Pokemon cards are a type of trading card game that is based on the popular Pokemon video games. Players build decks of Pokemon and trainer cards and compete against each other. They can start with preconstructed decks or build their own deck from thousands of available cards, including rarer versions. New sets of cards, called expansions, are released each year to add to the game’s variety and complexity.
Each player starts the game with a hand of seven cards. They then place their decks face down in a playing field or “field” with the short sides of the cards facing each other and any card sleeve openings facing their opponent. They each draw one of the top seven cards to be their Active Pokemon. The rest of the cards are placed in their bench.
On the bottom of each card is the name of the Pokemon, its hit points or HP, and its evolution stage (piplup is basic, prinplup is stage 1 and empoleon is stage 2). There are also two moves listed on the card, which can be either attacks or abilities. The amount of damage or impact that can be dealt is listed to the right of the move. A number also indicates how many energy cards are required to play the move.
The rest of the card will include information on its status, which may be asleep or paralyzed. If a Pokemon is asleep, it can’t attack or retreat during the player’s next turn. If it is paralyzed, the Pokemon can’t attack or use any abilities, but can still use its Poke-Powers. Finally, the retreat cost is listed, which is how much a player must pay to bring a Pokemon back to their bench from their discard pile.
During their turns, players can attack each other’s Pokemon with their active Pokemon. This is done by attacking the defending Pokemon with an attack that has the right amount of energy attached to it, which is listed on the card to the left of the attack name. Once the attacker’s damage exceeds the defender’s HP, the defending Pokemon is knocked out and removed from the field.
Each player can also play a Pokemon tool card during their turn. These cards allow a character to gain a special advantage in combat, such as healing a Pokemon’s HP or allowing it to draw more cards. Only one Pokemon tool can be played per turn, and it goes into the discard if the Pokémon is knocked out during the attack.
The most common way to win the game is to knock out six of an opponent’s Pokemon and collect their prize cards. The first player to do so wins the game. There are other ways to win as well, however. Players can also win by collecting all of their own prize cards, and by winning the most rounds. Pokemon cards