Pokemon Trading Card Game

Players: 2-4

Set up time: Around 3 minutes or less

Playing time: Varies.

Publisher: Wizard of the Coast/Nintendo

Sadly, I must admit that even I fell victim to Pokemon-mania, of course for me it started off with the game-boy games. For those people that remember playing Pokemon Red & Blue versions, the trading card game is somewhat less fun. After all in the game-boy version of the game you could train your Pokemon as well as build up a collection of 151 (At that time).

For others their Pokemon roots go all the way back to when the official trading card game was released back in October 1996 by Wizard of the Coast which is known for its Magic: The Gathering card game. The game has evolved a bit from what it was like back in those days, but its still a very easy game to play.

A typical game is between two to four players, it may take around three minutes or less to set up and the playing time varies on size of the deck as well as player strategy’s. The concept of the game is centered around Pokemon battling, each “monster” card if you will has hit-points(HP, or Health) and attacks. By doing damage to your opponents “monster” card equal to its HP you can knock it out of the game and send it to the discard pile.

There are three ways to win, If a player’s Pokemon is knocked out and he or she has no other Pokemon in play, then they lose. Another way is if a player runs out of cards in his or her deck after drawing from it each turn, this counts as a lose. One more way is by a player wining each of the other players six reward cards.

Its changed a bit since I played years ago, but there are several different types of cards, Pokmon cards, energy cards, trainer cards, stadium cards and supporter cards. Trainer and energy cards are very important to achieving victory as energy cards give your Pokemon the energy it needs to attack, much like the MP of Final Fantasy RPG games.

Each player must have a 60 card deck and is only allowed four of any kind of card with the exception of energy cards.

There are a variety of different Pokemon cards and types, some types are weaker then others, for example fire Pokemon are weak against water and ice. You will find that other cards have a resistance to certain Pokemon types.

Every year there is several Pokemon trading card game contests around the country, If you think your great at the game I recommend trying to go up against some of the veteran players at the tournaments.

In video game terms, I have to give this card game a 10 out of 10, because its just fun even years after its release, It has something for all ages to enjoy.