon with zero HP (Hit Points: HP) will be killed. Place them on the owner's disposal stack, along with any Energies or Items attached to and all evolution (if any). After that, you can get a bonus card. advertisement

Part 4 of 4: Dealing with special conditions

1. 

   Special conditions are a state of adverse effects that players can apply to each other's active Pokémon. These include: Burned, Poisoned, Asleep, Confused, and Paralyzed. Poison Strike, Fire, Sleep, and Paralysis will act in between turns in order.

2. 

   Deal with a Poisoned Pokémon. Place a Poison marker on the Poisoned Pokémon. It will take 1 damage between each turn.

3. 

   Deal with a Burned Pokémon. Place a Fire marker on the Burned Pokémon. Flip a coin in the middle of each turn. If the coin is face up, the Pokémon will not be damaged. If the coin tails, place 2 damage marks on the Burned Pokémon.

4. 

   Deal with a Sleepy Pokémon. For a Pokémon that has hit Sleep conditions, the card will be rotated horizontally clockwise. Flip a coin between each turn; if the coin is face up, the Pokémon will wake up. If the coin tails, the Pokémon continues to sleep. The Sleeping Pokémon cannot be attacked or summoned.

5. 

   Deal with a Pokémon that is Paralyzed. Paralysis Pokémon is rotated clockwise and cannot attack or be summoned. This special condition is removed during turn switching if your Pokémon has been Paralyzed since the beginning of your last turn.

6. 

   Deal with a Confused Pokémon. The Confused Pokémon's card will be overturned. Toss a coin to a Confused Pokémon's attack; if the coin collapses, the Pokémon suffers three marks of damage and attack is disabled. If the coin heads up, your Pokémon will attack successfully.
   • If the attack involves a coin toss, toss the coin to troubleshoot first.

7. 

   Heal affected Pokémon. The easiest way to heal an affected Pokémon is to summon it to the lounge chair. Summons are not possible if a Pokémon is Drowsy or Paralyzed, but it can still be transformed using effects. You can also use Trainer cards that remove the action condition. For a Pokémon that is affected by multiple card rotation conditions, which one eventually happens is the one that persists on the Pokémon. advertisement

Advice

• If you have a strong Pokémon that needs to be combined with cards, send out a weak Pokémon first so that the strong one won't get hurt while adding the necessary energy.
• Always be mindful of advantage / disadvantage categories to turn them into your advantage.
• Use items to restore health.
• You should try to collect at least 10-18 Trainer cards. They can help you remove marks, get less damage, and more!
• If you lose a Pokémon, don't get angry. That will only distract you even more during the match.
• Join an organization like Play! Pokémon to learn more about Pokémon TCG and play with new friends!

Warning

• If playing against each other is too difficult or makes you feel uncomfortable, you can still just collect and trade cards, no real play required.
• Play with the spirit of social learning. Always shake hands before as well as after match, should not "win to be king, lose to enemy". Remember, to play is to be happy, not angry or sad.