How to Play Pokémon Cards

If you're a fan of Pokémon movies, TV shows, or video games, the Pokémon Trading Card Game (Pokémon TCG) is a must-try. It's a fantastic way to enjoy a fun time with friends and experience exciting Pokémon battles in real life. Read on below to learn how to play Pokémon TCG.

Shuffle the cards. Your deck should consist of more than 25 cards, thoroughly shuffled. One-quarter to one-third of your deck should be Energy cards.

Draw 7 cards. Take the top 7 cards from your deck and place them face down to the side.

Draw 6 more cards without looking at them and place them face down. These are your prize cards.

Set the rest of your deck aside. Typically, the deck should be placed to your right, opposite your prize cards. The discard pile will be placed next to the deck.

Find your Basic Pokémon. Look through the 7 cards you drew to find a Basic Pokémon. If you don't have one, return the 7 cards to your deck, shuffle, and draw 7 new cards. Each time you do this, your opponent will draw an additional card.

Choose your active Pokémon. If you have at least one Basic Pokémon in your hand, place the card you want to use as your active Pokémon in the battle area, about 5-7 cm in front of you. If you have more than one Basic Pokémon, you can place them face down in the bench area, reserved for backup Pokémon. Each round, you can place up to 5 Pokémon in this bench area.

Draw 6 prize cards. Set the prize pile to the side, face down without looking at them. Each time you knock out an opponent's Pokémon, take one prize card. The player who collects all their prize cards first wins. The fewer prize cards, the faster the game progresses.

Decide who goes first. Flip a coin to determine who starts. The first player cannot attack during their first turn.

Flip your cards face up on the right side. When you're ready to begin, make sure your active Pokémon and bench Pokémon are both face up. The rest of your hand, prize cards, and deck should remain face down. You can look at your hand, but you must not see the deck or prize cards.

Play until someone wins. You win when you collect all your prize cards, when your opponent has no more cards to play, or when you knock out all the Pokémon in your opponent's battle area.

Bench a Basic Pokémon. If you have a Basic Pokémon in your hand, you can place it in the bench area. You can do this as many times as you like, with a maximum of five Pokémon on the bench.

Use Energy cards. Each turn, you can play an Energy card by placing it beneath one of your Pokémon, under any Pokémon that has not evolved yet.

Use Item cards. These cards are easy to understand and allow you to do many useful things. The different types of Item cards include Trainer, Supporter, and Stadium cards. Each turn, you can use as many Trainer cards as you like, but only one Supporter card. After use, they go to the discard pile. Pokémon Tool cards are attached to an opponent's untagged Pokémon, remaining there until the Pokémon is knocked out, at which point both the Pokémon and any attached Tools are discarded. When you use a Stadium card, it is placed horizontally between both players' battle areas. The Stadium remains in play until another Stadium card replaces it. Additionally, there are special Energy cards that provide energy and perform specific actions as described on the card.

Evolve your Pokémon. If you have Evolution cards for your active or benched Pokémon, you can evolve them by placing the Evolution card on top of the Pokémon. Basic Pokémon evolve into Stage 1, and Stage 1 evolves into Stage 2. You cannot evolve a Pokémon that has just entered the battle or was benched unless an effect allows it. Also, you cannot evolve a Pokémon on your first turn.

Use an ability. Some Pokémon have special abilities. You can check these abilities on their respective cards.

Call your Pokémon. Calling a Pokémon means swapping it with another Pokémon from your bench. Typically, you’ll need to pay a retreat cost by discarding Energy cards attached to the Pokémon you are recalling. The retreat cost is listed at the bottom of the card. You can only call a Pokémon once per turn.

Attack the opponent. The final move you can make during your turn is to have your active Pokémon attack your opponent’s active Pokémon. Once you make your attack, your turn ends. You cannot attack on your first turn if you go first. This action will be explained further in the next section.

Attack. You need to attach the correct number and type of Energy cards (listed on the card, next to the attack's name) to your Pokémon in order to perform an attack.

• Some attacks require colorless energy, represented by white stars, and can be any type of Energy. Other attacks require a specific type of Energy.

Pay attention to your opponent's weaknesses. Most cards have a Weakness to a specific Pokémon type. If your active Pokémon shares the same type as your opponent's weakness, their Pokémon will take extra damage from your attack.

Check your opponent’s resistance. Your opponent’s Pokémon will take less damage if they have resistance to your Pokémon's type.

Deal damage. The amount of damage dealt by an attack is listed to the right of the attack's name. Damage is inflicted on the opponent's Pokémon. In the game, damage is tracked in damage points, with each 10 damage being represented by a damage marker. You can track damage using official damage counters, any small flat objects, or dice.

Discard knocked-out Pokémon. A Pokémon with 0 HP (Hit Points) is knocked out. Place it in its owner's discard pile, along with any attached Energy, Items, and any evolution cards (if applicable). Then, you can draw a prize card.

Special Conditions are negative statuses that players can impose on each other's active Pokémon. These include: Burned, Poisoned, Asleep, Confused, and Paralyzed. Poisoned, Burned, Asleep, and Paralyzed will affect Pokémon during each turn in a set sequence.

Dealing with a Poisoned Pokémon. Place a Poison marker on the affected Pokémon. It will suffer 1 damage point at the end of each turn.

Dealing with a Burned Pokémon. Place a Burn marker on the affected Pokémon. Flip a coin at the end of each turn. If it lands heads, the Pokémon will not take damage. If it lands tails, place 2 damage markers on the Burned Pokémon.

Dealing with a Asleep Pokémon. For a Pokémon affected by the Asleep condition, rotate the card 90 degrees clockwise. Flip a coin at the end of each turn; if heads, the Pokémon wakes up. If tails, the Pokémon remains asleep. Asleep Pokémon cannot attack or retreat.

Dealing with a Paralyzed Pokémon. A Paralyzed Pokémon is rotated 90 degrees clockwise and cannot attack or retreat. This condition is removed at the start of your next turn if your Pokémon has been Paralyzed since the last turn’s end.

Dealing with a Confused Pokémon. The Confused Pokémon's card will be flipped over. Before it attacks, flip a coin; if tails, the Pokémon will receive three damage counters and the attack will be nullified. If heads, your Pokémon will successfully attack.

• If the attack requires a coin flip, flip the coin to resolve confusion first.

Healing an affected Pokémon. The easiest way to heal an affected Pokémon is to retreat it to the bench. It cannot be retreated if it is Asleep or Paralyzed, but it can be switched out through effects. You may also use Trainer cards with abilities to remove the special conditions. For a Pokémon affected by multiple conditions, the most recent condition will be the one that remains.

• If you have a strong Pokémon that needs to combine with Energy cards, send out a weaker Pokémon first to prevent damage while you prepare the Energy.
• Always pay attention to advantages/disadvantages and use them to turn the game in your favor.
• Use Item cards to restore health.
• Try to collect at least 10-18 Trainer cards. They can help you remove damage counters, take less damage, and provide many other advantages!
• If you lose a Pokémon, don’t get angry. That will only distract you more during the match.
• Join a community like Play! Pokémon to learn more about Pokémon TCG and play with new friends!

• If engaging in competitive gameplay feels too challenging or makes you anxious, you can still enjoy collecting and trading cards without needing to play competitively.
• Play with a spirit of learning and camaraderie. Always shake hands before and after a match, and avoid the mindset of "victory brings glory, defeat brings shame." Remember that the goal is to have fun, so don't let anger or sadness take over.