How to play the Pokémon trading card game for stupid dummy dads and grandmas… (2024)

The idiot guide for dads. After extensively searching the net for a quick, easy and dad optimized tutorial on how to play Pokémon (pocket monster) cardswith my son I have to come to the conclusion there is none yet. I need a manualthat walksdads like mecarefully through every step in the game. In absence of this easy to learnand follow guide I have to do my own for the time being. (Dear Reader in case you know a good resource please do not hesitate to recommendit in the comment section of this post.)

Despite the fact that 5 year old kidsbegin to playPokémon it is a highly complex strategy trading card game. The way to learn it is to start at a very basic level and to slowly work yourself up to the more complex level of understanding the game. In the following the basic questions and answers will guide you to play your first game with yourchild at abasic level. To advance you will need to learn more and more details about the rules of the game and the cards.

Basic Level (all what you really need to know for your first game)

#1: How many players in this trading card game ?
The game has two player – in my case one is dad (no cards and no idea yet) and on the opponent side is my son with a large collection of Pokémon cards but a very personal idea of how to play this game. It seems the rules always favour him….

#2: How many cards does one player need?
Each player needs 60 cards. Youhandpick and decide what cards totakebefore you start the game. This is then your card deck.

3#: What type of cards should I choose for my 60 cards deck ?
There are three type of cards:
1. The Pokémon (Pocket Monster)
2. The Energy Card (without it the Pokémon cannot attack)
3. The Trainer Card
Adad if he wants to impress his child should choose 20 Pokémon cards, 25 Trainer cards and 15 Energy cards. Therefore in the following there are a few exercises for the beginner dads:

Firstexercise for dads – card sorting #1: I took the card collection of my son and sorted the cards into the three categories: 1) Pokémon 2)Energy 3)Trainer.

(Detail explanations of these card types can be found in this blog post: “How to play the Pokémon trading card game for dummies“.)

The Pokémons look very similar to insects, smallanimals, dragonsor small robots and have fantasy names associated to their appearances. Satoshi Tajiri the inventor of the game was a passionate insect collector in his childhood.

The Pokéman fight each other, always one by one. To prepare them for the battle they have a trainer (trainer card). To fightthey need energy (energy card).

For your first game just choose Pokémonswith the same color. This means you need to go through your second exercise:

Second exercise for dads – card sorting #2: Now select only the Pokémon cards (not the trainer cards and not the energy cards)from the first sortingexcercise and seperate them into piles with similar colors. Each color resembles a different type of energy that the Pokémon belongs to – additionally the energy type is indicated by a symbole in the right upper corner of the card. Depending on the content of thecard collection of your child you will end up with different number of piles. The card collection of my son includesten different types of Pokémon.

#5: What types of Pokémon with similar energies should I finally select ?
The recommendation is to have 20 Pokémon cards with the same energy tpye within your 60 cards deck. In the following video this boyexplains how he selects Pokémons with the grass energy (green color cards) for his deck.

Were you able to follow ? Now very slowly and a short step by step explanations for the ultimate beginner.
Within the group ofPokémons of similar energy there are again three sub-types.
1) Basic cards
2) Stage 1 cards
3) Stage 2 cards

Third exercise for dads – card sorting #3: Select one group of Pokémon cards from the card sorting exercise #2. They should have the same color and belong to the group of Pokémon with the same type of energy. Now sort the cards into 3 categories: 1)Basic 2)Stage 1 3) Stage 2.

For your first gameI would recommend you to only select the basic type pokémon. Stage 1 or Stage 2 cards I would get into after you have playedyour first gameorfirst few games.

#6: What type of energy card should I select ?

In the next step you need to choose your 15 energy cards by doing another exercise.

Fourth exercise for dads – card sorting #4: Now take the pile of theenergy cards and separate them into piles related to theirenergy symbol and color. How many types ofenergiesdid you find ?

Now I am all set to be beaten…

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#11: How to start the game ?

This video by Jodi Serge belowexplains how to start the game:

Summary Step by Step:
1) Choose 1 Basic Pokémon from your seven cards and put it face down on the table. This is your active Pokémon that will go into the first battle.
2) If you have more Basic type Pokémons put those face down on your so called “bench” on the table.
Key Rule to remember: The Bench can have maximum five Basic type Pokémons at any time.
In my example in the picture I have one active Pokémon and two on my bench.What do I still hold in my hands ?I havethree energy cards of which one has an universal (colorless) energy and one trainer card.
3) Flip a coin who is the first to start the game or decide the oldest (youngest) one of the two players will begin the game.

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#12: How to play the first round ?

Before youstart to play the game become aware of your true role. You are the trainer of the Pokémons that go into battle. The story of Pokémon is based on Ash Ketchum, a ten year old boy, who has the desire to become the best expert trainer for Pokémons in his life. The first Pokémon he befriends with is called Pikachu. And if you have 22 Minutes I would recommend you to watch the first Pokémon episode – I will choose you.

The video below explains what happens when you take your first turn in the game

Step by Step Summary of the video:
1) Both players:
Flip over your basic Pokémon cards that you have chosen as your active the ones on your bench so your opponent can now see these cards.
The player that goes first:
2) Draw one card from your pile
3) If it is a basic type Pokémon card and you have less than 5 basic type Pokémon cards on your bench, then add this new Pokémon card to your bench
3) If you have an energy card in the cards that you hold in your hand see if you can add it to your active Pokémon. You can add only one.
4) If you have a trainer card(s) in your hand see what it says and see if helps you to add more energy cards, or do some other useful tactical moves to enhance your battle power.

In my example (see picture) in step 2 I drew a basic type Pokémen card which I placed on my bench. I put an energy card next and below my active Pokémon card. Now this Pokémon card is ready to go into battle. And I used my trainer cards which allowed me to go through my wholepile ofmy card deck and take out two more energy cards which I now hold in my hand. My trainer card willnow go into the discarded cards pile. I cannot reuse it again in this game.
5)Next is the turn of your opponent to do the same steps 2-4 above.

Your First battle:

Summary Step by Step:
Now it is time that you understand more details about your Pokémon card. Below the picture of the Pokémon you find the name and descriptions of the attacks this Pokémon can do. In this case Basculin has one energy card attached which will allow you to use the Flail attack.

At first with the Flail attackwilldo 10 damage points to your opponent.
As soon as Basculin received some damage points during the fight the damage points of the Flail attack will increase by number of damage points Basculin has collected. (see picture below)

To use the Final Gambit attack of Basculin you would need at least one blue (water) energy card attached which is the case already in this example. Then you would need additionally two more energy cards. These can be any type of energy card. The symbol next to the attacks will tell you what kind of energy card you need and how many. If you see the star (colorless) energy symbol this mean you can attach any type of energy card.

It will take at least two more rounds to activate the Final Gambit attack of Basculin. You can only add one energy card per round if you have one.

Now Basculin recieved two damage points coins (20 Points). His maximum HP Hit Points was 80 Hit Points when you started the game. You see the HP Points on the right upper corner of the Pokémon card. Now Basculin has 60 HP left after the attack.

As he has two damage points the nexttime you use the Flail attack, Basculin will now do 10×2=20 damage points to your opponent.

Once Basculin has collected 80 Damage points he will be discarded together with the energy cards attached from the play field. These cards cannot be used anymore in the current game.

Your opponent will collect one of his prize cards as your Pokémon Basculin has been knocked out.

#13: What can happen during a battle – Weakness and Resistance ?

In this video the Pokémon Expert Mom Jodi Serge explains what else you need to be aware of during your battle:

#14: What can happen during a battle -Pokémon special conditions ?

This is another impact on your Pokémon that can be inflicted by your opponent’s card.

#15: What happens when your Pokémon was finally beaten?
When your Pokemon has no more HP (Hit Points) left and therefore is knocked out, all cards attached to it (including theenergy cards) go into the discard pile.

Additionally your opponent can now draw one prize card from his prize cards on the table.

#16: When is the game over and who is the winner?
Once a player has collected all his 6 prize cards the game is over and he has won.

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And below some examples what more advanced players know about the game and why it is good to start at a very basic level first. The more you know the more complex strategies for your game which heavinly depends on the card deck you choose you can develop.

For the more advanced players:
Advise: Choose a few trainer supporter cards that let you go through your deck to find other cards or possible discard your opponents cards. Reference: How to build a winning Pokemon deck

Once you advance with your knowledge and move towards mastery. This is what the highly advanced players do when they build their decks.
Deck Building Guide

And here is the list of the top 100 Hit Points Pockemon

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Further reading:
I am just reading: “What Pokémon can teach us about learning and literacy.”
And as I am a People, Organizational and Talent Manager in my professional life and interested in using gaming where applicableI see a lot of common principles between the Pokémon Trading Card game and Talent Management.
I am not alone: Pokémon allows player to experience talent management

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Ressources:
– Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia
– Official Guide PokémonTrading Card Game Rules
– Pokémon Cards provide rare insights into facial recognition processes
– Pokemon Dad – The PokeCommunity Forums
– A Dad’s Pokemon Quest – Real Men, Real Dads
– Top 100 Hit Points Pokémon

Books:
Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook
Pokemon Trading Card Game Player’s Guide (Pokémon)
Trading Card Games For Dummies

Tags: Ash Ketchum, Basculin, Bulbapedia, card pokemon, Digimon, expertvillage, Final Gambit, Flail, Jodi Serge, National Council of Teachers of English, Pikachu, Pokémon, Pokedex, pokemon by game, pokemon cards, pokemon game, Pokemon trading card game, Pokestar, Satoshi Tajiri, talent management, Tom James, trading card, Unova, Vivian Vasquez

This entry was posted on December 17, 2012 at 12:12 pm and is filed under 2000_Learning.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.