What you need to play:
The starter game contains two diffrent 30-card decks, one for you and one for your opponent, and 10 counters that youll use during the game. Youll als find a bonus holographic foil Machamp between the two decks; but you wont be need ing this card until you get on to the more complicated game. The 30-card decks will do fine for now.
How you win:
In the Pokemon game, you can win two different ways:
First, at the start of the game, you set aside 3 of your cards as prizes. Every time you defeat one of your opponents Pokemon, you take one of the prizes and put it into your hand. When youve taken all 3 of your prizes, you win the game!
Second, you also win if your opponent has no Pokemon left to fight against your Pokemon.
What the games about:
You and your opponent take turns playing cards from your hands. Some of these cards will be Basic Pokemon cards, Evolution cards to make them bigger and stronger Pokemon, and Energy cards to help them fight. You can also play Trainer cards which do different things to help you win.
Only one of your Pokemon (called your Active Pokemon) will be fighting for you at a time, but you can have other Pokemon behind it (on whats called The Bench), ready to enter the fight.
The goal is to take all 3 of your prizes, which are set aside at the start of the game (see above). Every turn, youll have a chance to attack with your Active Pokemon, which will usually do damage to your opponents Active Pokemon. If your opponents Active Pokemon has total damage at least equal to its Hit Points (HP), its Knocked Out, and you take one of your 3 prizes. When you take your third prize, you will win! You also win if your opponent has no Pokemon left on the table to fight against your Pokemon.
The differnt kinds of cards:
BASIC POKEMON are your most important cards (the say Basic Pokemon in the uper-left hand corner of the card). They fight for you turn after turn against your opponents Pokemon.
EVOLUTION CARDS are played on top of your Basic Pokemon (they say Evolves from in the upper-left hand corner of the card). They make your Pokemon bigger and more powerful.
TRAINER CARDS are one-shot cards that do something once and are then discarded.
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