How to Use PTCG Companion at the Table
A walkthrough of every control on the PTCG Companion match counter, from damage counters and prize cards to Checkup, the coin flip and the match timer.
Last updated · 4 min read
PTCG Companion replaces the dice, damage counters, coins and condition markers you would normally carry to a Pokémon TCG match. One phone sits flat between both players. The top half is rotated 180° so your opponent reads their side the right way up, and the bottom half is yours.
Damage counters
The big red number on each side is the damage on that player’s Active Pokémon. Use +10, +50 and +100 to add damage and −10 to correct a mistake. Every Pokémon TCG attack deals damage in multiples of 10, so one tap is always one damage counter.
If you tapped the wrong button, ↩ (Undo) steps that side back one action at a time (the last 20 actions are kept).
Active and Benched Pokémon
The row of six small boxes at the top of each side is your board: A is the Active Pokémon and B1–B5 are the five Bench slots. Each box shows the damage on that Pokémon. Tap a box to select it; the big number and the +/− buttons then work on that Pokémon. This is how you record attacks that also hit the Bench.
- ⇄ (Switch to Active): select a Benched Pokémon and tap ⇄ when you retreat or play a switching card. The damage moves with each Pokémon, and the Pokémon that goes to the Bench loses its Special Conditions, as the rules say.
- KO: tap it in the number box when the selected Pokémon is Knocked Out. Its damage is cleared (and, for the Active Pokémon, its Special Conditions too), and the app reminds your opponent to take Prize cards. Then select the Benched Pokémon that comes in and tap ⇄.
Prize cards
The six numbered tiles are your Prize cards. Tap a tile when you take a Prize card and it is crossed out. When all six are taken the app announces the winner. Pokémon that give two or three Prize cards just mean tapping two or three tiles. See Prize Cards and How to Win for the full rules.
Special Conditions
The five buttons at the bottom of each side are Poison, Burn, Asleep, Paralyzed and Confused. The app follows the official marker rules:
- Poison and Burn can be on a Pokémon at the same time as any other condition.
- Asleep, Paralyzed and Confused replace each other, because in the physical game they are shown by turning the card. Turning on one turns the other two off.
The border of the player area glows in the colour of the active condition, so both players can see it from across the table. Special Conditions Explained covers what each one does.
Pokémon Checkup
Tap Checkup between turns. The app adds 10 damage to every Poisoned Active Pokémon and 20 damage to every Burned one, and reminds you which coin flips are still needed (Asleep and Burned). If you made a mistake, Undo on that side reverts it.
Once-per-turn reminders
Four small toggles help you remember what you have already done this turn: Energy (one attachment from your hand per turn), Supporter (one Supporter card per turn), Retreat Used and Ability. Pressing Turn ➔ in the centre adds one to the turn counter and clears all four for both players.
VSTAR, GX and ACE SPEC are once-per-game markers. Tap one after you use your VSTAR Power or GX attack and it dims for the rest of the game.
Type colour
The round multicolour button at the end of the top row opens a type picker. Choosing your Active Pokémon’s type tints your side of the screen. It is purely visual, but it makes it easy to see at a glance which matchup is in play.
Coin flip and first player
Flip coin gives a fair random result using your device’s secure random number generator. For attacks that flip several coins, tap ×N next to it: choose how many coins to flip, or Flip until tails, and the app shows every result and the number of heads. Use P1 First / P2 First to record who went first; that matters for first-turn rules described in Turn Structure and Once-per-Turn Rules.
Match timer
The yellow clock in the middle is the match timer. Tap it to start or pause. Open ☰ Menu to reset it or pick 25, 30 or 50 minutes. When time runs out the clock turns red and the phone vibrates (if your device supports it).
Player names, best-of-three and the match log
Open ☰ Menu to type both players’ names; they are used everywhere in the app. When a player takes their last Prize card, the winner screen offers Next game, which records the win and resets the board, so the series score (for example 1–0) is kept for best-of-three matches.
☰ Menu → Match log lists everything that happened, newest first: damage on each Pokémon, Knock Outs, switches, Special Conditions, Prize cards, coin flips and turns. It is useful when both players remember a turn differently.
Your match is saved automatically
Everything on screen is saved in your browser’s local storage after every tap. If the screen locks, you switch apps or the page reloads, the match comes back exactly where you left it. Use ☰ Menu → New match to clear it. Nothing is uploaded; see our Privacy Policy.
Add it to your home screen
On iPhone, open the site in Safari, tap Share and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, open the Chrome menu and choose Add to Home screen or Install app. It then opens full screen like a normal app, and the screen stays awake during a match. After your first visit the counter also works offline, which helps in venues with poor signal.
