Pokémon Trading Card Game

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 (wizards), 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).

Specifications

 * Publisher = Wizards of the Coast
 * Publication Date =
 * Nature of Rarity =
 * Number in Existence =
 * Estimated Value =

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 puts a prize card into 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
Pokémon cards are the basis of all decks. Without them a player cannot play the game, since both players begin the game by placing a basic Pokémon in the active position on the playing field. Each Pokémon card depicts a Pokémon from the video games. Each player may have up to six Pokémon on the playing field at a time: one “active” Pokémon and up to five on the bench (these are considered to be in reserve, but they can still affect the gameplay). Each Pokémon card has a name, type, amount of Hit Points, level of evolution, attack(s), weakness, resistance, retreat cost, and flavor text. Some Pokémon have effects, called Poké-Powers or Poké-Bodies, that are not attacks but can affect gameplay; occasionally a Pokémon will have no attacks. From Diamond & Pearl onwards, each Pokémon's level is given next to its name, although not part of the name itself (e.g. Magnezone LV.48).

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.

The two types of Pokémon cards are Basic Pokémon and evolution cards. Basic Pokémon are Pokémon that have not evolved, and can be played directly onto the Bench. Each deck must have at least one Basic Pokémon to be considered legal. In contrast, an evolution card represents a Pokémon that has evolved. Unlike Basic Pokémon, evolution cards cannot be placed directly onto the field (unless something happens that allows one to do so); they must be played on the corresponding Basic Pokémon. Stage 1 Pokémon evolve from Basic Pokémon, and Stage 2 Pokémon evolve from a Stage 1 Pokémon. As a Pokémon evolves, it gains HP and can use Energy more effectively.

A Baby Pokémon, introduced in Neo Genesis, is a special kind of Basic Pokémon card, sometimes distinguished by a Poké-Power called "Baby Evolution." Baby Pokémon have low HP, but their attacks have strange and sometimes very powerful effects. Baby Pokémon can evolve into another Basic Pokémon (which it can evolve into is specified on the card). When a Baby Pokémon evolves into what would normally be a Basic Pokémon, that Basic Pokémon counts as being an evolved Pokémon for the purposes of cards that affect Basic Pokémon and evolution cards differently. For example, Boost Energy can only be attached to an evolved Pokémon, which includes Basic Pokémon evolved from Baby Pokémon.

Variations of Basic, evolution, and Baby Pokémon cards have appeared in many sets, usually indicated with a word before or after the Pokémon's name.

Dark Pokémon, introduced in the Team Rocket set, have appeared primarily in expansion sets featuring Team Rocket. Stage 1 Dark Pokémon evolve from regular Basic Pokémon, and Stage 2 Dark Pokémon evolve from Stage 1 Dark Pokémon. Initially, they were characterized by having low HP but high damage. In EX Team Rocket Returns, this disadvantage was removed and Dark Pokémon were combined with the Darkness type. Instead, their weakness is that some Pokémon Tool cards cannot be attached to Dark Pokémon. Illustrations for Dark Pokémon have either solid-black shading or high contrast shading.

Owner's Pokémon, introduced in Gym Heroes, belong to someone or something. Evolution cards with an owner's name must evolve from a Pokémon that also has that owner's name; for example, "Brock's Primeape" must evolve from a "Brock's Mankey." Like Dark Pokémon, Owner's Pokémon are restricted from certain Pokémon Tools. The "Rocket's" Pokémon are also counted as Owner's Pokémon and usually have no evolution.

Shining Pokémon were introduced in Neo Revelation and appear in Neo Destiny. They are based on the "Shiny Pokémon", rare Pokémon with alternate color forms, introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver. They are incredibly powerful and rare, but require many different types of Energy to play. Shining Pokémon are limited to one of each kind per deck. Unusually, Shining Pokémon (and by extension, Pokémon Star) are all Basic Pokémon, regardless of the species's stage of evolution in the video games.

Light Pokémon were the short-lived complement to Dark Pokémon, used only in Neo Destiny. Light Pokémon had high HP for their time period, especially when compared to Dark Pokémon, but their attacks tend to help the opponent as much as the player. Like Dark Pokémon, a Stage 1 Light Pokémon evolves from a regular Basic Pokémon, and a Stage 2 Light Pokémon evolves from a Stage 1 Light Pokémon. Illustrations for Light Pokémon are often characterized by pastel colors, shining sunlight, gradual shading, or solid colors.

Pokémon Star cards, introduced in EX Team Rocket Returns, have properties identical to Shining Pokémon (including the fact that the Pokémon in question is "shiny"), except that there is a limit of one Pokémon Star per deck, regardless of its name. Many Pokémon Stars get stronger when their player is losing. Pokémon Star cards have the image of the Pokémon coming out of the box it would normally be contained in. A Pokémon Star has a picture of a shooting star next to its name.

Pokémon-ex, introduced in EX Ruby and Sapphire, are extremely powerful Pokémon that usually represent the last stage of evolution. Their HP and attack strength are usually far above that of their regular form. A disadvantage of Pokémon-ex is that when Knocked Out, the player who has done so takes two Prize cards instead of the usual one. The rest of the card game is balanced against Pokémon-ex as well: Some Pokémon do more damage to Pokémon-ex, some can prevent damage from Pokémon-ex, most Pokémon Tools do not work on Pokémon-ex, and some Trainer cards put Pokémon-ex at a disadvantage.

Delta Pokémon, introduced in EX Delta Species, are indicated by the lower-case delta symbol δ and the text "Delta Species." They are normally associated with the Metal type. Pokémon normally of the Dragon-type and Legendary Pokémon in the video games will carry alternate types. Both Delta and non-Delta Pokémon can evolve from either Delta or non-Delta Pokémon. "Delta" is not considered part of a Pokémon's name, e.g. a deck may contain only four Eevee, regardless of how many are Delta.

Pokémon LV.X, introduced in Diamond & Pearl, are more powerful versions of Pokémon. Like Delta Pokémon, they are not considered Pokémon of a different name. Pokémon Lv. X are played by putting them directly on the active Pokémon; however, as Pokémon LV.X do not count as either Basic Pokémon or evolution cards, they do not "evolve" that Pokémon.

Energy cards
Energy cards are cards attached to a Pokémon to enable it to attack. There are two types of Energy cards: Basic Energy cards and Special Energy cards. There are eight different Basic Energy types: Fighting, Fire, Grass, Lightning, Psychic, Water, Darkness and Metal. Until recently, only the first six Energy types have had corresponding Basic Energy cards; although Darkness and Metal are now considered Basic Energy types, they could only be provided through Special Energy cards until the Diamond & Pearl expansion. Basic Energy cards only provide one Energy of the specified type, while Special Energy cards have additional benefits (described in additional text on the card) and varying Energy provisions. Additionally, the amount of Basic Energy cards allowed in a deck is unrestricted, while Special Energy cards follow the standard rule restricting the number of identical cards in a deck to four.

Most attacks require a certain type and amount of Energy, depending on the type of attack and the Pokémon using it. If an attack requires a certain type of Basic Energy, then that type of energy must be attached to the Pokémon, whereas if the attack has a Colorless Energy requirement, that requirement can be met by any Energy card. Colorless Energy is neither a Basic nor a Special Energy type, though some Special Energy cards provide only Colorless Energy and do not enable type-specific attacks.

Trainer cards
Trainer cards are support cards that allow players to do something to affect the game. Some can remove damage counters from Pokémon, remove energy from the opposing Pokémon, or revive Pokémon that have been knocked out. Before the Diamond & Pearl expansion, all cards that were not Pokémon or Energy were considered Trainer cards, though they have since been subdivided into categories: Normal Trainer cards represent items that directly affect the battling Pokémon, Stadium cards represent custom arenas that add a special mechanic to gameplay, and Supporters are special kinds of Trainers.

Most Trainer cards are normal Trainer cards, which display no text in the upper-right corner. Unless the directions say otherwise, when this type of Trainer card is played, the player follows the directions on the card and then discards it. They were introduced at the very beginning of the card game's history, with the Base Set in 1999. Ordinary Trainer cards make up the largest number of Trainer cards by far, and can affect any part of the game, including other Trainer cards. Standard Trainer cards are often illustrated using computer-generated imagery, the most having been done by Keiji Kinebuchi.

Pokémon Tools, a subset of Trainer cards, started out in the set Neo Genesis from 2001. They are the card game's equivalent to Pokémon items, objects that Pokémon can carry around and use at will. Naturally, Pokémon Tools are often Berries, which Pokémon consume to benefit themselves in battle. This type of Trainer card is unusual among Trainer cards in that it follows closely with the video games--a Lum Berry cures all Status conditions in the video games, and the Lum Berry card does the same. Pokémon Tools are attached to a Pokémon immediately when played. Which Pokémon can receive the Pokémon Tool is specified on the card, and a Pokémon may not hold more than one at a time. Some Pokémon Tools can stay on the Pokémon until it gets Knocked Out, whereas some are discarded after a certain condition is met, like "Strength Charm" which is discarded immediately after its Pokémon performs an attack. Like ordinary Trainer cards and Stadium cards, Pokémon Tools are in CGI, with most being illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi and Ryo Ueda.

While Technical Machines can be considered a subdivision of Pokémon Tools, they are worded as a separate category. These were the last of the kinds of Trainer cards to be introduced, starting in 2003 with the Aquapolis set of cards. While these cards are similar to the Technical Machines in the video games in that they enable a Pokémon to learn a move it wouldn't normally know, it is a one-time-use move, unlike in the video games, in which they're permanent. Technical Machines, like Pokémon Tools, are attached to a Pokémon, and, like many Pokémon Tools, are discarded once used. However, a Technical Machine will always have an attack as its text instead of directions, and as long as the Pokémon holds the Technical Machine, it can use the attack provided on the Technical Machine instead of its normal attack. Illustrations for Technical Machines were once the domain of "Big Mama" Tagawa, but they are now exclusively done by Mitsuhiro Arita.

The first Stadium cards were from the Gym Heroes set of cards released in 2000. They initially were all themed on Pokémon Gyms and would benefit its Gym Leader. Later Stadium cards became locations within the Pokémon video games and sometimes areas completely original to the card game. Unlike other Trainer cards, Stadium cards stay on the field once played, unless another Stadium card is played or something happens that requires the Stadium card to be discarded. The effect that the Stadium card provides goes evenly to each player, though a deck can be put together to benefit the greatest from a given Stadium card. Stadium cards are predominantly CGI (a few are hand-illustrated) and were once in the domain of Keiji Kinebuchi. Ryo Ueda now illustrates most of them.

Supporter cards were introduced with the Expedition set of cards in 2002. The ordinary Trainer cards themed on Pokémon characters have since been assigned to Supporter cards instead. They are substantially more powerful than Trainer cards, but only one can be played per turn (as opposed to the ordinary Trainer, which has no limit). Like their predecessors, the card's function will typically not have anything to do with the character featured. Supporter cards will tend to focus on card-drawing: finding a card of the player's choice from the deck and putting it in play or into the user's hand, or drawing a number of cards. For example, Professor Birch allows the player to draw cards until he has six cards in his hand. Because they feature Pokémon characters, the dominant artist for Supporter cards is Ken Sugimori, who designed the characters in the video games and television program. The illustrations for Supporter cards are always hand-drawn.

Multi-type cards
There are also some cards that are two card types in one card. Examples include the "Clefairy Doll" Trainer card in the Base Set, which can be played as a Pokémon card, or special Pokémon that can, rather than battle, be attached to other Pokémon as Energy cards. Future cards have been shown to be both Pokémon and Pokémon Tools.

Fossil cards were first introduced in the Fossil set in 1999, though only Mysterious Fossil was introduced then and would be the only Fossil card until 2003, when it was joined by Root Fossil and Claw Fossil. Fossil cards are counted as Trainer cards while in the deck or in the player's hand, but when put into play, they also count as a Basic Pokémon. Because of this, they are the only tournament-legal Trainer cards with Hit Points (HP). All Fossil cards in play count as the Colorless type. While they can't attack, there is no reward for defeating a Fossil. Certain Pokémon are required to evolve from these fossils except under special circumstances. For example, Kabuto, Omanyte, and  Aerodactyl must evolve from a Mysterious Fossil card. Older Fossil cards were illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi; newer ones are illustrated by Ryo Ueda.

Pokémon types
A simplified type system was used for the trading card game. Instead of 17 types of Pokémon, only nine exist. Seven were in the Base Set, and Darkness and Metal types appeared when Pokémon Gold and Silver introduced the Dark and Steel types. The types usually follow this pattern:


 * 1) Diamond and Pearl introduced non-Delta Species Poison-type Pokémon on "Psychic/Ghost" type cards.

Most Pokémon have only one type. However, EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua introduced Dual-type Pokémon, which have two different types. All existing Dual-type cards have either Darkness or Metal as their secondary type.

Weakness and resistance are determined by the type of the attacking Pokémon (unlike the video game series, where they are determined by the type of the attack used). In older sets, Pokémon that are weak to another type take twice the base damage in an attack, while resistance decreases attack damage by 30 points. However, starting in the Diamond & Pearl expansion, Pokémon cards state how much more or less damage they take from an opponent’s attack if weakness or resistance applies.

If a Pokémon has two types, both of those types are calculated as far as weakness and resistance are concerned. For example, if a Pokémon has weakness to two types, and a Pokémon that is both of those types attacks, that attack will do four times its normal damage.

Sets
With the release of Diamond & Pearl: Great Encounters on February 13, 2008, there are currently 36 different Pokémon TCG sets released in English. These sets have a vast range of sizes, from Fossil (the smallest at 61 cards), to Aquapolis and Skyridge (both the largest, with 182 normal cards, 182 reverse-foil cards and four box toppers - 368 cards in total). Only eight of these sets (EX Holon Phantoms and all subsequent sets) are legal in the current Modified Format, under which all major tournaments are played. A rarely played format is Unlimited, in which all cards released in English are legal (except oversized cards such as large box topper cards).

Early in the game, sets were released in seemingly random intervals, but ever since Nintendo took over the production of the sets, there has been a constant stream of 4 sets per year, released at 2.5 to 3.5 month intervals. Most recently, sets have been released once every four months, due to the increased set sizes.

The current 35 released card sets are: Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, Base Set 2, Team Rocket, Gym Heroes, Gym Challenge, Neo Genesis, Neo Discovery, Neo Revelation, Neo Destiny, Legendary Collection, Expedition, Aquapolis, Skyridge, EX Ruby and Sapphire, EX Sandstorm, EX Dragon, EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua, EX Hidden Legends, EX FireRed & LeafGreen, EX Team Rocket Returns, EX Deoxys, EX Emerald, EX Unseen Forces, EX Delta Species, EX Legend Maker, EX Holon Phantoms, EX Crystal Guardians, EX Dragon Frontiers, EX Power Keepers, Diamond & Pearl, Diamond & Pearl: Mysterious Treasures, Diamond & Pearl: Secret Wonders, Diamond & Pearl: Great Encounters, and "Diamond and Pearl: Majestic Dawn". Another set may be released in August as Diamond & Pearl: Legends Awakened.

Every few sets, new types of cards are introduced to the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Several of these include: Dark Pokémon (Team Rocket); Owners' Pokémon and Stadium cards (Gym Heroes); Darkness-type and Metal-type Pokémon, the second generation, and the new Pokémon Tool card (Neo Genesis); Shining Pokémon (Neo Revelation); Light Pokémon (Neo Destiny); Supporter cards and Technical Machines (Expedition); Crystal-type Pokémon (Aquapolis); Pokémon-ex (EX Ruby & Sapphire); Dual-type Pokémon (EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua); Pokémon-* (EX Team Rocket Returns); Delta Species Pokémon and Holon's Pokémon (EX Delta Species); Pokémon Lv.X, the separation of Trainer, Supporter and Stadium cards, and the addition of Metal and Darkness as Basic Energy types (Diamond & Pearl); and most recently, the new "Pokémon with Items" in Diamond & Pearl: Mysterious Treasures.

These changes, along with yearly format rotations, make for a constantly evolving game.

Pokémon Organized Play Program
In addition to the collectible aspect of the card game, Pokémon USA Inc. (PUI) has also created Pokémon Organized Play (POP), which is in charge of the organization of an official League 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 and owners.

A League Leader may assist in organizing the league, while a League Owner is the one officially in charge of the league, reporting to the Organized Play program 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 or DS games: the current cycle is based upon the Sinnoh league area.

Prereleases are organized just before each set is released. Usually, they are run on the two weekends before a set is released in stores to the public. At prereleases players are given booster packs from the judge and must construct a 40 card deck, with only 4 prize cards, using only the cards pulled from the packs and the judges provide the energy, but not special energy cards.

Tournament play
POP also runs a professor program, in which individuals age 18 or over may become a professor, who can sanction and run tournaments and leagues. Players in a tournament are split into three age categories: Junior (born in 1996 or later), Senior (born in 1992-1995), and Master (born in 1991 or earlier). These tournaments play 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 Swiss-style rounds where players are paired up against others of similar win/loss ratios, usually from their own age group (this does not always occur in smaller events, though). Afterwards, there will either be a cut of the top record-holders (usually the top 25% of an event) where players will play best two out of three matches, and the loser gets eliminated (standard tournament bracket style), with an eventual winner.

POP runs a season for these tournaments, which allows players to earn larger prizes and play in a more competitive environment in comparison to League. These range from City and State Championships, all the way up to the Pokémon World Championships, the single invite-only event of the year. Players can earn invites to the World Championships by winning or ranking high at National Championships, having a good Premier Rating (based on the Elo rating system, which allows players to win or lose points at any Battle Roads or higher-level event), or by qualifying in the Last Chance Qualifier. The World Championships is a two-day tournament, with one eventual winner in each age group; the winner of the Masters Division age group is generally noticed as the best player in the world for that season.

Some 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.

Major tournaments under Wizards of the Coast

 * 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 Pokémon Trading Card Game. 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 days in Honolulu, Hawaii. Children participating in the Tropical Mega Battle received invitations through Qualifier tournaments, DCI rankings, and other events in their respective countries.
 * 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. 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.


 * Super Trainer Showdown
 * The Super Trainer Showdowns were large Pokémon TCG tournaments held in the United States by Wizards of the Coast. These tournaments were frequently bi-annual 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. To date, there have been four Super Trainer Showdowns: one in Long Beach, CA, one in San Diego, CA, and two in Seacaucus, NJ.