and
Primal Groudon-themed Pokémon playmat depicting labels of numerous in-game aspects, such as the Active Pokémon, Bench Pokémon, Deck, and Discard Pile sections The
Pokémon Trading Card Game is a strategy-based card game that is usually played on a designated playmat or digitally on an official game client (usually
Pokémon Trading Card Game Live) where two players (assuming the role of Pokémon Trainer) use their Pokémon to battle one another. Pokémon that have sustained enough damage from attacks–that reaches or exceeds its
HP–is referred to as being "Knocked Out", granting the opponent a prize card; however, powerful
card mechanics like Pokémon-V and Pokémon ex (which have higher HP and are harder to "Knock Out") grant extra prize cards when Knocked Out. Players begin by having one player select heads or tails, and the other flips a coin; the winner of the coin flip will decide who goes first or second. (Dice may be used in place of coins, with even numbers representing heads and odd numbers representing tails; dice are also primarily used in official tournaments organized by The Pokémon Company). The player going first cannot attack or play a Supporter card (powerful Trainer effects card) on their first turn. Players shuffle their decks and draw seven cards, and then each puts one Basic Pokémon in play as their Active Pokémon. This Pokémon is the one that is actively attacking and receiving damage. If a player does not have any Basic Pokémon, they must call
mulligan, shuffle, and then draw another hand until they draw a Basic Pokémon; the opponent may draw one additional card per mulligan. Once both players have at least one Basic Pokémon, they can play up to five more Basic Pokémon onto their Bench, and then take the top six cards of their deck and place them to the side as Prize cards. are not attacks, but special effects on Pokémon that may be activated once or multiple times during their turn, such as drawing additional cards or switching the opponent's Active Pokémon with one of their Benched Pokémon, or can be passive, i.e. they remain in effect as long as the Pokémon with the Ability remains in play. Baby Pokémon, Crystal Pokémon, Dark Pokémon, Light Pokémon, Team Magma's cards, Team Aqua's cards, Pokémon Prime, Pokémon SP, Restored Pokémon, Team Plasma cards, Ancient Trait, Ultra Beasts, Single Strike, Rapid Strike, Fusion Strike, Ancient, and Future cards. Trainer cards create a wide range of effects that influence the game, such as drawing cards, healing Pokémon, removing Energy from opposing Pokémon, or recovering cards from the discard pile. Before the Diamond & Pearl series, all non-Pokémon and non-Energy cards were simply classified as Trainer cards. Afterward, they were divided into three categories: Item, Stadium, and Supporter. Item cards provide immediate effects for battling Pokémon and include Pokémon Tool cards, which can be attached to a Pokémon for added benefits. Stadium cards create field-wide effects that both players can use, usually once per turn. Supporter cards offer the strongest effects, but players are limited to using only one Supporter card each turn. ACE SPEC Trainer cards have powerful unique effects but only one ACE SPEC card is allowed in the deck. Energy cards are attached to Pokémon in play to power their attacks. Only one Energy card may be attached per turn, unless a player has an effect that specifies otherwise. There are two categories of Energy cards: Basic Energy and Special Energy. The nine different Basic Energy types which correspond to Pokémon card types are Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Metal, and Fairy. The Dragon type does not have a corresponding Basic Energy card, and instead uses multiple types of Energy cards. Basic Energy cards fulfill costs for attacking and retreating and don't have additional effects, while most Special Energy cards have additional effects. Most attacks require a certain type and amount of Energy. If the attack has a Colorless Energy requirement, that requirement can be met by any Energy card. These type matchups offset one another in
rock–paper–scissors-style relationships. Pokémon Types in the TCG include Fire, Fighting, Dragon, Lightning, Grass, Water, Fairy, Psychic, Darkness, Metal, and Colorless. and Ground type are categorized under Water type and Fighting type, respectively. Starting with
Dragons Exalted, Dragon type Pokémon are now listed as Dragon-type, and they were previously categorized under the Colorless type. Similarly, starting with
Sword & Shield, Poison type Pokémon are categorized under Darkness-type; Poison-type were previously Psychic type, and before that they were categorized under Grass type. A simplified type system was adopted from the video games for use in the trading card game. Darkness and Metal types was introduced alongside the corresponding
Pokémon Gold and Silver video game, the Dragon-type was introduced in the Japanese
Dragon Selection set; and Fairy type was introduced in the
XY set to correspond to its introduction in the franchise, but they were later categorized under Psychic type starting with
Sword and Pokémon Shield. While most Pokémon have only one type, three exceptions are
EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua which introduced dual-type Pokémon that have two different types, as well as
XY and
HeartGold and SoulSilver series sets. In August 2016,
XY Steam Siege reintroduced the dual-type mechanic, but this time on regular Pokémon and Pokémon-EX. ==Sets==