Pokémon Trading Card Game

The Pokémon Trading Card Game (ポケモンカードゲーム, Pokemon Kādo Gēmu, "Pokémon Card Game"), abbreviated as PCG or Pokémon TCG is a collectible card game, based on the Pokémon video game series, first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was initially published by Wizards of the Coast; Nintendo eventually took over publishing the card game alongside the video games in June 2003.

Gameplay

Players assume the role of a Pokémon trainer and use their Pokémon to battle their opponents'. Players play Pokémon to the field and attack their opponent's Pokémon. A Pokémon that has sustained enough damage is knocked out, and the player who knocked it out draws a Prize card. There are usually six Prize cards, and the primary win condition is to draw all of them. Other ways to win are by knocking out all the Pokémon the opponent has on the field such that the opponent has none left, or if at the beginning of their opponent's turn there are no cards left to draw in the opponent's deck.

Trading card

A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other text (attacks, statistics, or trivia). There is a wide variation of different types of cards. Modern cards even go as far as to include swatches of game worn memorabilia, autographs, and even DNA hair samples of their subjects.

Trading cards are traditionally associated with sports; baseball cards are especially well-known. Cards dealing with other subjects like Pokémon are often considered a separate category from sports cards, known as non-sports trading cards. These often feature cartoons, comic book characters, television series and film stills. In the 1990s, cards designed specifically for playing games became popular enough to develop into a distinct category, collectible card games. These tend to use either fantasy subjects or sports as the basis for game play.

Collectible card game

A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) or customizable card game, is a kind of card game that first emerged in 1993 and consists of specially designed sets of playing cards. Terms such as "collectible" and "trading" are used interchangeably because of copyrights and marketing strategies of game companies. The rudimentary definition requires the game to resemble trading cards in shape and function, be mass-produced for trading or collectibility, and it must have rules for strategic game play. The definition of CCGs is further refined as being a card game in which the player uses his own deck with cards primarily sold in random assortments. Acquiring these cards may be done by trading with other players or buying card packs. If every card in the game can be obtained by making a small number of purchases, or if the manufacturer does not market it as a CCG, then it is not a CCG. Successful CCGs typically have upwards of thousands of unique cards, with the most successful one, Magic: The Gathering, having nearly 15,000.

Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules, but most are folk games whose rules vary by region, culture, and person.

Many games that are not generally placed in the family of card games do in fact use cards for some aspect of their gameplay. Similarly, some games that are placed in the card game genre involve a board. The distinction is that the gameplay of a card game primarily depends on the use of the cards by players (the board is simply a guide for scorekeeping or for card placement), while board games (the principal non-card game genre to use cards) generally focus on the players' positions on the board, and use the cards for some secondary purpose.

Playing cards

A card game is played with a deck or pack of playing cards which are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. The composition of a deck is known to each player. In some cases several decks are shuffled together to form a single pack or shoe.

Pokémon TCG Online

Pokémon TCG Online is the official digital version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game available for Microsoft Windows, OS X and iPad. It was originally released in April 2011 as Pokémon Trainer Challenge. The game initially offered three starting decks, and featured more content after release. After April 6, 2011, players could buy cards from the Black and White series, which have a code to be digitally represented. Players can also create a custom avatar. There were booster pack codes which allow booster packs up to Black and White-Boundaries Crossed, to be purchased from the online shop. However, as of Black and White- Plasma Storm, the code card within booster packs directly redeem as online booster packs of their respective set. GamesRadar praised the game, stating "Everything looks to be faithfully recreated, including the card mat, prize card layout, and even coins." Winning matches earns tokens which can be used to purchase items such as booster packs of cards, preconstructed theme decks or avatar customisation items.