The Pokémon Trading Card Game (Pokémon TCG) is a collectible card game based on the Pokémon video game series, first introduced in Japan in October 1996, then North America in December 1998. It was initially published by Wizards of the Coast, the company that produces Magic: the Gathering. Although Wizards of the Coast lost the licence to publish the game in July 2003, sets continue to be published under the jurisdiction of Nintendo and Pokémon USA, Inc. (PUI).
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The Pokémon Trading Card Game (Pokémon TCG) is a collectible card game based on the Pokémon video game series, first introduced in Japan in October 1996, then North America in December 1998. It was initially published by Wizards of the Coast, the company that produces Magic: the Gathering. Although Wizards of the Coast lost the licence to publish the game in July 2003, sets continue to be published under the jurisdiction of Nintendo and Pokémon USA, Inc. (PUI).
Game concepts
The game is centered on the concept of the Pokémon battle. All Pokémon cards have attacks and Hit Points (HP) except for energy cards and trainer cards; by doing damage to the opponent's Pokémon equal to their Hit Points, the player can knock them out and send them to the discard pile.
Victory conditions
There are three different ways to win a game:
- The first type of win condition is to retrieve a set of "prize cards." A number of cards (usually six) are set aside from the top of each player's deck at the beginning of each game. Each time a player knocks out an opponent's Pokémon, he or she adds a prize card to his or her hand. Pokémon-ex cards, introduced in EX: Ruby and Sapphire, are more powerful than their non-ex counterparts, but allow a player who knocks them out to take two prize cards instead of one.
- Second, a player loses if his or her active Pokémon (the one currently conducting battle) is knocked out and he or she has no other Pokémon in play.
- Third, a player must draw a card from the top of the deck at the beginning of his or her turn, and therefore loses if there are no cards remaining in the deck at the beginning of the turn. This is a trend common to most trading card games.
Card types
There are five types of cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game: Pokémon cards, Energy cards, Trainer cards, Stadium cards, and Supporter cards. Though only Pokémon cards are necessary in a deck, both Energy cards and Trainer cards are important to achieving victory. A player's 60-card deck may only contain four cards with the same name, with the exception of Basic Energy cards.
Pokémon cards
Most Pokémon feature attacks that deal damage to the opponent's active Pokémon, or occasionally, their benched Pokémon; still others perform different functions, such as manipulating players' possession of cards. The vast majority of these attacks require Energy, which comes in the form of Energy cards, though the occasional Pokémon may have an attack that requires no energy (these attacks typically are weak or perform a function other than damage). Once per turn, players can use one of their active Pokémon's attacks.
