How to Play the Pokémon TCG: A Complete Beginner's Guide

The Pokémon Trading Card Game (often shortened to PTCG or Pokémon TCG) looks complicated the first time you see a board full of cards, but a game follows a simple loop: build up your Pokémon, power them with Energy, and attack until you have taken all six of your Prize cards. This guide walks through a whole game, from opening the box to taking the last Prize.

If you only remember one thing, remember this: on your turn you draw a card, do as many useful things as you can, and then attack. Everything else is detail.

What you need

A 60-card deck for each player. A ready-made starter or theme deck is the easiest way to begin, because it is already legal and balanced. When you are ready to make your own, read our beginner deck-building guide.
A way to track damage. Each 10 damage is one damage counter. You can use dice, counters, or simply put a phone on the table with PTCG Companion, which tracks HP, Special Conditions and Prizes for both players.
A coin to decide who goes first and for card effects. The coin flip tool works if you have no coin.
A playmat (optional). It shows where each zone is, but a clear table works just as well.

The goal of the game

You win in any one of three ways:

Take all 6 of your Prize cards. You take Prize cards when you Knock Out your opponent’s Pokémon.
Your opponent has no Pokémon left in play after one of theirs is Knocked Out and they have nothing on the Bench to replace it.
Your opponent cannot draw a card at the start of their turn because their deck is empty.

Almost every game is won the first way. The details are in Prize cards and winning.

The three kinds of cards

Every card in a deck is one of three kinds:

Pokémon cards are your fighters. Basic Pokémon can be played straight from your hand; Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokémon evolve from them.
Energy cards power your Pokémon’s attacks. Each attack lists the Energy it needs.
Trainer cards are everything else: Items (play as many as you like), Supporters (one per turn), Stadiums (stay in play and affect both players) and Pokémon Tools (attach to a Pokémon).

Our guide to Pokémon card types explains each one with examples, and how to read a Pokémon card shows what every number on a card means.

The play area

Each player has the same zones in front of them:

Active Spot: your one Pokémon that attacks and is usually attacked.
Bench: up to 5 more Pokémon waiting behind it.
Deck: face down; you draw from the top.
Prize cards: 6 face-down cards set aside at the start.
Discard pile: used Trainers, discarded Energy and Knocked Out Pokémon.

Only one Stadium card can be in play at a time, and it sits between the two players.

Setting up a game

Shake hands and flip a coin. The winner chooses who goes first.
Shuffle your deck and draw 7 cards.
Put one Basic Pokémon face down as your Active Pokémon. You may also put up to 5 more Basic Pokémon face down on your Bench.
If you have no Basic Pokémon in your hand, you must mulligan: show your hand, shuffle it back and draw 7 again. Your opponent may draw an extra card for each mulligan.
Put the top 6 cards of your deck aside face down as your Prize cards.
Both players flip their Pokémon face up, and the first player starts.

Not sure whether to go first? See going first or second, and mulligan rules.

What you do on your turn

A turn has three parts.

1. Draw a card

Always draw one card first. Forgetting to draw is one of the most common beginner slips.

2. Do any of these, in any order

Put Basic Pokémon from your hand onto your Bench.
Evolve Pokémon by placing a Stage 1 on its Basic, or a Stage 2 on its Stage 1. A Pokémon cannot evolve on the turn it was played, and no one can evolve on their first turn.
Attach one Energy card from your hand to one of your Pokémon (Active or Benched). Only once per turn.
Play any number of Item cards.
Play one Supporter card.
Play one Stadium card.
Attach Pokémon Tools.
Retreat your Active Pokémon once, by discarding Energy equal to its Retreat Cost. See retreating and switching.
Use Abilities as their card text allows.

3. Attack

Choose one attack your Active Pokémon has enough Energy for. Work out the damage (including Weakness and Resistance) and put that many damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokémon. Attacking ends your turn. You do not have to attack; you can simply say “end of turn”.

The full checklist of once-per-turn rules is in turn structure.

Knock Outs and Prize cards

When a Pokémon has damage equal to or more than its HP, it is Knocked Out. Its owner puts it and every card attached to it in the discard pile, and the attacking player takes Prize cards:

1 Prize card for most Pokémon.
2 Prize cards for a Pokémon ex.
3 Prize cards for a Mega Evolution Pokémon ex.

The player whose Pokémon was Knocked Out then chooses a Benched Pokémon to become their new Active Pokémon. If they cannot, they lose.

Between turns: Pokémon Checkup

After each turn there is a short step called Pokémon Checkup. This is when Poison and Burn deal damage, and Asleep or Burned Pokémon flip a coin to recover. Attacks can give your opponent’s Active Pokémon a Special Condition, so it is worth learning them early: see Special Conditions explained.

A sample first turn

Say you go first and your hand has a Basic Fire Pokémon, a Fire Energy, two Items and a Supporter.

Draw a card.
Put a second Basic Pokémon on your Bench so you are not one Knock Out away from losing.
Play your Items, for example one that searches your deck for a Pokémon.
Attach your Fire Energy to the Pokémon you want to attack with next turn.
You cannot play your Supporter or attack, because you went first. Say “end of turn”.

Your opponent then takes a full turn, including a Supporter and an attack if they can.

Where to go next

Learn the common rules mistakes so you do not pick up bad habits.
Check the Pokémon TCG glossary whenever a word is unfamiliar.
Coming from the mobile game? Read Pokémon TCG vs TCG Pocket for the rules that change.
When you play your first game, open PTCG Companion and let it count damage, conditions and Prizes for you.