Pokemon cards, which are rectangular in shape, feature a picture of the Pokemon along with important information about it. Each card has a type (there are 11 in the trading card game), such as Fire, Water, Psychic, Metal or Dragon, as well as an indication of how “evolved” that Pokemon is–basic character cards can evolve into Stage One and Stage Two characters with more powerful attacks and abilities.
There are also important details about the card’s HP, which is printed in the upper left-hand corner of the card. The higher the HP number, the more damage that can be inflicted upon an opponent’s Pokemon. The card’s attack cost is also printed, along with its associated attack damage and any extra effects. The card’s HP cannot be reduced to zero, and the damage counters on a Pokemon card can only be removed if it is healed or knocked out.
When playing the trading card game, each player starts with a deck of 60 cards. Players can purchase theme decks that are preconstructed to support the specific types of Pokemon in their collection, or they can augment these starter packs with booster packs that contain additional cards.
Once the cards are shuffled, each player draws a hand of seven cards. If they don’t have at least a basic character in their hand, they must take a mulligan. This means reshuffleing the deck, drawing seven new cards and repeating this process until they have at least one basic in their hand.
Each player then sets aside six cards from the top of their deck face down, which are called Prize cards. These are collected each time a player knocks out an opponent’s Pokemon, and are added to the player’s hand. Once all the Prize cards have been claimed, the game ends when a player has six active and benched Pokemon.
At the beginning of each turn, the players must decide who will go first by either flipping a coin or using rock-paper-scissors to determine which player will play a supporter card or attack first. The first player can then play an attack if they have the correct amount and type of energy cards for that card’s attack.
The player must then tally the damage done by that attack. Some attacks require a certain amount of colored energy, while others are made up of colorless energy. The card’s HP is printed next to its name and the attack damage and additional effect text are written in logical order, so reading a Pokemon card is fairly easy. This makes the game a great choice for children and adults of all ages. It is also an excellent educational tool that helps kids learn about different species of Pokemon and how to use strategy in the game. The trading card game has been around since 1996 and continues to be a popular collectible for fans of the video games. New expansion packs, containing new sets of cards, are released throughout the year. Pokemon cards