Version 8 Advanced Rulebook

Version 8

Advanced RulebookAdvanced RulebookAdvanced RulebookAdvanced RulebookAdvanced Rulebook

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Table of Contents

Do You Already Know How to Play the Pokémon Trading Card Game? . . . . . . . . . .2

Advanced Rules

What’s New in the

Pokémon: Expedition

Set? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Another Way to Win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Using Pokémon Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Evolving a Stage 1 Pokémon to Stage 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Weakness and Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Order of What You Do in an Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Special Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

How Special Conditions Work Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

After Each Player’s Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Complete Rules Reference

What Do You Need to Play? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

What’s the Pokémon Game Like? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Object of the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Starting the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Let’s Play! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

What Can You Do during Your Turn? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

What Happens after Each Player’s Turn? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

How Do Special Conditions Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Can Your Pokémon Be Asleep and Confused at the Same Time? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Why Are There So Many Different Cards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

How Do You Make a New Deck? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Expert Rules

What Counts as an Attack? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

In What Order Do You Do Your Attack? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

How Do You Figure Out the Damage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

In What Order Do Things Happen after Each Player’s Turn? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Pokémon that Refer to Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Illegal Evolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

How Do You Retreat Using Double Energy Cards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

What Happens if a Card Tells You to Draw More Cards than You Have Left? . . . . . . . .23

What Happens if

Neither

Player Gets a Basic Pokémon Card

in His or Her First 7 Cards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

What Happens if Both Players Win at the Same Time? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

What’s Sudden Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Playing with the e-Reader

Using the e-Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

If You Scan the Bottom Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

If You Scan the Side Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

About E-Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

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Pokémon-e Cards: Pokémon-e cards are a new series of Pokémon

cards that have electronic codes (e-codes) printed on them. E-codes are read using the

e-Reader, an expansion cartridge available for the Game Boy Advance™. Each e-code

contains Pokédex information for that card’s Pokémon, as well as extra features, such

as animated movies or minigames. Pokémon-e cards are fully compatible with all

Pokémon TCG expansions. You don’t need the e-Reader to play the Pokémon

trading card game using Pokémon-e cards. The reader just tells you interesting

facts or lets you play other games. The rules for Pokémon-e cards are the same

as the rules for the original Pokémon TCG.

Another Way to Win

You already know that you win if you take all of your Prizes or if your opponent has

no Benched Pokémon to replace his or her Active Pokémon if it gets Knocked Out or

otherwise removed from play.You also win if your opponent’s deck is out of cards at

the beginning of his or her turn.

Using Pokémon Powers

Some Pokémon have special “Pokémon Powers.” They can use these powers when they’re

your Active Pokémon or even when they’re on your Bench. Many of these powers can

be used

before

you attack—so you get to use a power and still attack! Each Pokémon

Power is different, though, so you should read carefully to see how each power works.

Evolving a Stage 1 Pokémon to Stage 2

A Stage 1 Pokémon evolves to Stage 2 the same way that a Basic Pokémon evolves to

Stage 1. You play a Stage 2 Pokémon in your hand on top of the matching Stage 1

Pokémon in play (either your Active Pokémon or one of your Benched ones).

Remember that the evolving Pokémon keeps all cards attached to it (Energy cards,

Evolution cards, etc.) and any damage it might already have, but the old attacks and

Pokémon Powers of the Pokémon it evolved from go away.

You can’t evolve a Pokémon that you just evolved that turn (so you can’t evolve a

Basic Pokémon to Stage 1 and then evolve it again to Stage 2 that same turn). And

you can’t evolve a Basic Pokémon directly to Stage 2. It has to evolve to Stage 1 first!

Do You Already Know How to Play the Pokémon

Trading Card Game?

If you don’t, the Pokémon

Starter Set has all the basic rules you need to learn

to play. You should know the things in the Starter Set rules before you read this

Advanced Rulebook. If you haven’t played the Pokémon trading card game before,

but you have played other trading card games, you might be able to figure out

everything from this rulebook. But if trading card games are new to you,

you’ll want to look at the Starter Set rules first. This rulebook covers the new rules

that you’ll need for cards not in the Starter Set on pp. 2–5. Then this rulebook

has a Complete Rules Reference section after the Advanced Rules. (There are also

a few rules that come up very rarely, covered in a section called “Expert Rules.”)

Advanced Rules

What’s New in the

Pokémon:

Expedition

™ Expansion?

New “Burn” attack and “Burned” Special Condition: Fire

Pokémon get a boost with the new special attack Burn. If a Pokémon is Burned, place

a “Burn marker” on it to show that it’s Burned. A Pokémon stays Burned until something

removes it (for example, retreating or evolving the Burned Pokémon). As long as it’s

still Burned, flip a coin after each player’s turn. If tails, place 2 damage counters on it,

ignoring Weakness and Resistance.

Two new types of Trainer cards—Supporter cards and

Technical Machine cards:

You can play only 1 Supporter card each turn.When

you play a Supporter card, put it next to your Active Pokémon.When your turn ends,

discard the Supporter card whether you used it or not. A Technical Machine card is

attached to 1 of your Pokémon in play. That Pokémon may use the Technical Machine

card’s attack instead of its own. As with a Supporter card, you must discard a Technical

Machine card at the end of your turn whether you used it or not.

Expanded Pokémon Powers: Some Pokémon have special “Pokémon Powers.”

“Pokémon Powers” are now divided into two categories: Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies.

Poké-Powers are once-per-turn powers that you must choose to use. A Poké-Body is

activated as soon as the card is in play. Each Pokémon Power is different, though, so

you should read carefully to see how each power works. In addition,all Special Conditions

(not just Sleep, Confused, and Paralyzed) turn off Pokémon Powers. So if your Pokémon

has a Special Condition on it, you can’t use its Poké-Power and its Poké-Body is shut

off until you remove the Special Condition.

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Weakness and Resistance

Some Pokémon have a Weakness or Resistance to certain other types of

Pokémon. (For example, Charmander has a Weakness to

Pokémon.) A

Defending Pokémon takes double damage from a Pokémon that it has a

Weakness to, and it takes 30 less damage from a Pokémon that it has

Resistance to. That’s all there is to it!

Order of What You Do in an Attack

Usually, an attack won’t depend on the order you do things in, but if it does, then

this is how you’ll figure it out! First, you pay any costs (discarding Energy cards, for

example) before seeing what the attack does. Then damage comes before any other

effects.Also, you need to figure out any Weakness before other effects that might change

the amount of damage.

Special Conditions

Some attacks make the Defending Pokémon Asleep, Burned, Confused, Paralyzed, or

Poisoned. These conditions (Asleep, Burned, Confused, Paralyzed, and Poisoned) are called

“Special Conditions.” Special Conditions don’t happen to a Benched Pokémon, only to

an Active Pokémon—in fact, if a Pokémon goes to the Bench, these things are removed

from it! Evolving a Pokémon also means that it’s no longer affected by a Special

Condition. Also, anything else that’s the result of an attack (besides damage—damage

counters stay!) goes away if the Pokémon goes to the Bench or evolves (for example,

the results of Sandshrew’s Sand-attack go away).

Asleep

If a Pokémon is Asleep, it can’t attack or retreat.As soon as a Pokémon is Asleep, turn

it sideways to show that it’s Asleep. After each player’s turn, flip a coin. On heads, the

Pokémon wakes up (turn the card back right-side up), but on tails it’s still Asleep, and

you have to wait until after the next turn to try to wake it up again. You may flip

to awaken a Pokémon right after the turn it becomes Asleep.

Burned

If a Pokémon is Burned, place a “Burn marker” on it to show that it’s Burned. As long

as it’s still Burned, flip a coin after each player’s turn. If tails, place 2 damage counters

on it, ignoring Weakness and Resistance. If an attack would burn a Pokémon that’s

already Burned, it doesn’t get doubly Burned; instead, the new Burn condition replaces

the old one. Make sure whatever you use for a Burn marker looks different from a

damage counter.

4 5

Confused

If a Pokémon is Confused, you have to flip a coin whenever you try to attack with

that Pokémon or whenever you try to make it retreat. Turn a Confused Pokémon with

its head pointed toward you to show that it’s Confused.

When you try to have a Confused Pokémon retreat, you first have to pay the Retreat

Cost by discarding Energy cards from the Pokémon. Then flip a coin. On heads, you

retreat the Pokémon normally. On tails, the retreat fails, and that Pokémon can’t try

to retreat again that turn.

When you attack with a Confused Pokémon, you flip a coin. On heads, the attack works

normally, but on tails your Pokémon attacks itself with an attack that does 20 damage.

(If your Pokémon has Weakness or Resistance to its own type, or if there’s some other

effect that would alter the attack, apply these things as usual.)

On tails, the Active Pokémon does 20 damage to

itself even if its attack normally doesn’t do damage

(like Squirtle’s Withdraw attack).

Paralyzed

If a Pokémon is Paralyzed, it can’t attack or retreat. Turn the Pokémon sideways

to show that it’s Paralyzed. If an Active Pokémon is Paralyzed, it recovers after

its player’s next turn. Turn the card right-side up again.

What this means is that if your Pokémon get Paralyzed,

it will be out of action on

your

next turn, and then it

will be okay again.

Poisoned

If a Pokémon is Poisoned, put a “Poison marker” on it to show that it’s Poisoned.

As long as it’s still Poisoned, place a damage counter on it after each player’s

turn, ignoring Weakness and Resistance. If an attack would poison a Pokémon

that’s already Poisoned, it doesn’t get doubly Poisoned; instead, the new Poison condition

replaces the old one. Make sure whatever you use for a Poison marker looks different

from a damage counter.

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How Special Conditions Work Together

If a Pokémon is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed, and a new attack is made

against it that makes it Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed, the old condition is

erased and only the new one counts. But these three conditions are the only attack

effects that erase each other. So, for example, a Pokémon can be Confused and Poisoned

at the same time!

After Each Player’s Turn

Sometimes there are things to do after your turn is over but before your opponent’s

turn starts. After each player’s turn, if either player’s Active Pokémon is Poisoned, it’ll

take damage; if it’s Burned, it might take damage; and if it’s Asleep or Paralyzed, it

might recover. Then the next player’s turn starts.

Complete Rules Reference

What Do You Need to Play?

Well, you and your opponent each need your own deck of 60 cards, a coin to flip, and

some counters to mark damage to your Pokémon.You can use pennies or whatever else

you want if you run out of counters.

What’s the Pokémon Game Like?

You and your opponent are Pokémon trainers, battling it out to see who’s the greatest

Pokémon trainer of all time! You and your deck of cards (those are your Pokémon and

the abilities you have as a trainer) will fight against your opponent and his or her

deck.

You’ll have one Pokémon, called your “Active Pokémon,” fighting for you.You can have

other Pokémon waiting behind the Active Pokémon on your “Bench.” If your Active

Pokémon loses the fight by getting Knocked Out, then you pick one of those Pokémon

on your Bench to be your new Active Pokémon.

Object of the Game

You win if you Knock Out 6 of your opponent’s Pokémon.You keep track of this with

Prize cards that you put aside at the start of the game. Each time you Knock Out one

of your opponent’s Pokémon, you take one of your own Prizes (not your opponent’s!)

and put it into your hand.

• You win when you take your last Prize (this shows you’ve Knocked Out 6 Pokémon).

• You also win if your opponent’s deck is out of cards at the beginning of his or

her turn.

• You also win if your opponent has no Pokémon on the Bench to replace his or

her Active Pokémon, and his or her Active Pokémon gets Knocked Out. That

means there’s no one for your Pokémon to fight against, so you win!

Starting the Game

• Flip a coin to decide who goes first.You can use your special Pokémon coin, if you

have one.

• Shuffle your deck and draw a starting hand of 7 cards. Put the rest of your deck

face down in front of you.

• You and your opponent each choose a Basic Pokémon card from your hands and

put them face down. These will be your starting Active Pokémon.

• Each player may, if he or she wishes,

choose up to 5 Basic Pokémon cards

from his or her hand and put them

face down on his or her Bench (this is

where Pokémon wait when they’re not

the Active Pokémon).

• After each player has put down his or

her Basic Pokémon, put the top 6 cards

of your deck face down in front of you.

These are your Prizes, which you take

when your opponent’s Pokémon are

Knocked Out.You can’t look at a Prize

card until you take it.

• Flip over all of the Active and Benched Pokémon that have been put on the table.

During the game, you’ll be putting more and more cards on the

table. All of the cards on the table that are in the Active

Pokémon area or on the Bench are referred to as being “in

play.”Your deck, your Prizes, and the cards in your discard pile

are not considered “in play.”

What If I Don’t Have a

Basic Pokémon Card in

My Hand?

Then show your hand to your opponent,

shuffle it back into your deck, and draw

7 new cards. Your opponent can then

choose to draw up to 2 extra cards. If

you still don’t have any Basic Pokémon

cards in your new hand, you repeat this

process, but your opponent gets to draw

up to 2 extra cards each time!

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Pokémon cards, Evolution cards, and Energy cards will

be on the table—“in play”—after you play them

from your hand.You can keep using those cards in

play turn after turn. Trainer cards, though, are used

once and then discarded.

Name

Evolution Stage

Attack Cost and Text

Collector Card Number

Rarity Symbol

Pokémon Type

(or Colorless)

Attack Damage

Pokémon Power

(or Attack Cost and Text)

Pokémon Card

Hit Points

Key to Energy symbols

Grass

Fire

Water

Lightning

Psychic

Fighting

Colorless

Darkness

Metal

Energy cards

give your Pokémon

the Energy they need to use their

attacks.

Trainer cards

are played by

doing what they say and then

putting them in your discard pile.

Energy Card

Trainer Card

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DRAW a card.

You always begin your turn by drawing a card. (If your deck is empty at

the beginning of your turn so you can’t draw a card, the game is over, and your

opponent wins.)

Now DO ANY of these you want in whatever order you want:

• PUT Basic Pokémon cards on the Bench (as many as you want).

Choose a Basic Pokémon card from your hand and put it face up on your Bench.

You can have no more than 5 Pokémon on your Bench at any time, so you can

put a new Basic Pokémon card there only if your Bench has 4 or fewer Pokémon

on it. If your Active Pokémon gets Knocked Out (or leaves play for any other reason),

you have to replace it with a Pokémon from your Bench right away (or you lose

the game).

• EVOLVE Pokémon (as many as you want).

If you have a card in your hand that says “Evolves from so-and-so” and

so-and-so is the name of a Pokémon you already have in play, you may play that

card in your hand on top of the Pokémon so-and-so. This is called

“evolving” a Pokémon.

Example: Jayne has a card called Charmeleon that says “Evolves

from Charmander,” and she has a Charmander card in play. She may play

the Charmeleon card on top of the Charmander card.

When a Pokémon evolves, it keeps all cards attached to it (Energy cards,

Evolution cards, etc.) and any damage it might already have, but the old

attacks and Pokémon Powers of the Pokémon it evolved from go away. All other

things about the Pokémon go away—Special Conditions (Sleep, Burn, Confusion,

Paralysis, Poison) or anything else that might be the result of an attack some

Pokémon made earlier.

Sorry, you can’t evolve a Pokémon that you just played

or evolved on that turn. Also, neither player can evolve

a Pokémon on the first turn. And finally, yes, you can evolve a

Pokémon on your Bench—that counts as “in play”!

Let’s Play!

As you play, you and your opponent take turns. During your opponent’s turn, you don’t

do anything except replace your Active Pokémon if it gets Knocked Out (see below).

During your turn, go through the steps below.

What Can You Do during Your Turn?

You can do lots of things during your turn! You always

draw a card first, and you always attack last. Here’s

everything you can do:

DRAW a card.

Now DO ANY of these you want in whatever order you want:

• PUT Basic Pokémon cards on the Bench (as many as you want).

• EVOLVE Pokémon (as many as you want).

• ATTACH 1 Energy to 1 of your Pokémon (only once per turn).

• PLAY Trainer cards (as many as you want).

• RETREAT your Active Pokémon (as many times as you want).

• USE Pokémon Powers (as many as you want).

ATTACK!

• CHECK to make sure you have enough Energy attached to your

Active Pokémon to attack.

• CHECK Weakness and Resistance of your opponent’s Pokémon.

• PLACE damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon.

• CHECK to see if you Knocked Out your opponent’s Pokémon.

• TAKE a Prize (if you Knocked Out your opponent’s Pokémon).

Your turn is OVER now.

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• ATTACH 1 Energy to 1 of your Pokémon

(only once per turn).

Take an Energy card from your hand and

attach it to one of your Pokémon in play,either

your Active Pokémon or one of your Benched

ones, but NOT both (put it under the Pokémon

card).

• PLAY Trainer cards (as many as you want).

When you want to play a Trainer card, do what it says, then put it in the discard

pile.

• RETREAT your Active Pokémon (as many times as you want).

If your Active Pokémon has lots of damage counters on it, you might want to retreat

it and bring in one of the Pokémon on your Bench to fight instead. But on most

turns, you probably won’t retreat.

To retreat your Active Pokémon, you must discard one Energy attached to it for each

oC listed for its Retreat Cost. If there aren’t any oC for its Retreat Cost, it retreats

for free. (You’ll read more about costs in the “ATTACK!” section.) Then you can switch

it with a Pokémon from your Bench. Keep damage counters, Evolution cards, and

Energy cards (other than the ones you had to discard) with the 2 Pokémon when

they switch.

A Pokémon that is Asleep or Paralyzed can’t retreat. A Confused Pokémon can

try

retreat, but it might not succeed. (Why this might happen will be explained later on

in the rules.)

When your Active Pokémon goes to your Bench (whether it retreated or got there

some other way), some things about it

go away—Special Conditions (Sleep, Burn,

Confusion, Paralysis, and Poison) and anything else other than damage that might be

the result of an attack some Pokémon made earlier.

If you retreat, you can still attack that turn with the new Active Pokémon.

• USE Pokémon Powers (as many as you want).

Some Pokémon have special “Pokémon Powers” that they can use when they’re in play.

(Remember, Benched Pokémon are “in play,” too, so they can use

Pokémon Powers, if they have any.) Many of these Powers can be used before you

attack. Each Pokémon Power is different, though, so you should read

carefully to see how each power works.

A Pokémon Power isn’t the same as a Pokémon’s

attack, so if you use the Pokémon Power, you can

still attack!

ATTACK!

When you attack, you place damage counters on your opponent’s Active

Pokémon (also called the “Defending Pokémon”). This is the last thing you can do

during your turn—you can’t do anything else afterward. You are only allowed to

attack once during your turn (if your Pokémon has 2 attacks, it can use only 1 of

them each turn). Say the name of the attack you’re using, and then follow the rest

of the steps below!

• CHECK to make sure you have enough Energy attached to your Active

Pokémon to attack.

You can use an attack only if you have at least the required amount of Energy

attached to your Active Pokémon.

The required amount is written

to the left of the attack name.

Any kind of Energy—

, or

—can count toward

Colorless Energy requirements (

). But for the other eight kinds of Energy, only

Energy of the appropriate kind counts toward Energy requirements of that kind. For

example, you can use an attack with

oR oR oC

next to it only if that Pokémon has

at least 3 Energy attached to it, at least 2 of which are

Energy.

1312

Unlike most of the other things you

can do during your turn, you may do

this only once during your turn. Also,

remember that you can attach an

Energy card to a Pokémon on your

Bench. After all, that’s “in play,” too!

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• CHECK to see if your Pokémon Knocked Out your opponent’s Pokémon.

If a Pokémon ever has total damage at least equal to its Hit Points (for example, 4

or more damage counters on a Pokémon with 40 HP), it’s immediately knocked out.

• TAKE a Prize (if you Knocked Out your opponent’s Pokémon).

Whenever you Knock Out your opponent’s Pokémon, your opponent puts its Basic

Pokémon card and all cards attached to it (Evolution cards, Energy cards, and so on)

in his or her discard pile. You then choose one of your Prizes (you do this even if

your opponent Knocked Out his or her own Pokémon!) and put it into your hand.

After that, your opponent must replace his or her Active Pokémon with a Pokémon

from his or her Bench. (If your opponent can’t do this because his or her Bench is

empty, you win!) If your Active Pokémon and your opponent’s Active Pokémon are

Knocked Out at the same time, the player whose turn it is replaces his or her

Pokémon

last

. The player whose turn it is chooses his or her Prize last as well.

Your turn is OVER now.

Sometimes there are things to do after your turn is over but before your

opponent’s turn begins. After you do those things, your opponent’s turn begins.

14 15

Tackle does 10

damage to the

Defending Pokémon.

Bulbasaur’s

first attack is

called Tackle.

Bulbasaur needs to have

Energy attached to use

this attack.

• CHECK Weakness and Resistance of your opponent’s Pokémon.

Some Pokémon have Weakness or Resistance to Pokémon of certain other types.

(For example, Charmander has Weakness to

Pokémon.) Look to see if the

Defending Pokémon has Weakness or Resistance to the attacking Pokémon’s type.

A Defending Pokémon takes double damage from a Pokémon that it has Weakness

to, and it takes 30 less damage from a Pokémon that it has Resistance to. So how

do you do damage in the first place?

• PLACE damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon.

When you attack, place a damage counter on your opponent’s Active Pokémon for each

10 damage your Pokémon’s attack does (written to the right of the attack name). If

an attack says to do something, be sure to do that, too!

You have to have the required amount of Energy attached to a

Pokémon to use its attack, but you don’t have to discard those

cards to attack. The cards stay attached to your Pokémon unless

the attack says otherwise!

Usually the attack doesn’t depend on the order you do this in,

but if it does, then this is how you figure it out! First, you pay

any costs (discarding Energy cards, for example) before seeing

what the attack does. Then damage comes before any other

effects. Also, Weakness is applied before other things that might

change the amount of damage.

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Paralyzed

If a Pokémon is Paralyzed, it can’t attack or retreat. Turn the Pokémon sideways to

show it’s Paralyzed. If an Active Pokémon is Paralyzed, it recovers after its player’s next

turn. Turn the card right-side up again.

Poisoned

If a Pokémon is Poisoned, place a “Poison marker” on it to show that it’s Poisoned. As

long as it’s still Poisoned, place a damage counter on it after each player’s turn, ignoring

Weakness and Resistance. If an attack would poison a Pokémon that’s already Poisoned,

it doesn’t get doubly Poisoned; instead, the new Poison condition replaces the old one.

Can Your Pokémon Be Asleep and Confused at the

Same Time?

If a Pokémon is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed, and a new attack against it

causes it to become Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed, the old condition is erased

and only the new one counts. But these three conditions are the only attack effects

that erase each other. For example, a Pokémon can be Confused and Poisoned at the

same time.

Okay!

You’ve read the Advanced Rules, so now you know enough to

handle almost anything that might come up in a Pokémon

game. Once you master all of these rules, you can take a look at the

Expert Rules on p. 19 to fine-tune your Pokémon knowledge.

Why Are There So Many Different Cards?

One of the things that makes the Pokémon game different from other card games

is that it’s a trading card game. This means that there are lots of different cards that

you can collect and trade with your friends. Also, you aren’t limited to just playing the

decks you buy—you can use all of the different cards you have to create totally new

decks! A lot of the fun of a trading card game comes from making different decks that

use different strategies.

1716

What Happens after Each Player’s Turn?

After each player’s turn, if either player’s Active Pokémon is Poisoned, it takes damage;

if it’s Burned, you might take damage; and if it’s Asleep or Paralyzed it might recover.

Then the next player’s turn begins.

How Do Special Conditions Work?

Some attacks cause the Defending Pokémon to be Asleep, Burned, Confused, Paralyzed,

or Poisoned. These conditions are called “Special Conditions.” They don’t happen to a

Benched Pokémon, only to an Active Pokémon—in fact,if a Pokémon goes to the Bench,

Special Conditions are removed from it. And evolving a Pokémon also means it’s no

longer affected by a Special Condition.

Asleep

If a Pokémon is Asleep, it can’t attack or retreat. As soon as a Pokémon is

Asleep, turn it sideways to show that it’s Asleep. After each player’s turn, flip a coin. On

heads, the Pokémon wakes up (turn the card back right-side up), but on tails it’s still

Asleep, and you have to wait until after the next turn to try to wake it up again.

Burned

If a Pokémon is Burned, place a “Burn marker” on it to show that it’s Burned. As long

as it’s still Burned, flip a coin after each player’s turn. If tails, place 2 damage counters

on it, ignoring Weakness and Resistance. If an attack would burn a Pokémon that’s

already Burned, it doesn’t get doubly Burned; instead, the new Burn condition replaces

the old one. Make sure whatever you use for a Burn marker looks different from a

damage counter.

Confused

If a Pokémon is Confused, you have to flip a coin whenever you try to attack with it

or whenever you try to make it retreat. Turn a Confused Pokémon with its head pointed

toward you to show it’s Confused.

When you try to make a Confused Pokémon retreat, you first have to pay the Retreat

Cost by discarding Energy cards. Then flip a coin. On heads, you retreat the Pokémon

normally. On tails, the retreat fails, and that Pokémon can’t try to retreat again that

turn.

When you attack with a Confused Pokémon, you flip a coin. On heads, the attack works

normally, but on tails your Pokémon attacks itself with an attack that does 20 damage.

(If your Pokémon has Weakness or Resistance to its own type, or if there’s some other

effect that would alter the attack, apply these things as usual.)

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Expert Rules

This section answers some questions that don’t come up very often—but if they do,

you’ll be glad to have the answers!

What Counts as an Attack?

Anything written on a Basic Pokémon or Evolution card under the picture where attacks

are (except for a Pokémon Power) is considered an attack. And an attack is always

considered to be

against

the Defending Pokémon, even if it doesn’t do anything to that

Pokémon. So, for example, Marill’s Defense and Sunkern’s Growth are attacks against the

Defending Pokémon and would be prevented by an effect like Spinarak’s Scary Face.

In What Order Do You Do Your Attack?

The exact steps to go through when attacking are listed here. For most attacks, it won’t

matter what order you do things in, but if you have to work your way through a really

complicated attack, follow these steps in order and you should be fine.

a) If the Defending Pokémon is a Baby Pokémon, flip a coin to see if your turn

ends without an attack. (If your turn ends without an attack, don’t do any of

the other steps. You’re done now.)

b) Announce which attack your Active Pokémon is using. Make sure your Pokémon

has enough Energy cards attached to it to use the attack.

c) If necessary, make any choices the attack requires you to make. (For example,

Natu’s Telekinesis attack says “Choose 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon.”

So you choose now.)

d) If necessary, do anything the attack requires you to do in order to use it. (For

example, discard Energy cards, as in Flaaffy’s Discharge attack, which makes you

discard all oL Energy cards attached to Flaaffy in order to use it.)

e) If necessary, apply any effects that might alter or cancel the attack. (For example,

if your Pokémon was hit last turn by Lv. 35 Quilava’s Smokescreen attack, that

attack said that if you tried to attack with that Pokémon during your next turn,

you should flip a coin. If tails, your Pokémon’s attack does nothing.)

f) If your Active Pokémon is Confused, check now to see if the attack fails.

g) Do whatever the attack says. Do any damage first, then do any other effects,

and, finally, Knock Out any Pokémon that have damage greater than or equal

to their Hit Points.

How Do You Make a New Deck?

To make a new deck, first notice that all of the cards other than the Trainers have different

Energy types on them.Your deck should probably include one or two of the basic Energy

types, and you can choose to add some Colorless (

) Pokémon if you like. If you just

choose one Energy type, you will always have the right kind of Energy for your Pokémon

but not as much variety. If you have several Energy types, you’ll have more Pokémon to

choose from, but you’ll run the risk of sometimes not drawing the right type of Energy for

your Pokémon. And be sure your deck has enough Energy cards (most decks need 25 to

30).

Once you choose your Energy types, pick Pokémon and Trainer cards that work well

together. Do you want to build up big Pokémon to crush your opponent? Then put in

a lot of Evolution cards and some Trainer cards, like New Pokédex, that help you find

those Evolution cards. Do you want to do a lot of damage to your opponent’s Pokémon

very quickly? Then pick Pokémon that don’t need to be evolved and cards, like Base

Set 2 PlusPower, that do extra damage.

After you make your deck, play it as often as you can against as many other decks as

you can. See what works and what doesn’t, and then make changes. If you keep working

at it, you’ll have a deck that will show everyone you’re the greatest Pokémon Master

of all time!

18 19

Your deck has to have

exactly

60 cards, and you can’t have more than 4 of any

one card other than basic Energy cards in your deck (the basic Energy cards are

, and

). A card counts as the same as another card if it has the

same name—it doesn’t matter whether the cards have different art or come from

different sets. So, for example, you could have 4 Misty’s Staryu and 4 Staryu in your deck,

but you can’t have more than 4 Pokémon named Staryu total even if they were different

versions of Staryu.

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How Do You Figure Out the Damage?

Usually the amount of damage an attack does won’t depend on the order in which you

do things. But if you have to figure out an attack in which a lot of different things

might change the damage, follow these steps in order (skip any steps that don’t apply

to that attack).

a) Start with the base damage. This is the number written to the right of the attack,

or, if that number has an

–

, or

sign next to it, it’s the amount of damage the

attack text tells you to do.

b) Apply any effects the Active Pokémon has that affect the base damage dealt (for

example, Base Set 2 Scyther’s Swords Dance). Then if the base damage is 0 (or

if the attack doesn’t do any damage at all),just stop figuring the damage.You’re

done now. Otherwise, keep going.

c) Double the damage if the Defending Pokémon has Weakness to the attacking

Pokémon’s type.

d) Subtract 30 damage if the Defending Pokémon has Resistance to the attacking

Pokémon’s type.

e) Figure out damage effects of Trainer cards (like Base Set 2 PlusPower) and

Darkness Energy cards on the attacking Pokémon.

f) Figure out damage effects of Trainer cards that affect the whole play area (like

Sprout Tower).

g) Figure out damage effects of Trainer cards and Energy cards on the Defending

Pokémon (like Base Set 2 Defender or Metal Energy).

h) Apply any relevant effects resulting from the Defending Pokémon’s last attack

(for example, Base Set 2 Onix’s Harden) or any relevant Pokémon Powers.

i) For each 10 damage the attack ends up doing, place 1 damage counter on

the Defending Pokémon. (If at this point the damage done turns out to be less

than 0, don’t do anything.)

j) Now that damage has been done, if the attack does anything other than damage, do

all of that.

In What Order Do Things Happen after Each Player’s Turn?

Usually it doesn’t matter in what order you do things after each player’s turn,

but if things get complicated, follow these steps in order.

a) Place damage counters on any Poisoned Pokémon.

b) Flip to see if Burned Pokémon take damage.

c) Flip to see if Asleep Pokémon recover, and have Paralyzed Pokémon recover.

d) Flip to see if Pokémon with Char counters get damage counters placed on them.

e) Place damage counters on any Pokémon with

Energy attached to them (except

for

Pokémon and ones with Dark in their names).

If a Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool card attached to it and that card does something

between turns, that card can be used at any time between turns that the person who

played the Pokémon wants.

If your Pokémon and your opponent’s Pokémon are Knocked Out at the same time

between turns or during an attack, the player who is about to take a turn replaces his

or her Pokémon first (and chooses his or her Prize first as well).

Pokémon that Refer to Themselves

Sometimes a Pokémon refers to itself by name. For example, Aipom’s Pilfer attack says

“Shuffle Aipom and all cards attached to it into your deck.” Read the name as “this

Pokémon” if the attack somehow gets used by another Pokémon. So if Togetic copies

Aipom’s Pilfer with Super Metronome, Togetic would get shuffled into its player’s deck,

just as if Togetic said “Shuffle this Pokémon and all cards attached to it into your deck”

on it.

Illegal Evolutions

Whenever you evolve a Pokémon, the Evolution card has to say it “Evolves from” the

name of the Pokémon it goes on top of (unless you’re using Base Set 2 Pokémon

Breeder, which specifically lets you get around this rule). So if, for example, your Active

Pokémon is Togetic, and the Defending Pokémon is the Magikarp from the

Team Rocket

expansion, you can’t use Togetic’s Super Metronome to copy Magikarp’s Rapid Evolution

attack and evolve Togetic into Gyarados.

How Do You Retreat Using Double Energy Cards?

Paying Retreat Costs can get confusing with Double Energy cards. Here’s the way it

works: Discard Energy cards one at a time until you’ve paid the Retreat Cost (or maybe

more). Once you’ve paid the cost, you can’t discard any more cards. For example, suppose

your Pokémon has a Retreat Cost of

oC oC

and it has two

Energy cards and a

oC oC

Energy card attached. You can pay the Retreat Cost in several ways—by

discarding

oC oC

, by discarding 2

, or by discarding

first and then

oC oC

.You

can’t discard all 3 cards, though.

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What Happens if a Card Tells You to Draw More Cards

than You Have Left?

If a card tells you to do something to a certain number of the top cards of your deck,

and you have fewer cards than that left in your deck, do whatever you’re supposed to

do to the cards that you have left and continue play as normal. For example, if a card

tells you to draw 7 cards or to look at the top 5 cards of your deck, and you have

only 3 cards left in your deck, you draw the top 3 or look at the top 3. Remember,

you lose if you can’t draw a card at the beginning of your turn, not if you can’t draw

one because a card told you to.

What Happens if

Neither

Player Gets a Basic Pokémon

Card in His or Her First 7 Cards?

Sometimes neither you nor your opponent get any Basic Pokémon cards in your first

hands of 7 cards. If this happens, both players shuffle and draw 7 new cards. In this

case, neither player gets to draw the extra 2 cards. Repeat this process until at least

one of the players has a Basic Pokémon card in his or her hand of 7 cards. If the

other player still doesn’t have a Basic Pokémon card in his or her hand, that player

can shuffle and draw 7 new cards, but the player who already has a Basic Pokémon

card can draw up to 2 extra cards as usual. Continue this process until each player

has a Basic Pokémon card in his or her hand of 7 cards.

What Happens if Both Players Win at the Same Time?

You win if you take your last Prize or if your opponent has no Benched Pokémon to

replace his or her Active Pokémon if it gets Knocked Out or otherwise removed from

play. But it might happen that both players “win” in one of these ways at the same

time. If this happens, play Sudden Death. But if you win in both ways and your opponent

wins in only one way, you win!

What’s Sudden Death?

If Sudden Death occurs, play a new Pokémon game, but have each player use only

1 Prize instead of the usual 6. Except for the number of Prizes, treat the Sudden Death

game like a whole new Pokémon game: Set everything up again, including flipping

a coin to see who goes first. The winner of this game is the overall winner. It may

happen that the Sudden Death game also ends in Sudden Death; if that happens, just

keep playing Sudden Death games until somebody wins.

Playing with the e-Reader

Using the e-Reader

All Pokémon-e cards (except for foils) have e-codes on the bottoms of the cards;

some have codes on the sides of the cards as well.You can scan the e-codes and get

a readout using a Game Boy Advance and an e-Reader (each sold separately). Scanning

the codes allows you to look up a Pokémon’s Pokédex information. Some cards have

animated movies or minigames encoded on them. (For information on connecting your

Game Boy Advance and the e-Reader or on how to scan the cards, refer to the manual

that came with your e-Reader.)

If You Scan the Bottom Code . . .

. . . you can look up information on Pokémon, find other data on Pokémon, or look

up the meanings of game terms. (Code content varies by card.)

• Pokémon Screen

This is the Pokédex. You can look up the stats (name, number, height, weight, and so

on) of the Pokémon on the scanned card.

• Card Screen

This screen displays tips on how to play the scanned card. (For Trainer cards and Energy

cards, this is the first screen displayed when you scan the card.)

• Data Screen

This screen details the content of the side code on the scanned card. If the scanned

card doesn’t have a side code, this screen doesn’t display.

• Evolution Screen

This screen displays the evolution chart of the Pokémon on the scanned card. The Basic

Pokémon, Stage 1 Pokémon, and Stage 2 Pokémon (if applicable) are displayed one by

one. (If the Pokémon on the scanned card doesn’t evolve, this screen doesn’t display.)

• Dictionary Screen

This screen displays definitions of Pokémon TCG terminology used in the text of

the card screen.You can look up the meanings of selected words from this screen.

If You Scan the Side Code . . .

. . . you can watch an animated movie or play a minigame. Some of these extra

features require you to scan more than one card. (Code content varies by card.)

• E-Game Mini

Lets you play a minigame.

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300_017966_001ENedit.qxd 7/26/02 1:04 PM Page 22

•

E-Anime

Lets you watch a short animated feature.

•

E-Construction

Includes various features, such as a melody box.

For detailed explanations of e-game minis, e-animes, and other special code features,

refer to the Pokémon-e manual that came with your e-Reader.

About E-Tools

In addition to games and other features, the side codes on Pokémon-e cards also

contain e-tools. E-tools are a collection of utilities, such as a coin flipper and a battle

timer, that help you play the

Pokémon TCG.

•

Coin Flipper

Some codes contain a coin flipper

that you can use when a card or

effect tells you to flip a coin.

•

Battle Timer

Some codes contain a battle timer

that you can use to play timed

matches. The battle timer times all

parts of a game, except for

mandatory end-of-turn effects like

Poison damage. Use the L and R

buttons on the Game Boy Advance

to start or stop the timer.

Glossary

Active Pokémon: Your Pokémon that’s in front of all of your other Pokémon. Only the Active

Pokémon can attack.

attach: When you take a card from your hand and put it on one of your Pokémon in play.

attack: 1) When your Active Pokémon fights your opponent’s Defending Pokémon.

2) The text written on each Pokémon card that shows what it does when it attacks (a Pokémon

can have one or two attacks on it).

Baby Pokémon: These are a special type of Basic Pokémon card. They can evolve into

other Pokémon. If a Baby Pokémon evolves into a Basic Pokémon, it is treated as an

Evolved Pokémon, not a Basic Pokémon card. Cards that refer to Basic Pokémon refer

to these cards also.

basic Energy card:A Grass (

), Fire (

),Water (

), Lightning (

), Psychic (

), or Fighting (

)

Energy card.

Basic Pokémon card: A card that you can play directly from your hand on your turn to put a

Pokémon into play.

See

Evolution card.

Bench:Where your Pokémon go that are in play but aren’t actively fighting. They’re ready to come

out and fight if the Active Pokémon retreats or is Knocked Out.

counter: Something some cards tell you to place on a Pokémon as a reminder (for example,a Char

counter).A counter does not go away when you bench the Pokémon, but it does go away if

the Pokémon evolves (damage counters are a special exception to this rule).

See

damage

counter, Poison marker.

damage:What usually happens when one Pokémon attacks another.If a Pokémon has total damage

greater than or equal to its Hit Points, it is Knocked Out.

damage counter:A counter placed on your Pokémon to show it has taken damage. It stays on your

Pokémon even if the Pokémon is Benched or Evolved.

See

counter, Poison marker.

Defending Pokémon:Your opponent’s Active Pokémon during your attack.

discard pile: The pile of cards you’ve discarded. These cards are always face up. Anyone can look at

these cards at any time.

Energy card:The type of card that powers your Pokémon and makes them able to attack.

See

basic

Energy card.

Evolution card: A card you can play on top of a Basic Pokémon card (or sometimes on top of

another Evolution card) to make it stronger.

Hit Points: A number every Pokémon has, telling you how much damage it can take before it’s

Knocked Out.

in play:Your cards are in play when they’re on the table. Basic Pokémon cards,Evolution cards, and

Energy cards can’t be used unless they are in play.(The cards in your deck and your discard

pile, and your Prizes,are not in play,but your Benched Pokémon are.)

Are

Master?

to become a

ready

you

Pokémon

Are

Master?

to become a

ready

you

Pokémon

Number of times heads

has been flipped

Total number

of coin flips

Percentage of

heads/flips

Instructions on

how to use the

coin flipper

300_017966_001ENedit.qxd 7/26/02 1:04 PM Page 24

Index

Asleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 16, 17

Attacking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 19–20

order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 19

Basic Pokémon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 11, 22

Baby Pokémon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Bench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 11

Benched Pokémon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 15

Burned, Burn markers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 4, 5, 16, 21

Cards, different kinds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8–9

drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 11, 22

Confused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5, 16, 17, 19

Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 15, 21

Damage, figuring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–14, 20

Damage counters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Deckbuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Defending Pokémon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

e-Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23–24

Energy Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 12–13

Evolving, Evolution cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 11–12, 21

Hit Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

In play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Knocked Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Paralyzed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5, 6, 17

Poisoned, Poison markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 17, 21

Pokémon-e cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 23–24

Pokémon Powers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 13

Pokémon Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Prizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 15

Resistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 20

Retreating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12–13, 21

Special Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 4–6, 16–17

Sudden Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Trainer cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 12

Turn, order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10–15

after each player’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Weakness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 20

Winning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 6–7, 22

Knocked Out:A Pokémon is Knocked Out if it has damage greater than or equal to its Hit Points.

That Pokémon goes to the discard pile, along with any cards attached to it.When one of your

opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out,you take one of your Prizes.

Pokémon: The colorful creatures that fight for you in the Pokémon trading card game. They are

represented in the game by Basic Pokémon and Evolution cards.

Poison marker:What you place on a Pokémon to remind you that it’s Poisoned.A marker goes away

if the Pokémon is Benched or Evolved.

See

counter, damage counter.

Pokémon Power:A special ability some Pokémon have. Pokémon Powers are now divided into two

categories: Poké-Power and Poké-Body. These are written in the same place attacks are, but

they always have the words “Poké-Power” or “Poké-Body” in front of them so that you can tell

they’re not attacks.

Pokémon Tool: These are a special kind of Trainer card that you can attach to your Pokémon to

help you. Each Pokémon can have only 1 Pokémon Tool attached to it at any time.

Prizes: The 6 cards you put face down at the start of the game. Every time one of your

opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out, you take 1 of your Prizes into your hand. When you

take your last Prize, you win!

Resistance: If a Pokémon has Resistance, it takes 30 less damage when attacked by Pokémon of a

certain type. Resistance is indicated in the lower middle of the card.

retreat:When you take your Active Pokémon and switch it with one of your Benched Pokémon.To

retreat, you must discard from the retreating Pokémon Energy equal to the Retreat Cost of

that Pokémon. This cost appears in the lower right-hand corner of the card.

Special Conditions:Asleep,Burned, Confused,Paralyzed,and Poisoned are called Special Conditions.

Stadium card:A kind of Trainer card that stays in play after you play it.It affects the game for as

long as it stays in play.Only one Stadium card can be in play at a time, so if there’s one on

the table already and a new one comes into play,discard the old one.

Sudden Death: Sometimes both players win at the same time. In this case, you play a shorter

version of the Pokémon game called “Sudden Death” (using only 1 Prize each instead of 6).

Trainer card:A card that you play during your turn by following the instructions on the card and

then discarding it.

Trainers’ Pokémon:Pokémon that have trainers’ names in their titles,like Misty’s Staryu.You can’t

evolve a regular Staryu into Misty’s Starmie, and you can’t evolve Misty’s Staryu into a

regular Starmie. Treat Staryu and Misty’s Staryu like two completely different Pokémon.

Weakness: If a Pokémon has Weakness, it takes double damage when attacked by Pokémon of a

certain type.Weakness is indicated in the lower left-hand corner of the card.

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Credits

Original Japanese Game

Producer: Tsunekaz Ishihara

Director: Takumi Akabane

Original Game Design: Tsunekaz Ishihara, Kouichi Ooyama, and Takumi Akabane

Game Development: Takumi Akabane, Daisaku Nishida, and Yukinori Torii

Art Direction: Milky Isobe

Card Illustration: Ken Sugimori, Mitsuhiro Arita, Keiji Kinebuchi, Kagemaru Himeno,

Atsuko Nishida, Miki Tanaka, Sumiyoshi Kizuki, Shin-ichi Yoshida, Tomokazu Komiya, Aimi

Tomita, Asuka Iwashita,Yuka Morii, Kyoko Umemoto, Motofumi Fujiwara, Masako Yamashita,

Satoshi Ohba, Hajime Kusajima, Toshinao Aoki, Yukiko Baba, Aya Kusube, Kimiya Masago,

and Hironobu Yoshida

Typesetting & Layout: Hideki Nakajima

Rulebook Writing & Editing: Takumi Akabane

Project Coordination: Masamichi Anazawa

Special Thanks To: Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, GAME FREAK inc.

English-Language Version

Translation: Ron Foster

Game Development: Andrew Finch and Michael Gills

Editing: Jessica Beaven and Katsuyo Nagasawa

Rules Writing: Robert Gutschera

Art Direction: Dave Woods

Graphic Design: Jennifer McPhaill and Kristin Standiford

Typesetting: Katrina Svoboda

Business Direction (The Pokémon Company): Hiroaki Tsuru and Kenji Okubo

Business Coordination (The Pokémon Company): Junko Hanna

Brand Management: Keith Strohm, Laura Waniuk, and Justin Ziran

Project Management: Nelson Chang

Production Management: BJ Keeley and Mitzi McCart

Marketing Management: Kim Stern and Debbie Nihart

Questions?

U.S., CANADA & LATIN AMERICA

Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

P.O. Box 707

Renton WA 98057-0707

1-800-324-6496 (in the U.S.)

1-206-624-0933 (outside the U.S.)

[email protected]

AUSTRALIA

Wizards of the Coast, Australia

Locked Bag 8

Eastwood, NSW 2122

1-300-300-899

Have questions? Call Wizards of the Coast at (800) 324-6496 (in the U.S.)

or send email to [email protected].

You can also visit our website at www.wizards.com/Pokemon.

™ & ® Nintendo.

Dot Code Technology is licensed by OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO., LTD.

Manufactured and distributed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.

Wizards of the Coast and the play-level logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS

Wizards of the Coast, Belgium

P.B. 2031

2600 Berchem

+32-70-233-277

FRANCE

Wizards of the Coast, France

c/o Hasbro France

Savoie Technolac C6

73383 Le-Bourget-du-Lac Cedex

FRANCE

+33-04-79-96-47-61

ITALY

Wizards of the Coast, Italia S.r.l.

Via G.Stephenson 43/a

20157 Milano

+39-02-39005006

U.K., EIRE & SOUTH AFRICA

Wizards of the Coast, U.K. Ltd.

2 Roundwood Avenue, Stockley Park

Uxbridge, Middx UB11 1AZ

08457-12-55-99 (U.K. except Ireland)

+44-208-744-5822 (Ireland, South Africa)

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POKÉMON TCG LEAGUE

New league begins January 2003.

The new league is called “Battle Zone,”

and players at all levels are

welcome to battle every week . . .

and earn great prizes!

CHALLENGE SERIES

Starting October 2002,

enter one of these

regional tournaments

and take your game

to the next level!

For a complete schedule of events and to learn about special promotions and other

Pokémon® TCG community news, call (800) 396-4696 or go to www.wizards.com/Pokemon.

Join all your favorite Pokémon and

the millions of players who love em.

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