Pokémon Trading Card Game

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
Do any of the following in any order and as often as you like:

Put a Basic Pokémon on the Bench
Evolve a Pokémon in play
Attach an Energy card to a Pokémon (only once per turn)
Play a Trainer card
Retreat your Active Pokémon
Use a Pokémon Power

Attack with your Active Pokémon
Your turn is over now

1) Draw a card
You always begin your turn by drawing a card. (If your deck is empty at the beginning of your turn, the game is over, and your opponent wins.)

2) Do any of the following in any order and as often as you like:

Put a Basic Pokémon on the Bench

Choose a Basic Pokémon 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 only put a new Basic Pokémon there only if your Bench has 4 or fewer Pokémon on it.

Evolve a Pokémon in play

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: Juliane has a card called Ninetales that says "Evolves from Vulpix," and she has a Vulpix card in play. She may play the Ninetales card on top of the Vulpix 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 - Sleep, 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"!

Attach an Energy card to a Pokémon

Take an Energy card from your hand and attach it to one of your Pokémon in play (put it under the Pokémon card).

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!

Play a Trainer card

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

Retreat your Active Pokémon

You may switch your Active Pokémon with one of the Pokémon on your Bench. To do this, you must get rid of Energy cards from the Active Pokémon equal to the Retreat Cost that's written in the lower right-hand corner. (You'll read more about costs in the "Attack with Your Active Pokémon" section.) If you can't do that, then you can't retreat. Pokémon with no Retreat Cost don't need to get rid of any Energy when they retreat - they can retreat "for free."

A Pokémon that is Asleep or Paralyzed can't retreat. A Confused Pokémon can try to 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), it keeps any Energy cards, any Evolution cards, and any damage counters it might already have. All other things about the Pokémon go away - Sleep, Confusion, Paralysis, Poison, or anything else that might be the result of an attack some Pokémon made earlier. All of these things go away.

If you retreat, you can still attack that turn.

Use a Pokémon Power

Some Pokémon have a special "Pokémon Power" that they can use when they're in play. 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!

3) Attack with your Active Pokémon
If you wish, you may have your Active Pokémon attack 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 can only attack one time during your turn, and your Pokémon can only use one of its attacks each turn. To attack, just tell your opponent which one of your Pokémon's attacks you're using. You can only use an attack 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 only Energy of the appropriate kind counts toward Energy requirements of that kind. For example, you can use at attack with next to it only if that Pokémon has at least 3 Energy attached to it, at least 2 of which are Energy.

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 card says otherwise!

When you attack, read the attack you're using and do what it says. For each 10 damage a Pokémon takes, put one damage counter on it. 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.

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

Usually the attack won't depend on the order you do this 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, Weakness is applied before other things that might change the amount of damage.

What happens when your Pokémon is Knocked Out?

Whenever one of your Pokémon is Knocked Out, put its Basic Pokémon card and all cards attached to it (Evolution cards, Energy cards, etc.) in your discard pile. Your opponent then chooses one of his or her Prizes (even if you Knocked Out your Pokémon yourself!) and puts it into his or her hand. If you lose your Active Pokémon, you must immediately replace it with a Pokémon from your Bench. (If you can't do this because your Bench is empty, you lose.) 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.

4) 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've done those things, your opponent's turn begins.

What Happens after Each Player's Turn?

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