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Collectible card game

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 Cards from various collectible card games
A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) or customizable card game, is a card game that uses specially designed sets of playing cards. The terms "collectible," "trading," et al. are used interchangeably due to copyrights and patent holdings of game companies. The core definition requires the game to resemble trading cards in shape and function, be mass-produced for trading or collectibility, and it must have rules for strategic game play.[1][2] Another definition for CCGs is described by Scrye magazine as a card game in which the player uses his own deck utilizing cards that are mostly sold in random assortments. Acquiring these cards may be done by trading with other players or buying them from retailers. If every card for the game can be obtained by making only a small number of purchases, or if the manufacturer does not market it as a CCG, then it is not a CCG.[3]
The Base Ball Card Game from 1904 is a noteworthy predecessor to CCGs because it had similar qualities but it never saw production to qualify it as a collectible card game.[4] The rules of the game remain missing and it is not known if the game was intended to be a standalone product or something altogether different like Top Trumps.[5] Other notable entries that resemble and predate the CCG are Strat-O-Matic, Nuclear War, and Illuminati.[3]
The first collectible card game ever created was Magic: The Gathering, designed by Richard Garfield, and patented by Wizards of the Coast in 1993.[1][6][7][8] It is still considered the most successful CCG and many other CCGs have tried to emulate it.[9][10] Magic: The Gathering borrowed elements from the board game Cosmic Encounter which also used cards for game play.
Despite the dominance of Magic: The Gathering in the CCG market, a few have met with success and have built a niche for themselves including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, and Legend of the Five Rings. Other notable CCGs have come and gone: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Middle-earth, World of Warcraft and Netrunner among others. Plenty of other CCGs were made and met with very little or no success.[5]
Typically, a CCG is initially played using a starter deck, or intro deck. It has the very basic number of cards that can be used to play the game. This deck is then added to or changed with the addition of new cards that are bought from booster packs. Booster packs are a random selection of cards of varying rarities, usually between 8 and 15 cards. One of these cards is a rare or unique card that is much harder to obtain than the remaining cards and often has a higher value than the rest, though these values change over time as distribution changes, cards are banned in formats, or the game is further changed by the introduction of more cards later on. Eventually, with enough cards, new decks can be created from scratch.
CCGs of the past and present are divided into two kinds: "dead games" and "live games." Dead Games are those CCGs which are no longer supported by their manufacturers and cease to release expansions. Live Games are those CCGs which continue to be supported by their manufacturers. Usually this means that new expansions are being created for the game and player tournaments are occurring in some fashion.[3]
CCGs should not be mistaken for deck-building games, where the construction of the deck is a mechanism used during gameplay, or Living Card Games (LCGs), which is a registered trademark of Fantasy Flight Games. They are board games that share many of the same characteristics as CCGs, but are a part of a closed play environment because of their very limited card selection. LCGs do not incorporate the "blind buy" purchase model of booster packs.
Other similar card games have been marketed or referred to as CCGs. Collectible Common-Deck Card Games are those games where players do not have their own personal deck, and consequently, no customization of decks occur and no trading or metagame is developed. Non-Collectible Customizable Card Games are those games where each player has their own deck, but no randomness occurs when acquiring the cards. Many of these games are sold as complete sets. A few were intended to have booster packs, but those were never released.[11]

Contents
  [hide] 1 History 1.1 Pre-History closely associated with Wizards of the Coast
1.2 Magic: The Gathering
1.3 CCG craze of 1994 & 1995
1.4 Stabilization and consolidation
1.5 Wizards of the Coast dominates, Hasbro steps in
1.6 Transitions and refining of the market
1.7 Franchise trends continue
1.8 A second wave of new CCGs
1.9 The CCG renaissance continues
2 Gameplay 2.1 Internet play
3 Distribution
4 Patent
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 See also
History[edit]
Pre-History closely associated with Wizards of the Coast[edit]
Prior to the advent of the CCG, the market for alternative games was dominated by role-playing games (RPG), in particular Dungeons & Dragons by TSR. Wizards of the Coast (Wizards), a new company formed in Peter Adkison's basement in 1990, was looking to enter the RPG market with its series called The Primal Order which converted characters to other RPG series. After a suit from Palladium Books which could have financially ruined the company, Wizards acquired Talislanta another RPG. This was after Lisa Stevens joined the company in 1991 as vice president after having left White Wolf. Through their mutual friend Mike Davis, Adkison met Richard Garfield who at the time was a doctoral student. Garfield and Mike Davis had an idea for a game called RoboRally and pitched the idea to Wizards of the Coast in 1991, but Wizards did not have the resources to manufacture it and instead challenged Garfield to make a game that would pay for the creation of RoboRally. This game would require minimal resources to make and only 15 to 20 minutes to play.[3]
Magic: The Gathering[edit]
In December of 1991, Garfield had a prototype for a game called Mana Flash and by 1993 he established Garfield Games to attract publishers, as well as to get a larger share of the company should it become successful. Originally, Mana Flash was designed with Wizards in mind, but the suit between Palladium Books and Wizards was still not settled. Investment money was eventually secured from Wizards and the name Mana Flash was changed to Magic: The Gathering. The ads for it first appeared in Cryptych, a magazine that focused on RPGs. On the July 4th weekend in 1993, the game premiered at the Origins Game Fair in Fort Worth, Texas. In the following month of August, the game was released and sold out its initial print run of 2.6 million cards creating an immediate need for more cards. Wizards quickly released new iterations of the core set, called Beta (7.3 million card print run) and Unlimited (35 million card print run) in an attempt to satisfy orders as well as to fix small errors in the game. December also saw the release of the first expansion called Arabian Nights. With Magic: The Gathering still the only CCG on the market, it released another expansion called Antiquities which experienced collation problems. Another core set iteration named Revised was released shortly after that. Demand was still not satiated as the game grew by leaps and bounds. Legends was released in mid 1994 and no end was in sight for the excitement over the new CCG.[3][12]
CCG craze of 1994 & 1995[edit]
What followed was the CCG craze. Magic was so popular that game stores could not keep it on their shelves. More and more orders came for the product, and as other game makers looked on they realized that they had to capitalize on this new fad. The first to do so was TSR who rushed their own game Spellfire into production and was released in June of 1994. Through this period of time, Magic was hard to obtain because production never met the demand. Store owners placed large inflated orders in an attempt to circumvent allocations placed by distributors. This practice would eventually catch up to them when printing capacity met demand and the expansion of Fallen Empires was released in November of 1994. Combined with the releases of 9 other CCGs, among them Galactic Empires, Decipher's Star Trek, On the Edge, and Super Deck!. Steve Jackson Games which was heavily involved in the alternative game market looked to tap into the new CCG market as well and figured the best way of doing it was to adapt their existing Illuminati. The result was Illuminati: New World Order which followed with two expansions in 1995 and 1998. Another entry by Wizards of the Coast was Jyhad. The game sold well, but not nearly as well as Magic, however it was considered a great competitive move by Wizard as Jyhad was based on one of the most popular intellectual properties in the alternative game market which kept White Wolf from aggressively competing with Magic. By this time however, it may have been a moot point as the CCG Market had hit its first obstacle: too much product. The overprinted expansion of Magic's Fallen Empires threatened to upset the relationship that Wizards had with its distributors as many complained of getting too much product, despite their original over-ordering practices.[3][13][14]
In early 1995, the GAMA Trade Show previewed upcoming games for the year. One out of every three games announced at the show was a CCG. Publishers other than game makers were now entering the CCG market such as Donruss, Upper Deck, Fleer, Topps, Comic Images, and others. The CCG bubble appeared to be on everyone's mind. Too many CCGs were being released and not enough players existed to meet the demand. In 1995 alone, 38 CCGs entered the market, among them the most notable being Doomtrooper, Middle-earth, OverPower, Rage, Shadowfist, Legend of the Five Rings, and SimCity. Jyhad also saw a makeover and was renamed as Vampire: The Eternal Struggle to distance itself from the Islamic term jihad as well as to get closer to the source material.[3] The Star Trek CCG from Decipher was almost terminated after disputes with Paramount announced that the series would end in 1997. But by the end of the year, the situation was resolved and Decipher regained the license to the Star Trek franchise along with Deep Space Nine, Voyager and the movie First Contact.[3]
Despite the enthusiasm from manufacturers, by the time of Gen Con in the summer of 1995, retailers had noticed CCG sales were lagging. The Magic expansion Chronicles released in November and it was essentially a compilation of older sets. It was maligned by collectors and they claimed it devalued their collections. Besides this aspect, the market was still reeling from too much product as Fallen Empires still sat on shelves alongside newer Magic expansions like Ice Age (Magic: The Gathering). The one new CCG that retailers were hoping to save their sales, Star Wars, wasn't released until very late in December. By then, Wizards of the Coast, the lead seller in the CCG market had announced a downsizing in their company and it was followed by a layoff of over 30 jobs. The excess product and lag in sales also coincided with an 8 month long gap in between Magic: The Gathering's expansions, the longest in its history.[3][13]
In Hungary, Hatalom Kártyái Kártyajáték, or HKK, was released in 1995 and was inspired by Magic: The Gathering. HKK was later released in the Czech Republic. HKK is still being made.[15][16]
Stabilization and consolidation[edit]
In early 1996, the CCG market was still reeling from its recent failures and glut of product, including the release of Wizards' expansion Homelands which was rated as the worst Magic expansion to date. The next two years would mark a "cool off" period for the over-saturated CCG market. Additionally, manufacturers slowly came to understand that having a CCG was not enough to keep it alive. They also had to support organized players which in turn further evolved tournament play. Combined with a new dichotomy between collectors and players especially among Magic players, more emphasis was placed on the game rather than the collectibility of the cards.[3]
Plenty more CCGs were introduced in 1996, chief among them were BattleTech, The X-Files, Mythos, and Wizard's very own Netrunner. Many established CCGs were in full swing releasing expansions every few months, but even by this time, many CCGs from only two years ago had already died. TSR had ceased production of Spellfire and attempted another collectible game called Dragon Dice which failed shortly after being released.[3]
In the first half of 1997, Wizards of the Coast announced that it had acquired TSR and its Dungeons & Dragons property which also gave them control of Gen Con. Wizards now had its long sought role-playing game, and it quickly discontinued all plans to continue producing Dragon Dice as well as any hopes of resuming production of the Spellfire CCG. Decipher was now sanctioning tournaments for their Star Trek and Star Wars games. Star Wars was also enjoying strong success in part from the coinciding enthusiasm for the Star Wars Special Edition films. In fact, the CCG would remain the second best selling CCG until the introduction of Pokémon in 1999.[3]
Wizards continued acquiring properties and bought Legend of the Five Rings CCG on June 26th. Wizards also acquired Andon Unlimited which by association gave them control over the Origins Convention. By September, Wizards was awarded a patent for its "Trading Card Game." Later in October, Wizards announced that it would seek royalty payments from other CCG companies. Allegedly, only Harper Prism announced its intention to pay these royalties for its game Imajica. Other CCGs acknowledge the patent on their packaging.[3][17][13]
1997 saw a slow down in the release of new CCG games. Only 7 new games came out, among them: Dune, Babylon 5, Shadowrun, Imajica and Aliens/Predator. Babylon 5 saw moderate success for a few years before its publisher Precedence succumbed to a nonrenewal of its license later on in 2001. Also in 1997, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle ceased production. However, Wizards of the Coast attempted to enter a more mainstream market with the release of a watered down version of Magic, called Portal. Its creation is considered a failure along with its follow up Portal Second Age released in 1998.[3]
Wizards of the Coast dominates, Hasbro steps in[edit]
By February of 1998, one out of every two CCGs sold was Magic: the Gathering. Only 6 new CCGs were introduced that year, all but one being a product of Wizards of the Coast. C-23, Doomtown, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Legend of the Burning Sands and Xena: Warrior Princess were those five, and only Doomtown met with better than average reviews before its run was terminated and the rights returned to Alderac. C-23, Hercules, and Xena were all apart of a new simplified CCG system Wizards had created for beginners. Called the ARC System, it had four distinct types of cards: Resource, Character, Combat, and Action. The system also utilized the popular "tapping" mechanic of Magic: The Gathering. This system was abandoned shortly afterwards.[3]
Despite limited success or no success at all in the rest of the CCG market, Magic had recovered and Wizard's learned from its lessons of 1995 and early 1996. Players still enjoyed the game and were gobbling up its latest expansions of Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus and by year's end, Urza's Saga which added new enthusiasm to Magic's fanbase in light of some of the cards being "too powerful."[3]
In early 1999, Wizards released the Pokémon TCG to the mass market. The game benefited from the Pokémon fad also of that year. At first there wasn't enough product to meet demand. Some retailers perceived the shortage to be, in part, related to Wizards's recent purchase of the Game Keeper stores where it was assumed they received Pokémon shipments more often than non-affiliated stores. By the summer of 1999, the Pokémon TCG became the first CCG to outsell Magic: The Gathering. The success of Pokémon brought renewed interest to the CCG market and many new companies began pursuing this established customer base. Large retail stores such as Walmart and Target began carrying CCGs and by the end of September, Hasbro was convinced on its profitability and bought Wizards of the Coast for $325 million.[3][18]
A small selection of new CCGs also arrived in 1999, among them Young Jedi, Tomb Raider, Austin Powers, 7th Sea and The Wheel of Time.[3]
Transitions and refining of the market[edit]
By 2000, the ups and downs of the CCG market was old hat to its retailers. They foresaw Pokémon's inevitable fall from grace as the fad reached its peak in April of that year. The panic associated with the overflooding of the CCGs from 1995 and 1996 was absent and the retailers withstood the crash of Pokémon. Yet CCGs benefited from the popularity of Pokémon and they saw an uptick in the amount of CCGs released and an overall increased interest in the game genre. Pokémon's mainstream success in the CCG world also highlighted an increasing trend of CCGs being marketed with existing intellectual properties, especially those with an existing television show, such as a cartoon. New CCGs introduced in 2000 included notable entries in Sailor Moon, The Terminator, Digi-Battle, Dragon Ball Z, Magi-Nation and X-Men. Vampires: The Eternal Struggle resumed production in 2000 after White Wolf regained full rights and released the first new expansion in three years called Sabbat War. Wizards of the Coast introduced a new sports CCG called MLB Showdown as well.[3]
Decipher released its final chronological expansion of the original Star Wars trilogy called Death Star II and would continue to see a loss in sales as interest waned in succeeding expansions, and their Star Wars license was not being renewed. Mage Knight was also released this year and would seek to challenge the CCG market by introducing miniatures into the mix. Though not technically a CCG, it would target the same player base for sales. The real shake up in the industry however, came when Hasbro laid off more than 100 workers at Wizards of the Coast and ended its attempts at an online version of the game when it sold off their interactive division. Coinciding with this turn of events was Peter Adkisson's decision to resign and Lisa Stevens whose job ended when The Duelist magazine (published by Wizards of the Coast) was cancelled by the parent company. With Adkisson went Wizards' acquirement of Gen Con and the Origins Convention went to GAMA. Hasbro also ceased production of Legends of the Five Rings in 2000 and it was eventually sold to Alderac in 2001.[3][13]
Franchise trends continue[edit]
As seen in 2000, the years 2001 and 2002 continued on with the CCG market being less likely to take chances on new and original intellectual properties, but instead it would invest in CCGs that were based off existing franchises. Cartoons, movies, television, and books influenced the creation of such CCGs as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, A Game of Thrones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Yu-Gi-Oh! and not one, but two Star Wars CCGs: Jedi Knights and a rebooted Star Wars TCG, both by Wizards of the Coast. They followed the demise of the original Star Wars CCG by Decipher in December of 2001, but they would see very little interest and eventually the two games were cancelled. Other niche CCGs were also made, including Warlord and Warhammer 40,000.[3][19]
Upper Deck had its first hit with Yu-Gi-Oh! The game was known to be popular in Japan but until 2002 had not been released in the United States. The game was mostly released to big retailers, and hobby stores were only added to their distribution after the fact. By the end of 2002, the game was the top CCG even though it was no where near the phenomenon that Pokémon was. The card publisher Precedence produced a new CCG in 2001 based on the Rifts RPG by Palladium. Rifts had top of the line artwork but the size of the starter deck was similar in size to the RPG books. Precedence's other main CCG Babylon 5 ended its decent run in 2001 after the company lost its licence. The game was terminated and the publisher later folded in 2002. The release of The Lord of the Rings CCG marked the release of the 100th new CCG since 1993, and 2002 also marked the release of the 500th CCG expansion for all CCGs. The Lord of the Rings CCG briefly beat out sales of Magic for a few months.[19]
Magic continued a steady pace releasing successful expansion blocks with Odyssey and Onslaught. The Star Trek CCG by Decipher released The Motion Pictures expansion and it also announced that it would be the last expansion for the game. Decipher then released the Second Edition for the Star Trek CCG which refined the rules, rebooted the game, and introduced new card frames. Collectible miniature games made more splashes in 2002 with the releases of HeroClix and MechWarrior.[19]
A second wave of new CCGs[edit]
The next few years saw a large increase in the amount of companies willing to start a new CCG. No small thanks to the previous successes of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, many new CCGs entered the market, many of which tried to continue the trend of tying them in with other franchises. Notable entries include The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, Neopets, G.I. Joe, Hecatomb, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many others. Duel Masters was introduced to the United States after strong popularity in Japan the previous two years. Wizards of the Coast published it for a couple years before it was cancelled due to weak sales. Two Warhammer CCGs were released with Horus Heresy and WarCry. Horus Heresy lasted two years and was succeeded by Dark Millennium in 2005.
Also, two entries from Decipher were released, one that passed the torch from their Star Wars CCG to WARS. WARS kept most of the game play mechanics from their Star Wars game, but transferred them to a new and original setting. The game did not do particularly well, and after two expansions, the game was cancelled in 2005. The other new CCG was .hack//Enemy which won an Origins award. Unfortunately, this game was also cancelled in 2005.[20]
Plenty of other CCGs were attempted by various publishers, many that were based on Japanese manga such as Beyblade, Gundam War, One Piece, InuYasha, Zatch Bell!, Case Closed, and Yu Yu Hakusho. Existing CCGs were reformatted or rebooted including Dragon Ball Z as Dragon Ball GT and Digimon D-Tector as the Digimon Collectible Card Game.
An interesting CCG released by Upper Deck was called the Vs. System. It incorporated the Marvel and DC Comics universes and pitted the heroes and villains from those universes against one another. Another CCG titled Call of Cthulhu was the spiritual successor to Mythos by the publisher Chaosium. Chaosium licensed the game to Fantasy Flight Games who produced the CCG.
Probably one of the biggest developments in the CCG market was the release of Magic's 8th Edition core set. It introduced a redesigned card border and it would later mark the beginning of a new play format titled Modern that utilized cards from this set onward. Pokémon, which was originally published by Wizards, was sold to Nintendo in June of 2003.
The CCG renaissance continues[edit]
The previous years influx of new CCGs continued on into 2006. Riding high on the success of the popular PC Game World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment licensed Upper Deck to publish a TCG based on the game. The World of Warcraft TCG was born and was carried by major retailers but saw limited success. Following previous trends, more Japanese influenced CCGs entered the market. These games were either based on cartoons or manga and included: Naruto, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bleach, Rangers Strike and the classic series Robotech. Dragon Ball GT was rebooted once again in 2008 and renamed as just Dragon Ball.
Additional franchises were made into CCGs, some as reboots. Some of the more notable ones include: Conan, Battlestar Galactica, Pirates of the Caribbean, Power Rangers, 24 TCG, and another attempt at Doctor Who in the United Kingdom and Australia. Publisher Alderac released City of Heroes CCG based on the City of Heroes PC game. Another video game was turned into a CCG by Tomy and titled Kingdom Hearts and was based on the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts by Square Enix.
A few other CCGs were released only in other countries and never made it overseas to English speaking countries, including Monster Hunter of Japan, and Vandaria Wars of Indonesia.
By the end of 2008, trouble was brewing between Konami, who owned the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! and its licensee Upper Deck. Meanwhile, strong sales continued with the three top CCGs of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Magic: the Gathering. Dark Millenium ended its run on the Warhammer series in 2007.
Gameplay[edit]

 

 Players engaged in a game of Magic: The Gathering.
Each CCG system has a fundamental set of rules that describes the players' objectives, the categories of cards used in the game, and the basic rules by which the cards interact. Each card will have additional text explaining that specific card's effect on the game. They also generally represent some specific element derived from the game's genre, setting, or source material. The cards are illustrated and named for these source elements, and the card's game function may relate to the subject. For example, Magic: The Gathering is based on the fantasy genre, so many of the cards represent creatures and magical spells from that setting. In the game, a dragon is illustrated as a reptilian beast, may have the flying ability, and has formidable game statistics compared to smaller creatures.
The bulk of CCGs are designed around a resource system by which the pace of each game is controlled. Frequently, the cards which constitute a player's deck are considered a resource, with the frequency of cards moving from the deck to the play area or player's hand being tightly controlled. Relative card strength is often balanced by the number or type of basic resources needed in order to play the card, and pacing after that may be determined by the flow of cards moving in and out of play. Resources may be specific cards themselves, or represented by other means (e.g., tokens in various resource pools, symbols on cards, etc.).
Players select which cards will compose their deck from the available pool of cards; unlike traditional card games such as poker or crazy eights where the deck's content is limited and pre-determined. This allows a CCG player to strategically customize their deck to take advantage of favorable card interactions, combinations and statistics. While a player's deck can theoretically be of any size, a deck of approximately sixty cards is considered the optimal size, for reasons of playability, and has been adopted by most CCGs as an arbitrary 'standard' deck size.
Some games, such as Magic: the Gathering, limit how many copies of a particular card can be included in a deck; such limits force players to think creatively when choosing cards and deciding on a playing strategy.
During a game, players usually take turns playing cards and performing game-related actions. The order and titles of these steps vary between different game systems, but the following are typical:[citation needed]
Ready phase — A player's own in-play cards are readied for the upcoming turn.
Draw phase — The player draws cards. This is necessary in order to circulate cards in players' hands.
Main phase — The player uses the cards in hand and on the table to interact with the game, to gain and expend resources. Some games allow for more than one of these phases.
Combat phase — This typically involves some sort of attack against the other player, which that player defends against using their own cards. Such a phase is the primary method for victory in most games.
2nd Main Phase - The player uses the cards in hand and on the table to interact with the game, to gain and expend resources. Some games allow for more than one of these phases.
End of turn — The player discards to the game's maximum hand size, if it has one, and end of turn effects occur.
Internet play[edit]
In addition to actual physical card games, collectible card games have also been developed that are played over the Internet and LAN lines. Instead of receiving physical cards, a player establishes a virtual collection that exists only as a set of data stored on a server. Such cards can be purchased (using real money) or traded within this environment. Titles include online versions of games that originated as physical CCGs (e.g., Magic: The Gathering Online), as well as games that exist solely online (e.g., Draconian Wars: Hyperborea Edition and Sword Girls Online). The first online CCGs were Sanctum and Chron X, both developed in 1997. Sanctum was taken offline in 2010, though it may return on a new server; Chron X still exists, producing new expansions over a decade later. Chron X was developed by Genetic Anomalies, Inc, which later developed other online collectible card-style games based on licensed content.
In some cases, new elements are added to the CCG — the online card games Sanctum and Star Chamber include game boards as well as animations and sound effects for some of their cards. The NOKs, on the other hand, offer talking figures and action-arcade game play. In a different case, The Eye of Judgement, a CCG that has been combined with a PlayStation 3 game, bringing innovation with the CyberCode matrix technology. It allows real cards bought in stores to be scanned with the PlayStation Eye and brought into the game with 3D creatures, animations, spell animations, etc. as representations. In a similar fashion, Chaotic, Bella Sara, and MapleStory allow online players to enter a unique alpha-numeric code found on each physical card. These codes allow access to online cards or other online features.
A related concept is that of software programs which allow players to play CCGs over the Internet, but without relying on a central server or database. When utilizing such software, players don't need to purchase any (real or virtual) cards, and are instead free to create any deck they like using the cards supported by the client software. In some cases, these programs have limited rule enforcement engines, while others rely completely on players to interpret the complex interactions between the cards. Some of these software packages actually support the play of more than one virtual card game; for example, Magic Workstation was originally designed to play Magic, but can technically support additional games as well.
The systems for online play that support the greatest variety of games are LackeyCCG and Gccg. Offerings include many copyrighted games whose manufacturers are no longer publishing the game, most notably Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game[21] and Precedence’s Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game.
In addition, there are several small, online CCGs run completely free by the card game creators and volunteer staff. These games at their most basic include a number of decks created for members to collect and trade. These cards are earned through games and contests at the CCG, collecting all cards in a deck (mastering), or completing a certain number of trades. Members typically visit each other's websites where they house their card collections, and propose trades to each other through forums or e-mail.
Distribution[edit]
Specific game cards are most often produced in various degrees of scarcity, generally denoted as common (C), uncommon (U), and rare (R). Some games use alternate or additional designations for the relative rarity levels, such as super-, ultra-, mythic- or exclusive rares. Special cards may also only be available through promotions, events, purchase of related material, or redemption programs. The idea of rarity borrows somewhat from other types of collectible cards, such as baseball cards, but in CCGs, the level of rarity also denotes the significance of a card's effect in the game, i.e., in general the more powerful a card is in terms of the game, the greater its rarity. A powerful card whose effects were underestimated by the game's designers may increase in rarity due to those effects; in later editions of the game, such a card's level of rarity might increase to reduce its availability to players. Such a card might even be removed entirely from the next edition, to further limit its availability and its effect on gameplay.
Most collectible card games are distributed as sealed packs containing a subset of the available cards, much like trading cards. Some of the most common distribution methods are:
Starter set — This is an introductory product which contains enough cards for two players and includes instructional information on playing the game. In order to speed the learning process, the card content is typically fixed and designed around a theme, so that the new players can start playing right away.
Tournament or starter deck - This contains enough game cards (usually 40 or more) for one player. It usually contains a random selection of cards, but with some basic elements so that it may be playable from the start.
Theme deck — Most CCGs are designed with opposing factions, themes, or strategies. A theme deck is composed primarily of cards that will work well together and is typically non-random.
Booster packs — This method of distribution is most similar to trading cards as the packs contain a random selection of roughly 4 to 15 cards.
Patent[edit]
A patent was granted to Wizards of the Coast in 1997 for "a novel method of game play and game components that in one embodiment are in the form of trading cards" that includes claims covering games whose rules include many of Magic's elements in combination, including concepts such as changing orientation of a game component to indicate use (referred to in the Magic and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle rules as "tapping") and constructing a deck by selecting cards from a larger pool.[22] The patent has aroused criticism from some observers, who believe some of its claims to be invalid.[23]
In 2003, the patent was an element of a larger legal dispute between Wizards of the Coast and Nintendo, regarding trade secrets related to Nintendo's Pokémon Trading Card Game. The legal action was settled out of court, and its terms were not disclosed.[24]


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12.Jump up ^ Moursund, Beth (2002), The Complete Encyclopedia of Magic: The Gathering, p. 720.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c d Appelcline, Shannon (2006-08-03), A Brief History of Game #1: Wizards of the Coast: 1990-Present, retrieved 2013-08-29
14.Jump up ^ Courtland, Hayden-William (no date), History of Spellfire, retrieved 2013-08-30
15.Jump up ^ History of HKK
16.Jump up ^ About HKK CCG
17.Jump up ^ Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 7
18.Jump up ^ Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 9
19.^ Jump up to: a b c Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 11
20.Jump up ^ "Origins Award Winners (2003)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
21.Jump up ^ DECIPHER.com : Star Wars CCG[dead link]
22.Jump up ^ US 5662332
23.Jump up ^ Varney, Allen (2006-05-03). "The Year in Gaming". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
24.Jump up ^ "Pokemon USA, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Resolve Dispute". Business Wire. 2003-12-29. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
Bibliography[edit]
Miller, John Jackson; Greenholdt, Joyce (2003). Collectible Card Games Checklist & Price Guide (2nd ed.). Krause Publication. ISBN 0-87349-623-X.
See also[edit]
List of collectible card games
Collectible Miniatures Game
Booster pack
Starter deck
 

Categories: Collectible card games
Games of mental skill
Video game genres




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Collectible card game

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 Cards from various collectible card games
A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) or customizable card game, is a card game that uses specially designed sets of playing cards. The terms "collectible," "trading," et al. are used interchangeably due to copyrights and patent holdings of game companies. The core definition requires the game to resemble trading cards in shape and function, be mass-produced for trading or collectibility, and it must have rules for strategic game play.[1][2] Another definition for CCGs is described by Scrye magazine as a card game in which the player uses his own deck utilizing cards that are mostly sold in random assortments. Acquiring these cards may be done by trading with other players or buying them from retailers. If every card for the game can be obtained by making only a small number of purchases, or if the manufacturer does not market it as a CCG, then it is not a CCG.[3]
The Base Ball Card Game from 1904 is a noteworthy predecessor to CCGs because it had similar qualities but it never saw production to qualify it as a collectible card game.[4] The rules of the game remain missing and it is not known if the game was intended to be a standalone product or something altogether different like Top Trumps.[5] Other notable entries that resemble and predate the CCG are Strat-O-Matic, Nuclear War, and Illuminati.[3]
The first collectible card game ever created was Magic: The Gathering, designed by Richard Garfield, and patented by Wizards of the Coast in 1993.[1][6][7][8] It is still considered the most successful CCG and many other CCGs have tried to emulate it.[9][10] Magic: The Gathering borrowed elements from the board game Cosmic Encounter which also used cards for game play.
Despite the dominance of Magic: The Gathering in the CCG market, a few have met with success and have built a niche for themselves including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, and Legend of the Five Rings. Other notable CCGs have come and gone: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Middle-earth, World of Warcraft and Netrunner among others. Plenty of other CCGs were made and met with very little or no success.[5]
Typically, a CCG is initially played using a starter deck, or intro deck. It has the very basic number of cards that can be used to play the game. This deck is then added to or changed with the addition of new cards that are bought from booster packs. Booster packs are a random selection of cards of varying rarities, usually between 8 and 15 cards. One of these cards is a rare or unique card that is much harder to obtain than the remaining cards and often has a higher value than the rest, though these values change over time as distribution changes, cards are banned in formats, or the game is further changed by the introduction of more cards later on. Eventually, with enough cards, new decks can be created from scratch.
CCGs of the past and present are divided into two kinds: "dead games" and "live games." Dead Games are those CCGs which are no longer supported by their manufacturers and cease to release expansions. Live Games are those CCGs which continue to be supported by their manufacturers. Usually this means that new expansions are being created for the game and player tournaments are occurring in some fashion.[3]
CCGs should not be mistaken for deck-building games, where the construction of the deck is a mechanism used during gameplay, or Living Card Games (LCGs), which is a registered trademark of Fantasy Flight Games. They are board games that share many of the same characteristics as CCGs, but are a part of a closed play environment because of their very limited card selection. LCGs do not incorporate the "blind buy" purchase model of booster packs.
Other similar card games have been marketed or referred to as CCGs. Collectible Common-Deck Card Games are those games where players do not have their own personal deck, and consequently, no customization of decks occur and no trading or metagame is developed. Non-Collectible Customizable Card Games are those games where each player has their own deck, but no randomness occurs when acquiring the cards. Many of these games are sold as complete sets. A few were intended to have booster packs, but those were never released.[11]

Contents
  [hide] 1 History 1.1 Pre-History closely associated with Wizards of the Coast
1.2 Magic: The Gathering
1.3 CCG craze of 1994 & 1995
1.4 Stabilization and consolidation
1.5 Wizards of the Coast dominates, Hasbro steps in
1.6 Transitions and refining of the market
1.7 Franchise trends continue
1.8 A second wave of new CCGs
1.9 The CCG renaissance continues
2 Gameplay 2.1 Internet play
3 Distribution
4 Patent
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 See also
History[edit]
Pre-History closely associated with Wizards of the Coast[edit]
Prior to the advent of the CCG, the market for alternative games was dominated by role-playing games (RPG), in particular Dungeons & Dragons by TSR. Wizards of the Coast (Wizards), a new company formed in Peter Adkison's basement in 1990, was looking to enter the RPG market with its series called The Primal Order which converted characters to other RPG series. After a suit from Palladium Books which could have financially ruined the company, Wizards acquired Talislanta another RPG. This was after Lisa Stevens joined the company in 1991 as vice president after having left White Wolf. Through their mutual friend Mike Davis, Adkison met Richard Garfield who at the time was a doctoral student. Garfield and Mike Davis had an idea for a game called RoboRally and pitched the idea to Wizards of the Coast in 1991, but Wizards did not have the resources to manufacture it and instead challenged Garfield to make a game that would pay for the creation of RoboRally. This game would require minimal resources to make and only 15 to 20 minutes to play.[3]
Magic: The Gathering[edit]
In December of 1991, Garfield had a prototype for a game called Mana Flash and by 1993 he established Garfield Games to attract publishers, as well as to get a larger share of the company should it become successful. Originally, Mana Flash was designed with Wizards in mind, but the suit between Palladium Books and Wizards was still not settled. Investment money was eventually secured from Wizards and the name Mana Flash was changed to Magic: The Gathering. The ads for it first appeared in Cryptych, a magazine that focused on RPGs. On the July 4th weekend in 1993, the game premiered at the Origins Game Fair in Fort Worth, Texas. In the following month of August, the game was released and sold out its initial print run of 2.6 million cards creating an immediate need for more cards. Wizards quickly released new iterations of the core set, called Beta (7.3 million card print run) and Unlimited (35 million card print run) in an attempt to satisfy orders as well as to fix small errors in the game. December also saw the release of the first expansion called Arabian Nights. With Magic: The Gathering still the only CCG on the market, it released another expansion called Antiquities which experienced collation problems. Another core set iteration named Revised was released shortly after that. Demand was still not satiated as the game grew by leaps and bounds. Legends was released in mid 1994 and no end was in sight for the excitement over the new CCG.[3][12]
CCG craze of 1994 & 1995[edit]
What followed was the CCG craze. Magic was so popular that game stores could not keep it on their shelves. More and more orders came for the product, and as other game makers looked on they realized that they had to capitalize on this new fad. The first to do so was TSR who rushed their own game Spellfire into production and was released in June of 1994. Through this period of time, Magic was hard to obtain because production never met the demand. Store owners placed large inflated orders in an attempt to circumvent allocations placed by distributors. This practice would eventually catch up to them when printing capacity met demand and the expansion of Fallen Empires was released in November of 1994. Combined with the releases of 9 other CCGs, among them Galactic Empires, Decipher's Star Trek, On the Edge, and Super Deck!. Steve Jackson Games which was heavily involved in the alternative game market looked to tap into the new CCG market as well and figured the best way of doing it was to adapt their existing Illuminati. The result was Illuminati: New World Order which followed with two expansions in 1995 and 1998. Another entry by Wizards of the Coast was Jyhad. The game sold well, but not nearly as well as Magic, however it was considered a great competitive move by Wizard as Jyhad was based on one of the most popular intellectual properties in the alternative game market which kept White Wolf from aggressively competing with Magic. By this time however, it may have been a moot point as the CCG Market had hit its first obstacle: too much product. The overprinted expansion of Magic's Fallen Empires threatened to upset the relationship that Wizards had with its distributors as many complained of getting too much product, despite their original over-ordering practices.[3][13][14]
In early 1995, the GAMA Trade Show previewed upcoming games for the year. One out of every three games announced at the show was a CCG. Publishers other than game makers were now entering the CCG market such as Donruss, Upper Deck, Fleer, Topps, Comic Images, and others. The CCG bubble appeared to be on everyone's mind. Too many CCGs were being released and not enough players existed to meet the demand. In 1995 alone, 38 CCGs entered the market, among them the most notable being Doomtrooper, Middle-earth, OverPower, Rage, Shadowfist, Legend of the Five Rings, and SimCity. Jyhad also saw a makeover and was renamed as Vampire: The Eternal Struggle to distance itself from the Islamic term jihad as well as to get closer to the source material.[3] The Star Trek CCG from Decipher was almost terminated after disputes with Paramount announced that the series would end in 1997. But by the end of the year, the situation was resolved and Decipher regained the license to the Star Trek franchise along with Deep Space Nine, Voyager and the movie First Contact.[3]
Despite the enthusiasm from manufacturers, by the time of Gen Con in the summer of 1995, retailers had noticed CCG sales were lagging. The Magic expansion Chronicles released in November and it was essentially a compilation of older sets. It was maligned by collectors and they claimed it devalued their collections. Besides this aspect, the market was still reeling from too much product as Fallen Empires still sat on shelves alongside newer Magic expansions like Ice Age (Magic: The Gathering). The one new CCG that retailers were hoping to save their sales, Star Wars, wasn't released until very late in December. By then, Wizards of the Coast, the lead seller in the CCG market had announced a downsizing in their company and it was followed by a layoff of over 30 jobs. The excess product and lag in sales also coincided with an 8 month long gap in between Magic: The Gathering's expansions, the longest in its history.[3][13]
In Hungary, Hatalom Kártyái Kártyajáték, or HKK, was released in 1995 and was inspired by Magic: The Gathering. HKK was later released in the Czech Republic. HKK is still being made.[15][16]
Stabilization and consolidation[edit]
In early 1996, the CCG market was still reeling from its recent failures and glut of product, including the release of Wizards' expansion Homelands which was rated as the worst Magic expansion to date. The next two years would mark a "cool off" period for the over-saturated CCG market. Additionally, manufacturers slowly came to understand that having a CCG was not enough to keep it alive. They also had to support organized players which in turn further evolved tournament play. Combined with a new dichotomy between collectors and players especially among Magic players, more emphasis was placed on the game rather than the collectibility of the cards.[3]
Plenty more CCGs were introduced in 1996, chief among them were BattleTech, The X-Files, Mythos, and Wizard's very own Netrunner. Many established CCGs were in full swing releasing expansions every few months, but even by this time, many CCGs from only two years ago had already died. TSR had ceased production of Spellfire and attempted another collectible game called Dragon Dice which failed shortly after being released.[3]
In the first half of 1997, Wizards of the Coast announced that it had acquired TSR and its Dungeons & Dragons property which also gave them control of Gen Con. Wizards now had its long sought role-playing game, and it quickly discontinued all plans to continue producing Dragon Dice as well as any hopes of resuming production of the Spellfire CCG. Decipher was now sanctioning tournaments for their Star Trek and Star Wars games. Star Wars was also enjoying strong success in part from the coinciding enthusiasm for the Star Wars Special Edition films. In fact, the CCG would remain the second best selling CCG until the introduction of Pokémon in 1999.[3]
Wizards continued acquiring properties and bought Legend of the Five Rings CCG on June 26th. Wizards also acquired Andon Unlimited which by association gave them control over the Origins Convention. By September, Wizards was awarded a patent for its "Trading Card Game." Later in October, Wizards announced that it would seek royalty payments from other CCG companies. Allegedly, only Harper Prism announced its intention to pay these royalties for its game Imajica. Other CCGs acknowledge the patent on their packaging.[3][17][13]
1997 saw a slow down in the release of new CCG games. Only 7 new games came out, among them: Dune, Babylon 5, Shadowrun, Imajica and Aliens/Predator. Babylon 5 saw moderate success for a few years before its publisher Precedence succumbed to a nonrenewal of its license later on in 2001. Also in 1997, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle ceased production. However, Wizards of the Coast attempted to enter a more mainstream market with the release of a watered down version of Magic, called Portal. Its creation is considered a failure along with its follow up Portal Second Age released in 1998.[3]
Wizards of the Coast dominates, Hasbro steps in[edit]
By February of 1998, one out of every two CCGs sold was Magic: the Gathering. Only 6 new CCGs were introduced that year, all but one being a product of Wizards of the Coast. C-23, Doomtown, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Legend of the Burning Sands and Xena: Warrior Princess were those five, and only Doomtown met with better than average reviews before its run was terminated and the rights returned to Alderac. C-23, Hercules, and Xena were all apart of a new simplified CCG system Wizards had created for beginners. Called the ARC System, it had four distinct types of cards: Resource, Character, Combat, and Action. The system also utilized the popular "tapping" mechanic of Magic: The Gathering. This system was abandoned shortly afterwards.[3]
Despite limited success or no success at all in the rest of the CCG market, Magic had recovered and Wizard's learned from its lessons of 1995 and early 1996. Players still enjoyed the game and were gobbling up its latest expansions of Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus and by year's end, Urza's Saga which added new enthusiasm to Magic's fanbase in light of some of the cards being "too powerful."[3]
In early 1999, Wizards released the Pokémon TCG to the mass market. The game benefited from the Pokémon fad also of that year. At first there wasn't enough product to meet demand. Some retailers perceived the shortage to be, in part, related to Wizards's recent purchase of the Game Keeper stores where it was assumed they received Pokémon shipments more often than non-affiliated stores. By the summer of 1999, the Pokémon TCG became the first CCG to outsell Magic: The Gathering. The success of Pokémon brought renewed interest to the CCG market and many new companies began pursuing this established customer base. Large retail stores such as Walmart and Target began carrying CCGs and by the end of September, Hasbro was convinced on its profitability and bought Wizards of the Coast for $325 million.[3][18]
A small selection of new CCGs also arrived in 1999, among them Young Jedi, Tomb Raider, Austin Powers, 7th Sea and The Wheel of Time.[3]
Transitions and refining of the market[edit]
By 2000, the ups and downs of the CCG market was old hat to its retailers. They foresaw Pokémon's inevitable fall from grace as the fad reached its peak in April of that year. The panic associated with the overflooding of the CCGs from 1995 and 1996 was absent and the retailers withstood the crash of Pokémon. Yet CCGs benefited from the popularity of Pokémon and they saw an uptick in the amount of CCGs released and an overall increased interest in the game genre. Pokémon's mainstream success in the CCG world also highlighted an increasing trend of CCGs being marketed with existing intellectual properties, especially those with an existing television show, such as a cartoon. New CCGs introduced in 2000 included notable entries in Sailor Moon, The Terminator, Digi-Battle, Dragon Ball Z, Magi-Nation and X-Men. Vampires: The Eternal Struggle resumed production in 2000 after White Wolf regained full rights and released the first new expansion in three years called Sabbat War. Wizards of the Coast introduced a new sports CCG called MLB Showdown as well.[3]
Decipher released its final chronological expansion of the original Star Wars trilogy called Death Star II and would continue to see a loss in sales as interest waned in succeeding expansions, and their Star Wars license was not being renewed. Mage Knight was also released this year and would seek to challenge the CCG market by introducing miniatures into the mix. Though not technically a CCG, it would target the same player base for sales. The real shake up in the industry however, came when Hasbro laid off more than 100 workers at Wizards of the Coast and ended its attempts at an online version of the game when it sold off their interactive division. Coinciding with this turn of events was Peter Adkisson's decision to resign and Lisa Stevens whose job ended when The Duelist magazine (published by Wizards of the Coast) was cancelled by the parent company. With Adkisson went Wizards' acquirement of Gen Con and the Origins Convention went to GAMA. Hasbro also ceased production of Legends of the Five Rings in 2000 and it was eventually sold to Alderac in 2001.[3][13]
Franchise trends continue[edit]
As seen in 2000, the years 2001 and 2002 continued on with the CCG market being less likely to take chances on new and original intellectual properties, but instead it would invest in CCGs that were based off existing franchises. Cartoons, movies, television, and books influenced the creation of such CCGs as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, A Game of Thrones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Yu-Gi-Oh! and not one, but two Star Wars CCGs: Jedi Knights and a rebooted Star Wars TCG, both by Wizards of the Coast. They followed the demise of the original Star Wars CCG by Decipher in December of 2001, but they would see very little interest and eventually the two games were cancelled. Other niche CCGs were also made, including Warlord and Warhammer 40,000.[3][19]
Upper Deck had its first hit with Yu-Gi-Oh! The game was known to be popular in Japan but until 2002 had not been released in the United States. The game was mostly released to big retailers, and hobby stores were only added to their distribution after the fact. By the end of 2002, the game was the top CCG even though it was no where near the phenomenon that Pokémon was. The card publisher Precedence produced a new CCG in 2001 based on the Rifts RPG by Palladium. Rifts had top of the line artwork but the size of the starter deck was similar in size to the RPG books. Precedence's other main CCG Babylon 5 ended its decent run in 2001 after the company lost its licence. The game was terminated and the publisher later folded in 2002. The release of The Lord of the Rings CCG marked the release of the 100th new CCG since 1993, and 2002 also marked the release of the 500th CCG expansion for all CCGs. The Lord of the Rings CCG briefly beat out sales of Magic for a few months.[19]
Magic continued a steady pace releasing successful expansion blocks with Odyssey and Onslaught. The Star Trek CCG by Decipher released The Motion Pictures expansion and it also announced that it would be the last expansion for the game. Decipher then released the Second Edition for the Star Trek CCG which refined the rules, rebooted the game, and introduced new card frames. Collectible miniature games made more splashes in 2002 with the releases of HeroClix and MechWarrior.[19]
A second wave of new CCGs[edit]
The next few years saw a large increase in the amount of companies willing to start a new CCG. No small thanks to the previous successes of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, many new CCGs entered the market, many of which tried to continue the trend of tying them in with other franchises. Notable entries include The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, Neopets, G.I. Joe, Hecatomb, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many others. Duel Masters was introduced to the United States after strong popularity in Japan the previous two years. Wizards of the Coast published it for a couple years before it was cancelled due to weak sales. Two Warhammer CCGs were released with Horus Heresy and WarCry. Horus Heresy lasted two years and was succeeded by Dark Millennium in 2005.
Also, two entries from Decipher were released, one that passed the torch from their Star Wars CCG to WARS. WARS kept most of the game play mechanics from their Star Wars game, but transferred them to a new and original setting. The game did not do particularly well, and after two expansions, the game was cancelled in 2005. The other new CCG was .hack//Enemy which won an Origins award. Unfortunately, this game was also cancelled in 2005.[20]
Plenty of other CCGs were attempted by various publishers, many that were based on Japanese manga such as Beyblade, Gundam War, One Piece, InuYasha, Zatch Bell!, Case Closed, and Yu Yu Hakusho. Existing CCGs were reformatted or rebooted including Dragon Ball Z as Dragon Ball GT and Digimon D-Tector as the Digimon Collectible Card Game.
An interesting CCG released by Upper Deck was called the Vs. System. It incorporated the Marvel and DC Comics universes and pitted the heroes and villains from those universes against one another. Another CCG titled Call of Cthulhu was the spiritual successor to Mythos by the publisher Chaosium. Chaosium licensed the game to Fantasy Flight Games who produced the CCG.
Probably one of the biggest developments in the CCG market was the release of Magic's 8th Edition core set. It introduced a redesigned card border and it would later mark the beginning of a new play format titled Modern that utilized cards from this set onward. Pokémon, which was originally published by Wizards, was sold to Nintendo in June of 2003.
The CCG renaissance continues[edit]
The previous years influx of new CCGs continued on into 2006. Riding high on the success of the popular PC Game World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment licensed Upper Deck to publish a TCG based on the game. The World of Warcraft TCG was born and was carried by major retailers but saw limited success. Following previous trends, more Japanese influenced CCGs entered the market. These games were either based on cartoons or manga and included: Naruto, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bleach, Rangers Strike and the classic series Robotech. Dragon Ball GT was rebooted once again in 2008 and renamed as just Dragon Ball.
Additional franchises were made into CCGs, some as reboots. Some of the more notable ones include: Conan, Battlestar Galactica, Pirates of the Caribbean, Power Rangers, 24 TCG, and another attempt at Doctor Who in the United Kingdom and Australia. Publisher Alderac released City of Heroes CCG based on the City of Heroes PC game. Another video game was turned into a CCG by Tomy and titled Kingdom Hearts and was based on the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts by Square Enix.
A few other CCGs were released only in other countries and never made it overseas to English speaking countries, including Monster Hunter of Japan, and Vandaria Wars of Indonesia.
By the end of 2008, trouble was brewing between Konami, who owned the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! and its licensee Upper Deck. Meanwhile, strong sales continued with the three top CCGs of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Magic: the Gathering. Dark Millenium ended its run on the Warhammer series in 2007.
Gameplay[edit]

 

 Players engaged in a game of Magic: The Gathering.
Each CCG system has a fundamental set of rules that describes the players' objectives, the categories of cards used in the game, and the basic rules by which the cards interact. Each card will have additional text explaining that specific card's effect on the game. They also generally represent some specific element derived from the game's genre, setting, or source material. The cards are illustrated and named for these source elements, and the card's game function may relate to the subject. For example, Magic: The Gathering is based on the fantasy genre, so many of the cards represent creatures and magical spells from that setting. In the game, a dragon is illustrated as a reptilian beast, may have the flying ability, and has formidable game statistics compared to smaller creatures.
The bulk of CCGs are designed around a resource system by which the pace of each game is controlled. Frequently, the cards which constitute a player's deck are considered a resource, with the frequency of cards moving from the deck to the play area or player's hand being tightly controlled. Relative card strength is often balanced by the number or type of basic resources needed in order to play the card, and pacing after that may be determined by the flow of cards moving in and out of play. Resources may be specific cards themselves, or represented by other means (e.g., tokens in various resource pools, symbols on cards, etc.).
Players select which cards will compose their deck from the available pool of cards; unlike traditional card games such as poker or crazy eights where the deck's content is limited and pre-determined. This allows a CCG player to strategically customize their deck to take advantage of favorable card interactions, combinations and statistics. While a player's deck can theoretically be of any size, a deck of approximately sixty cards is considered the optimal size, for reasons of playability, and has been adopted by most CCGs as an arbitrary 'standard' deck size.
Some games, such as Magic: the Gathering, limit how many copies of a particular card can be included in a deck; such limits force players to think creatively when choosing cards and deciding on a playing strategy.
During a game, players usually take turns playing cards and performing game-related actions. The order and titles of these steps vary between different game systems, but the following are typical:[citation needed]
Ready phase — A player's own in-play cards are readied for the upcoming turn.
Draw phase — The player draws cards. This is necessary in order to circulate cards in players' hands.
Main phase — The player uses the cards in hand and on the table to interact with the game, to gain and expend resources. Some games allow for more than one of these phases.
Combat phase — This typically involves some sort of attack against the other player, which that player defends against using their own cards. Such a phase is the primary method for victory in most games.
2nd Main Phase - The player uses the cards in hand and on the table to interact with the game, to gain and expend resources. Some games allow for more than one of these phases.
End of turn — The player discards to the game's maximum hand size, if it has one, and end of turn effects occur.
Internet play[edit]
In addition to actual physical card games, collectible card games have also been developed that are played over the Internet and LAN lines. Instead of receiving physical cards, a player establishes a virtual collection that exists only as a set of data stored on a server. Such cards can be purchased (using real money) or traded within this environment. Titles include online versions of games that originated as physical CCGs (e.g., Magic: The Gathering Online), as well as games that exist solely online (e.g., Draconian Wars: Hyperborea Edition and Sword Girls Online). The first online CCGs were Sanctum and Chron X, both developed in 1997. Sanctum was taken offline in 2010, though it may return on a new server; Chron X still exists, producing new expansions over a decade later. Chron X was developed by Genetic Anomalies, Inc, which later developed other online collectible card-style games based on licensed content.
In some cases, new elements are added to the CCG — the online card games Sanctum and Star Chamber include game boards as well as animations and sound effects for some of their cards. The NOKs, on the other hand, offer talking figures and action-arcade game play. In a different case, The Eye of Judgement, a CCG that has been combined with a PlayStation 3 game, bringing innovation with the CyberCode matrix technology. It allows real cards bought in stores to be scanned with the PlayStation Eye and brought into the game with 3D creatures, animations, spell animations, etc. as representations. In a similar fashion, Chaotic, Bella Sara, and MapleStory allow online players to enter a unique alpha-numeric code found on each physical card. These codes allow access to online cards or other online features.
A related concept is that of software programs which allow players to play CCGs over the Internet, but without relying on a central server or database. When utilizing such software, players don't need to purchase any (real or virtual) cards, and are instead free to create any deck they like using the cards supported by the client software. In some cases, these programs have limited rule enforcement engines, while others rely completely on players to interpret the complex interactions between the cards. Some of these software packages actually support the play of more than one virtual card game; for example, Magic Workstation was originally designed to play Magic, but can technically support additional games as well.
The systems for online play that support the greatest variety of games are LackeyCCG and Gccg. Offerings include many copyrighted games whose manufacturers are no longer publishing the game, most notably Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game[21] and Precedence’s Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game.
In addition, there are several small, online CCGs run completely free by the card game creators and volunteer staff. These games at their most basic include a number of decks created for members to collect and trade. These cards are earned through games and contests at the CCG, collecting all cards in a deck (mastering), or completing a certain number of trades. Members typically visit each other's websites where they house their card collections, and propose trades to each other through forums or e-mail.
Distribution[edit]
Specific game cards are most often produced in various degrees of scarcity, generally denoted as common (C), uncommon (U), and rare (R). Some games use alternate or additional designations for the relative rarity levels, such as super-, ultra-, mythic- or exclusive rares. Special cards may also only be available through promotions, events, purchase of related material, or redemption programs. The idea of rarity borrows somewhat from other types of collectible cards, such as baseball cards, but in CCGs, the level of rarity also denotes the significance of a card's effect in the game, i.e., in general the more powerful a card is in terms of the game, the greater its rarity. A powerful card whose effects were underestimated by the game's designers may increase in rarity due to those effects; in later editions of the game, such a card's level of rarity might increase to reduce its availability to players. Such a card might even be removed entirely from the next edition, to further limit its availability and its effect on gameplay.
Most collectible card games are distributed as sealed packs containing a subset of the available cards, much like trading cards. Some of the most common distribution methods are:
Starter set — This is an introductory product which contains enough cards for two players and includes instructional information on playing the game. In order to speed the learning process, the card content is typically fixed and designed around a theme, so that the new players can start playing right away.
Tournament or starter deck - This contains enough game cards (usually 40 or more) for one player. It usually contains a random selection of cards, but with some basic elements so that it may be playable from the start.
Theme deck — Most CCGs are designed with opposing factions, themes, or strategies. A theme deck is composed primarily of cards that will work well together and is typically non-random.
Booster packs — This method of distribution is most similar to trading cards as the packs contain a random selection of roughly 4 to 15 cards.
Patent[edit]
A patent was granted to Wizards of the Coast in 1997 for "a novel method of game play and game components that in one embodiment are in the form of trading cards" that includes claims covering games whose rules include many of Magic's elements in combination, including concepts such as changing orientation of a game component to indicate use (referred to in the Magic and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle rules as "tapping") and constructing a deck by selecting cards from a larger pool.[22] The patent has aroused criticism from some observers, who believe some of its claims to be invalid.[23]
In 2003, the patent was an element of a larger legal dispute between Wizards of the Coast and Nintendo, regarding trade secrets related to Nintendo's Pokémon Trading Card Game. The legal action was settled out of court, and its terms were not disclosed.[24]


References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Williams, J. Patrick (2007-05-02), Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games, retrieved 2013-08-11
2.Jump up ^ Board Game Terminology, 2012-01-27, retrieved 2013-08-12
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Miller, John Jackson (2001), Scrye Collectible Card Game Checklist & Price Guide, p. 520.
4.Jump up ^ "The Base Ball Card Game". Retrieved 2013-08-08.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Collectible Card Games, 2011-07-12, retrieved 2013-08-12
6.Jump up ^ Long, Nick (2006-03-01), Understanding Magic: The Gathering - Part One: History, retrieved 2013-08-08
7.Jump up ^ Ching, Albert (2011-09-11), Card Game MAGIC: THE GATHERING Returns to Comics at IDW, retrieved 2013-08-11
8.Jump up ^ Kotha, Suresh (1998-10-19), Wizards of the Coast, retrieved 2013-08-11
9.Jump up ^ "Magic: The Gathering Fact Sheet". Wizards of the Coast. 2009. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
10.Jump up ^ "First modern trading card game". Guinness World Records. 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
11.Jump up ^ Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 15
12.Jump up ^ Moursund, Beth (2002), The Complete Encyclopedia of Magic: The Gathering, p. 720.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c d Appelcline, Shannon (2006-08-03), A Brief History of Game #1: Wizards of the Coast: 1990-Present, retrieved 2013-08-29
14.Jump up ^ Courtland, Hayden-William (no date), History of Spellfire, retrieved 2013-08-30
15.Jump up ^ History of HKK
16.Jump up ^ About HKK CCG
17.Jump up ^ Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 7
18.Jump up ^ Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 9
19.^ Jump up to: a b c Miller & Greenholdt 2003, p. 11
20.Jump up ^ "Origins Award Winners (2003)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
21.Jump up ^ DECIPHER.com : Star Wars CCG[dead link]
22.Jump up ^ US 5662332
23.Jump up ^ Varney, Allen (2006-05-03). "The Year in Gaming". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
24.Jump up ^ "Pokemon USA, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Resolve Dispute". Business Wire. 2003-12-29. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
Bibliography[edit]
Miller, John Jackson; Greenholdt, Joyce (2003). Collectible Card Games Checklist & Price Guide (2nd ed.). Krause Publication. ISBN 0-87349-623-X.
See also[edit]
List of collectible card games
Collectible Miniatures Game
Booster pack
Starter deck
 

Categories: Collectible card games
Games of mental skill
Video game genres




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Pokémon Trading Card Game

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This article is about the card game. For the video game released in the U.S. under the same name, see Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game).
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Pokémon Trading Card Game.png
Pokémon Trading Card Game logo
 
Publisher(s)
Japan:
Media Factory (October 1996 - present)
 USA:
Wizards of the Coast
 (December 1998 - July 2003)
Pokémon USA, Inc./Nintendo
 (July 2003 - present)
Players
2
Age range
targeted towards child audience, competitive play targets all ages.
Setup time
18-40 seconds
Playing time
5-120 minutes
Random chance
Some (order of cards drawn, dice, coin flip)
Skill(s) required
Card playing
Arithmetic
 Basic Reading Ability
The Pokémon Trading Card Game (ポケモンカードゲーム Pokemon Kādo Gēmu?, "Pokemon Card Game"), abbreviated as PCG or Pokémon TCG is a collectible card game, based on the Pokemon video game series, first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was initially published by Wizards of the Coast, the company that produces Magic: The Gathering, in December 1998. Nintendo eventually took over publishing the video games in June 2003.
It is one of Nintendo's last remaining strong links to its heritage as a playing card company.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Gameplay 1.1 Card types 1.1.1 Energy cards
1.1.2 Trainer cards
1.1.3 Multi-type cards
1.1.4 ex, EX, and LV.X Cards
1.2 Pokémon types
2 Sets
3 Play! Pokémon 3.1 Tournament Play
3.2 Decks in Competitive Play
3.3 Major tournaments under Wizards of the Coast 3.3.1 Tropical Mega Battle
3.3.2 Super Trainer Showdown
3.4 Competitive play outside of the United States 3.4.1 Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL)
3.4.2 Pokémon in the UK

4 Banned cards
5 Media Release
6 Video games
7 See also
8 References
9 External links 9.1 Official Pokémon TCG sites
9.2 Pokémon TCG fansites

Gameplay[edit]

 

 A game of Pokémon TCG in progress
In a game of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (commonly abbreviated as Pokémon TCG, or simply as TCG [TCG refers to ALL Trading Card Games and is in no way solely affiliated with Pokemon TCG.]), players take on the role of a Pokémon trainer, using their creatures to battle. Players play Pokémon to the field and use their attacks to reduce the opponent's HP. When a Pokémon's HP is reduced to 0 it is knocked out and the player who knocked it out takes a Prize card into their hand. A player may win the game in 3 ways; by collecting all of their prize cards (initially 6, some cards can increase this), if their opponent runs out of Pokémon on the field or if at the beginning of their opponent's turn there are no cards left to draw in the opponent's deck.
Players begin by shuffling their decks and drawing seven cards. Both players check to make sure they have at least one Basic Pokémon in their hand. If not, they must reshuffle and redraw and the opponent may draw one additional card. Once both players have at least one Basic, they both play 1 or more Basic Pokémon to their play field, 1 in the Active spot, and up to five on the "bench" (representing the 6 maximum carry limit from the video games). Players then take the top 6 cards of their remaining deck and place them to the side as their Prize Cards and flip a coin to see who goes first. (Note: Many players use dice instead of coins, even numbers representing Heads, odd numbers representing Tails.)
Play alternates between players who may take several actions during their turn including playing new Basic Pokémon, evolving into higher level Pokémon, playing Trainer cards, playing energy (of which one is generally put down; further, it is needed to use most attacks), using non-attack Pokémon abilities and retreating their active Pokémon. At the end of their turn, a player may use one of their Active Pokémon's attacks, provided the prerequisite amount and types of energy are attached to that Pokémon. Game effects from that attack are activated and damage is put on the defending Pokémon (some attacks simply have game effects but do not do damage). If the damage exceeds the defending Pokémon's HP, it is knocked out (i.e. discarded along with any attached cards) and the active player takes a prize card and ends their turn.
As with almost any card game, the "Golden Rule of Card Games" applies, stating that "whenever a card's text overrides the game rules, the card takes precedence". For example, the game rules state a player may only play one energy card per turn, but several Pokémon abilities allow additional energy to be played if that card is in play.
Card types[edit]
Basic Pokémon are the basis of all decks (which consist of 60 cards). Without them a player cannot play the game, since both players begin the game by placing a Basic Pokémon in the active position on the playing field. Each Pokémon card depicts a Pokémon from the video games. Each player may have up to six Pokémon on the playing field at a time: one “active” Pokémon and up to five on the bench (these are considered to be in reserve, but they can still affect gameplay). Each Pokémon card has a name, a type, and an amount of Hit Points,
Most Pokémon feature attacks that deal damage to the opponent's active Pokémon, or occasionally, their benched Pokémon; still others perform different functions, such as manipulating players' possession of cards. The vast majority of these attacks require Energy, which comes in the form of Energy cards, though the occasional Pokémon may have an attack that requires no energy (these attacks typically are weak or perform a function other than damage).
The two types of Pokémon cards are Basic Pokémon and Evolved Pokémon. Basic Pokémon are Pokémon that have not evolved, and can be played directly onto the bench. Each deck must have at least one Basic Pokémon to be considered legal. In contrast, an Evolved Pokémon cannot normally be placed directly onto the field; they must be played on the corresponding lower-stage Pokémon. Stage 1 Pokémon evolve from Basic Pokémon, and Stage 2 Pokémon evolve from Stage 1 Pokémon. As a Pokémon evolves, it gains HP and can use Energy more effectively. Baby Pokémon cards, introduced in Neo Genesis, are a special kind of Basic Pokémon, sometimes distinguished by a Poké-Power called "Baby Evolution." Baby Pokémon have low HP, but their attacks have strange and sometimes very powerful effects. Baby Pokémon with the Kick ability can evolve into another Basic Pokémon, specified on the card. When a Baby Pokémon evolves into what would normally be a Basic Pokémon, that Basic Pokémon counts as being an Evolved Pokémon for the purposes of cards that affect Basic Pokémon and Evolved cards differently. Variations of Basic, Evolved, and Baby Pokémon cards have appeared in many sets, usually indicated with a word before or after the Pokémon's name. Secret Rare Pokémon cards are some of the rarest cards. These cards include Pokémon EX, X, Gold Star (cards with a gold star after the name) also known better as Shiny Pokémon, Prime cards, Full art cards, Legend cards, and others. Here are some about each.
The Diamond & Pearl set introduced a new type of Pokémon Card, Lv.X cards. Lv.X cards would replace the previous EX cards but it is still possible to use both. Lv.X's are considered neither Basic Pokémon nor are they considered Evolution Cards, but simply xtreme Pokémon Cards. They are placed on the Pokémon Card in which the name specifies (i.e.: Lucario to Lucario Lv.X). In turn, though, Lv.X cards are not "named" cards. That means that only 4 altogether including regular and Lv.X's are allowed. They can also only be placed when the Pokémon is active; players may use all powers and attacks on the Lvl.X card in addition to the powers and attacks printed on the card it was attached to.
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver|HeartGold SoulSilver replaced "Lv.X" cards with Pokémon "Prime" but it is still possible to use both. Prime cards function exactly like any other basic or evolution card, but are generally more powerful and feature a distinct composition style in regard to artwork and are secret rares. Prime cards are distinguished by a specific silver border foil pattern in spikes.
Also introduced in the HGSS series were Pokémon Legends. These cards depicted legendary Pokémon, however they were used as a combination of 2 cards. Initially just Ho-Oh and Lugia, subsequent set Legends depicted 2 separate Pokémon on each set of cards such as Deoxys/Rayquaza and Entei/Raikou. Because of this, Legend sets depicting 2 Pokémon have more than 1 Pokémon type and are worth 2 prize cards when knocked out.
Pokémon Black and White once again abandoned the previous sets special card (Prime) and introduced Full art cards. These cards have identical stats and abilities as other cards in the set, but have no borders and rather feature art along the entirety of the playing card. Pokémon Black and white also brought back a better type of EX only with legendary or Special Pokémon like Keldeo, Deoxys, and more. There were also shiny texture cards that had special numbers to show how rare they were. There were also full art EX's.
Energy cards[edit]
Energy cards are attached to a Pokémon to power attacks and retreats. There are two types of Energy cards: Basic Energy cards and Special Energy cards. There are nine different Basic Energy types: Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Metal, Dragon, and Fairy. Darkness and Metal Energy could only be provided through Special Energy cards until the Diamond & Pearl expansion set, where they became Basic Energy types. Basic Energy cards only provide one Energy of the specified type, while Special Energy cards have additional benefits and varying Energy provisions. Additionally, the amount of Basic Energy cards allowed in a deck is unrestricted, while Special Energy cards follow the standard rule restricting the number of cards with the same name in a deck to four. Dragon energy was introduced when Dragon became a type by Black and White, Plasma Storm. Fairy energy was introduced when Fairy became a type for the XY era.
Some attacks require a certain type and amount of Energy, depending on the type of attack and the Pokémon using it. If an attack requires a certain type of Energy, then that type and amount of Energy must be attached to the Pokémon, whereas if the attack has a Colorless Energy requirement, that requirement can be met by any Energy card. Colorless Energy is neither a Basic nor a Special Energy type and can be provided through both Basic and Special Energy cards. However, the Double Colorless Energy (released as the first Special Energy in Base Set) can count as only colorless Energy.
Trainer cards[edit]
Trainer cards perform various functions to affect the game. Some can remove damage counters(how you tell how much damage a card has) from Pokémon, remove energy from the opposing Pokémon, or revive Pokémon that have been knocked out. Before the Diamond & Pearl expansion, all cards that were not Pokémon or Energy were considered Trainer cards, though they have since been subdivided into categories: Item cards directly affect the battling Pokémon, Stadium cards represent custom arenas that add a special mechanic to gameplay, and Supporters represent other characters in the Pokémon world.
Most Trainer cards are simply classed as Trainer: Item. The player follows the directions on the card and then usually discards it. They were introduced from the very beginning of the card game's history, with the Base Set. Normal Trainer cards make up the largest number of Trainer cards by far, and can affect any part of the game, including other Trainer cards. They are often illustrated using computer-generated imagery, the most having been done by Keiji Kinebuchi.
Pokémon Tools, a subset of Trainer: Item cards, first appeared in Neo Genesis. They are the card game's equivalent to Pokémon items, objects that Pokémon can carry around and use at will. The Pokémon that can receive the Pokémon Tool is specified on the card, and a Pokémon may not hold more than one at a time. Some Pokémon Tools can stay on the Pokémon until it gets knocked out, whereas some are discarded after a certain condition is met. Like ordinary Trainer cards and Stadium cards, Pokémon Tools are illustrated in CGI, mostly by Keiji Kinebuchi and Ryo Ueda. While Technical Machines can be considered a subdivision of Pokémon Tools, they are worded as a separate category. These are the most recently introduced of the current kinds of Trainer cards, starting in the Expedition set. Technical Machines, like Pokémon Tools, are attached to a Pokémon and either stay with the Pokémon until it gets knocked out, or are discarded after a certain condition is met. However, a Technical Machine will always have an attack as its text, and as long as the Pokémon holds the Technical Machine, it can use the attack provided on the Technical Machine instead of its normal attack. Illustrations for Technical Machines were once the domain of "Big Mama" Tagawa, but they are now exclusively done by Mitsuhiro Arita.
The first Stadium cards were from the Gym Heroes set. They initially were all themed on Pokémon Gyms and would benefit the Gym Leader. Later Stadium cards became locations within the Pokémon video games and sometimes areas completely original to the card game. Unlike other Trainer cards, Stadium cards stay on the field once played, unless another Stadium card is played or something happens that requires the Stadium card to be discarded. Stadium cards always provide the same effect to each player. Stadium cards are predominantly CGI (a few are hand-illustrated) and were once in the domain of Keiji Kinebuchi. Ryo Ueda now illustrates most of them.
Supporter cards were introduced in the Expedition Base Set. Normal Trainer cards themed on Pokémon characters have since been assigned to Supporter cards instead. They are substantially more powerful than Trainer cards, but only one can be played per turn (as opposed to normal Trainers, which have no limit). Supporter cards tend to interact with the deck, such as finding a card of the player's choice from the deck and putting it in play. Because they feature Pokémon characters, the dominant artist for Supporter cards is Ken Sugimori, who designed the characters in the video games and anime. The illustrations for Supporter cards are always hand-drawn.
With the release of the first "Black and White" based TCG expansion, all Trainer, Supporter and Stadium cards have been brought back together under the Trainer Card designation. Each different type of card is marked as a Trainer, then marked with a sub-type; Trainer: Item (what would have previously been a "Trainer" card), Trainer: Supporter and Trainer: Stadium. All card rules are the same, namely only being able to play one Trainer: Supporter per turn and the Stadium rules for Trainer: Stadium.
Ace Spec cards, another subset of Trainer: Item cards, were introduced in the Black & White-Boundaries Crossed expansion. These cards have very powerful effects such as letting the player search his deck for any card he wants or giving certain Pokémon more attack power. However, because of these effects, the player can only have 1 Ace Spec card total in his deck.
Multi-type cards[edit]
There are also some cards that are two card types in one card. Examples include the "Clefairy Doll" Trainer card in the Base Set, which can be played as a Pokémon card, or special Pokémon that can, rather than battle, be attached to other Pokémon as Energy cards (Such as holon cards). Certain Unown cards are both Pokémon and Pokémon Tools.
Fossil cards were first introduced in the Fossil expansion on October 8, 1999, though only Mysterious Fossil was introduced then and would be the only Fossil card until 2003, when it was joined by Root Fossil, Dome Fossil and armored fossil. Fossil cards are counted as Trainer cards while in the deck or in the player's hand, but when put into play, they also count as a Basic Pokémon. All Fossil cards in play count as the Normal type. Certain Pokémon are required to evolve from these fossils except under special circumstances. For example, Kabuto, Omanyte, and Aerodactyl must evolve from a Mysterious Fossil card. Older Fossil cards were illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi; newer ones are illustrated by Ryo Ueda. Beginning with the 4th Japanese Black and White set, Fossil cards are played differently. Rather than evolving from the player's hand, a Player may look at a number of cards from the bottom of their deck and if they find the required Pokémon may play it to their bench.
Pokémon with more than one type were in the Delta TCG sets. These Pokémon were two different types. They also had abnormal types. For example, a Pokémon that would normally be a Fighting type may be a Fire type in the Delta species. Dual type Pokémon were reintroduced in the second HGSS set, HGSS:Undaunted, in the form of Pokémon Legend cards.
ex, EX, and LV.X Cards[edit]
Pokémon ex cards were first introduced in the TCG set: EX Ruby and Sapphire, and typically had higher Hit Points than other Pokémon, yet gave 2 prize cards to the opponent upon their being defeated. Some of them were regular ex cards, like Hitmonchan ex, and Chansey ex, but some were powerful like Kyogre ex.
The Pokémon Company stopped making ex cards in the set: EX Power Keepers to introduce Pokémon LV.X, which usually had higher hit points and better Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies, such as Dusknoir LV.X, Mewtwo LV.X, or Heatran LV.X. Later, they started making EX cards again (not to be confused with ex cards—the older non capitalized version) starting in the set: Black and White: Next Destinies. The new EX cards are all legendary Pokémon, with great attacks like Rayquaza EX's Dragon Burst and abilities with above average potential like Lugia EX's Overflow and higher Hit Points.
Pokémon types[edit]
A simplified type system was used for the trading card game. Instead of 18 types of Pokémon, only ten exist. Seven were in the Base Set, Darkness and Metal types appeared when Pokémon Gold and Silver introduced the Dark and Steel types and the Dragon type was finally introduced in the Japanese "Dragon Selection" set. The types usually follow this pattern:

TCG type
Color
Type(s)
Grass Green Bug, Grass,(Poison)1
Fire Red Fire
Water Blue Water, Ice
Lightning Yellow Electric
Psychic Purple Psychic, Ghost, Poison1
Fighting Brown/Orange Fighting, Rock, Ground
Darkness Black Dark
Metal Silver Steel
Colorless White Normal, Flying, (Dragon), 2
Dragon Gold Dragon2
Fairy Pink Fairy
1.1^ Starting with the Diamond & Pearl expansion, Poison-type Pokémon in-game are now Psychic; they were previously Grass.
2.2^ Starting with the Black & White expansion set Dragon Selection, Dragon-type Pokémon in-game now own type Dragon; previously part of Colorless
Most Pokémon have only one type. However, EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua introduced Dual-type Pokémon, which have two different types. All existing Dual-type cards have either Darkness or Metal as their secondary type, with the exception of certain Pokémon cards with the Dual Armor Poké-Body, such as Medicham from the EX Crystal Guardians expansion, which can have multiple types when certain energy are attached.
Weakness and resistance are determined by the type of the attacking Pokémon (unlike the video game series, where they are determined by the type of the attack used). In older sets, Pokémon that are weak to another type take twice the base damage in an attack, while resistance decreases attack damage by 30 points. However, starting in the Diamond & Pearl expansion, Pokémon cards state how much more or less damage they take from an opponent’s attack if weakness or resistance applies. If an older card is Modified-legal (meaning that there has been a reprint in the current Modified format),the newer card is used as a reference, even if the older card is being played.
If a Pokémon has two types, both of those types are calculated as far as weakness and resistance are concerned. For example, if a Pokémon has weakness to two types, and a Pokémon that is both of those types attacks, that attack will do four times its normal damage.
The Pokémon Platinum Base Set introduced Pokémon SP cards, a variant of trainer specific Pokémon cards from older sets, that reintroduced the 'double damage' weakness standard from older sets without a base number next to the type weakness while adding an actual 'x2' to avoid confusion by newer players (ex: Infernape SP has a weakness of 'Water x2', meaning a Water attack that deals 30 points of damage deals 60 instead). Only Pokémon SP cards would maintain this 'double damage' standard, while remaining non-SP Pokémon would simply have normal weakness calculations. With the introduction of the HeartGold/SoulSilver Base Set in 2010, all weaknesses on Pokémon cards revert to taking twice the damage, with the same 'x2' written next to each weakness. Similarly, the second set under this block, HS Unleashed, also reintroduces the concept of dual-type Pokémon cards- in this case, the LEGENDS cards for the three legendary beasts of the Johto region Suicune, Raikou, and Entei. Each LEGENDS 'pair' features two of the three beasts battling together, giving each card dual-types (ex: Suicune/Entei LEGEND being a Water/Fire Pokémon card) and subsequently dual-weaknesses under the new 'double damage' printing (ex: Raikou/Suicune LEGEND having "Fighting/Electric x2" weaknesses).
Sets[edit]
Main article: List of Pokémon Trading Card Game sets
With the release of BW9: Megalo-Cannon in Japan on March 13, 2013, there are currently 53 different Pokémon TCG sets released in English and 55 released in Japanese. These sets have a vast range of sizes, from Fossil (the smallest at 62 cards), to Aquapolis and Skyridge (both the largest, with 182 normal cards, 182 reverse-foil cards and four box toppers - 368 cards in total). Only eight of these sets (Black and White and all subsequent sets) are legal in the current Modified Format, under which all major tournaments are played. A rarely played format is Unlimited, in which all cards released in English are legal (except oversized cards, such as large box topper cards, and banned cards including Ancient Mew or _______'s Pikachu).
Early in the game, sets were released in seemingly random intervals, but ever since Nintendo took over the production of the sets, there has been a constant stream of four sets per year, released at 2.5 to 3.5 month intervals (February, May, August, October/November).
The current 55 released expansions are: Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket, Gym Heroes, Gym Challenge, Neo Genesis, Neo Discovery, Neo Revelation, Neo Destiny, Legendary Collection, Expedition Base Set, Aquapolis, Skyridge, EX Ruby And Sapphire, EX Sandstorm, EX Dragon, EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua, EX Hidden Legends, EX FireRed And LeafGreen, EX Team Rocket Returns, EX Deoxys, EX Emerald, EX Unseen Forces, EX Delta Species, EX Legend Maker, EX Holon Phantoms, EX Crystal Guardians, EX Dragon Frontiers, EX Power Keepers, Diamond & Pearl Base Set, Diamond & Pearl - Mysterious Treasures, Diamond & Pearl - Secret Wonders, Diamond & Pearl - Great Encounters, Diamond & Pearl - Majestic Dawn, Diamond & Pearl - Legends Awakened, Diamond & Pearl - Stormfront, Platinum Base Set, Platinum - Rising Rivals, Platinum - Supreme Victors, Platinum - Arceus, HeartGold and SoulSilver Base Set, HeartGold and SoulSilver - HS Unleashed, HeartGold and SoulSilver - HS Undaunted, HeartGold and Soulsilver - HS Triumphant, Call of Legends, Black and White (Base Set), Black and White - Emerging Powers, Black and White - Noble Victories, Black and White- Next Destinies, Black and White- Dark Explorers, Black and White- Dragons Exalted, Black and White- Boundaries Crossed, Black and White- Plasma Storm,Black and White- Plasma Freeze and Black and White-Plasma Blast. Also released was the mini-set Black and White- Dragon Vault. The Japanese Shiny Collection and EX Battle Boost sets have been combined for the upcoming set Black and White- Legendary Treasures, due for release in November. As the Pokemon franchise moves into the sixth generation the first TCG set of the new generation has been confirmed as X&Y.
Every few sets, new types of cards are introduced to the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Several of these include: Dark Pokémon (Team Rocket); Owners' Pokémon and Stadium cards (Gym Heroes); Darkness-type and Metal-type Pokémon, the second generation, and Pokémon Tools (Neo Genesis); Shining Pokémon (Neo Revelation); Light Pokémon (Neo Destiny); Supporter cards and Technical Machines (Expedition); Crystal-type Pokémon (Aquapolis); Pokémon-ex (EX Ruby & Sapphire); Dual-type Pokémon (EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua); Pokémon-* (EX Team Rocket Returns); Delta Species Pokémon and Holon's Pokémon (EX Delta Species); Pokémon LV.X, the separation of Trainer, Supporter and Stadium cards, and the addition of Metal and Darkness as Basic Energy types (Diamond and Pearl); Pokémon With Items (Mysterious Treasures); Trainer cards of which two can be played at once (Stormfront); owner-specific Pokémon SP (Platinum), Pokémon LEGEND (HeartGold and SoulSilver Collection), Pokémon PRIME which replace Pokémon Lv. X ("HeartGold and SoulSilver Collection"), Full Art cards (Black and White), and Dragon-type Pokémon. These changes, along with yearly format rotations, make for a constantly evolving game.
Play! Pokémon[edit]
Main article: Play! Pokémon
In addition to the collectible aspect of the card game, The Pokémon Company International (formerly known as Pokémon USA) has also created Play! Pokémon, formerly known as Pokémon Organized Play (POP), which is in charge of the organization of an official League program, where players can battle others in local environments and earn player points, two-card booster packets from a promotional set, badges, stickers and other materials. These are run by League leaders and owners. POP also runs a professor program, in which individuals age 18 or over may become a professor, who can sanction and run tournaments and leagues.
A League Leader may assist in organizing the league, while a League Owner is the one officially in charge of the league, reporting to the Organized Play program any results and/or problems every seven weeks. The leagues run in yearly cycles, based on a certain aspect of one of the Pokémon Game Boy or DS games: the current cycle is based upon the Energy types.
Prerelease tournaments are organized just before each set is released. Usually, they are run on the two weekends before a set is released in stores to the public. At prereleases players are given booster packs from the judge and must construct a 40 card deck, with only 4 prize cards, using only the cards pulled from the packs and the judges provide the energy, but not special energy cards.
Many fans have come up with alternative methods of playing the Trading Card Game. Certain websites such as PokéCap are dedicated to providing players with a new twist to their card game with new game rules they can follow. New methods may be based more on the video game adaptations of Pokémon or the Pokémon television show.
Tournament Play[edit]
Players in a tournament are split into three age categories: Junior (born in 2001 or later), Senior (born in 1998-2001), and Master (born in 1997 or earlier). Notable references include: Austin Brewen who won the first junior tournament, Brenden Zhang who won the first Senior Tournament, and Arturo Heras who won the first Master Tournament. These tournaments play a number of rounds, where players will play a standard game against each other and wins and losses will be recorded. In most tournaments, there are a number of Swiss-style rounds where players are paired up against others of similar win/loss ratios, usually from their own age group (this does not always occur in smaller events, though). Afterwards, there will either be a cut of the top record-holders (approximately the top 1/8 of participants) where players will play best two out of three matches, and the loser gets eliminated (standard tournament bracket style), with an eventual winner.
POP runs a season for these tournaments, which allows players to earn larger prizes and play in a more competitive environment in comparison to League. These range from City and State Championships, all the way up to the Pokémon World Championships, the single invite-only event of the year. Players can earn invites to the World Championships by winning or ranking high at National Championships, doing well at tournaments to get Championship Points, or by qualifying in the Last Chance Qualifier. The World Championships is a three-day tournament, with one eventual winner in each age group; the winner of the Masters Division age group is generally noticed as the best player in the world for that season.
Some of these methods are only used in the USA, as PUI and POP are based in the USA, but they are represented by local distributors who provide the Organized Play program to their own country.
Decks in Competitive Play[edit]

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Over the different generations, and tournament formats, there have been several main stars when it comes to decks. During the first and second generations, the Haymaker deck consisting of Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, Magmar, and sometimes Scyther. Ideally, it would start with one of those three Pokémon, then one would play Trainer and Energy cards to get the upper hand. In the current format "Rayquaza/Eelektrik", "Landorus/Mewtwo/Tornadus", "Thundurus/Deoxys EX", "Plasma Klingklang/Cobalion", "Blastoise/Keldeo/Black Kyurem EX" and "Darkrai/Hypnotoxic Laser/Absol" are a few decks currently being used in competitive play, each with varying strategies, advantages and disadvantages. Information of up to date and recent decks can be found on most Pokémon websites, such as heytrainer.org, thedeckout.com or sixprizes.com. In order to win, the player must be aware of the popular and strong decks currently being played, or the "metagame." The player can then make counters to specific archetypes, or decks, so he will have the advantage over his opponent.
Competitive play features card rotation, in which certain cards become unusable in competitive play. This is done by series, and forces players to mix up their strategies. This has the biggest impact of removing trainer cards, which are just as big of a focus as Pokémon in competitive play. A notable example being the Gust of Wind card, which swapped the active Pokémon of the opponent with a Pokémon on their bench of the user's choice. This card was wildly popular, but once it was removed players had to modify their decks. A card was later released with the same effect only titled Pokémon Catcher, and this card is seen in nearly all competitive decks today.
Major tournaments under Wizards of the Coast[edit]
Tropical Mega Battle[edit]
On August 26–27, 2000, forty-two Pokémon trainers from around the world met at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu for the Tropical Mega Battle, an international communication event for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The Tropical Mega Battle brought together children aged 14 and under from the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, for two days in Honolulu, Hawaii. Children participating in the Tropical Mega Battle received invitations through Qualifier tournaments, DCI rankings, and other events in their respective countries.
Events throughout the weekend included competitions facilitated by translators for groups of children representing two different languages in each group; a group photo and an opening ceremony featuring remarks from Hawaiian government officials; and a harbor cruise awards ceremony for the winners of the World Communication Match. Jason Klaczynski, 14-year-old Orland Park, Ill., resident, was honored as the Master Trainer of the Tropical Mega Battle after winning the final round of the World Communication Match against fellow Pokémon trainer Toshiya Tanabe of Sapporo, Japan.
Super Trainer Showdown[edit]
The Super Trainer Showdowns were large Pokémon TCG tournaments held in the United States by Wizards of the Coast between 2000 and 2001. The tournaments were open to the public. Each tournament consisted of three age groups; 10 and under, 11 to 14 years old, and 15 years old and over. Each Super Trainer Showdown was preceded by a series of Qualifier Tournaments held in cities around the United States and abroad in which players in the 11-to-14 and 10-and-under age groups could win trips for themselves and a parent or guardian to the Super Trainer Showdown event. To date, there have been four Super Trainer Showdowns.
The first Super Trainer Showdown was held in Long Beach, California inside of the cruise liner, the Queen Mary on July 22, 2000. The format was unlimited, meaning that all Pokémon cards released in the United States were legal for deck construction. The winners were Joseph Viray, Jack Savage, Wesley Hsu, Dan Bigman and Andrew Marshall.[1]
The second Super Trainer Showdown was held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ on November 18, 2000. There were over 700 players in all three age divisions competing for the title. The tournament was eight rounds of Swiss style pairings followed by a cut to a top-eight single-elimination playoff. All games were best-of-one. The format was titled “15/3” in that players were allowed to construct 60-card decks using only fifteen “Trainer” cards and only three of any one card, save basic Energy Cards. Jonathan Brooks, Rudy Rodriguez, Wesley Hsu, and Tom Hanley were the event champions.
The third Super Trainer Showdown was held again in the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. It was held on June 23–24, 2001 and more than 1,600 players attended the event. The format for this event was titled “Modified” and allowed players to construct 60-card decks using a maximum of four of any card other than basic energy from the sets Team Rocket, Gym Heroes, Gym Challenge, and Neo Genesis. The card “Sneasel” from the Neo Genesis set was banned from play. The event ran for 2 days, with 3 champions name each day. Paul Lamancusa, Jonathan Brooks, Josh Goldstein, Phil Mondiello, Tom Liesegang, Jeremy Borchardt, Wesley Hsu, and Tom Hanley were the winners.
The fourth and final Super Trainer Showdown was held at the San Antonio Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas on December 1–2, 2004. The format was again "Modified", however the newest set Neo Discovery was also legal for the tournament. The card “Sneasel” was again disallowed from play. This year's champions included Michael Perucca, Eric Brooks, David Bui, Seena Ghaziaskar, Robert Frac, Wesley Hsu, Anirudh Shankar and Matthew Moss.
Competitive play outside of the United States[edit]
Although TPCI tries to keep Organized Play as equal as possible all over the Earth, there are some notable differences in how POP is run outside of the USA.
Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL)[edit]
The Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL), located in Japan, is the designer of new cards and the ultimate authority on any matter relating to the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It can declare rulings on any in-game circumstance, issue errata, change card text after publishing, and change the basic game rules, although the latter three rarely occur. PCL runs Organized Play in Japan.
Pokémon in the UK[edit]
Pokémon TCG retail distribution in the UK was run by Esdevium Games Ltd, and Organized Play by Chris Sparks of D & A Games from 2007 until 2009. In August 2009, control of OP was given to long time UK Judge and Tournament Organizer Ian Fotheringham. The UK has one of the largest player bases outside the United States and Japan.[citation needed] Its players have performed admirably over the past few years at the World Championships, including a 4th Place for Fares Sekkoum in the 10-division (2006), a Top 16 place for Jake Arnold in the 10-division (2004) a 7th Place for Sami Sekkoum in the 15+ (2005), a Top 16 finish for Yacine Sekkoum in the 15+ (2006) and a Top 16 10th place finish for Faisal Khan ("Freddy-K") in the 15+ (2005).
Held in May 2008, the UK Pokémon TCG National Championships was held in London, a much more popular choice of venue location for the majority of players who were mainly based in the South East of England. In 2006 around 70 players were invited to play in each age group, with approximately 55 players per division in 2007. The prizes have included Nintendo DS consoles, televisions and invites to represent the UK in the World Championships. The 2008 UK Nationals was the first event of its kind in the country to be open to all players and required no qualification for entry. The 2009 UK Nationals was held at Kempton park on the 16th May 2009 with a high 180 attendance. Sami Sekkoum won Masters again, and newcomer Samuel McLewee took 2nd in the seniors at his first Nationals. Also new for the 2008/09 Season was the UK Battle Royale events. However it is unlikely these will return for the 2009/10 season.
Smaller City Championships, and for the first time in 2006 UK Pokémon Regional championships, are held between November and April. These were held in Hull, London, Bournemouth, Manchester and Glasgow.
Banned cards[edit]
A few cards were banned from both general play and Modified Format under Wizards of the Coast.
Sneasel The first card that was banned was Sneasel from the set Neo Genesis. Decks with Sneasel were winning almost every major tournament, making all other decks uncompetitive. Sneasel's ability to use the new Darkness Energy cards (which increase the power of all Dark-type attacks by 10), no weakness, a free retreat cost, quickly powered-up attacks, and the ability to do enormous damage made it an outstanding card. In short, Sneasel was faster and more powerful than any other card in the game at the time. It was banned beginning with the 2001 Super Trainer Showdown. WotC produced giant Sneasel cards for the event with "Banned at the STS" printed on them. Sneasel was reprinted in HS Undaunted, featuring changes to weakness and resistance. It is no longer illegal.
 

 The banned Slowking cardSlowking The only other banned card printed in a normal set was also from Neo Genesis. Slowking from Neo Genesis had a Pokémon Power that allowed its user to flip a coin whenever the opponent played a Trainer card, and if that coin was heads, the Trainer card would return to the user's deck without affecting the game. In the Japanese version of the game, this Power could only be used while Slowking was active. When the card was translated to English, however, it was translated incorrectly. The English version of the card not only allowed its owner to use the Power while Slowking was benched, but the power was cumulative, meaning players could flip a coin for each Slowking they had in play every time their opponent played a Trainer card, and if even one were heads, that card would have no effect. While the Japanese version of the card was barely playable (Slowking is not a good attacker, and is easily KO'ed when active), the English version was too powerful because a player could place one or more Slowking on the bench, prevent the opponent from playing any Trainer cards, and still play a stronger Pokémon as the active Pokémon. Slowking dominated the 2002 World Championship (the only World Championship not run by PUI) and, as a result, WotC announced that the card was no longer legal for any format as of January 1, 2003.
 

 The banned "Birthday Pikachu" card._________'s Pikachu _________'s Pikachu (commonly known as "Birthday Pikachu") was Promo Card number 24 printed by WotC. The effect of its attack, Birthday Surprise, says, "...if it is your birthday, flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 30 damage plus 50 more damage...". WotC banned this card quickly after its release, because there was no quick, easy way to check that it was actually someone's birthday whenever he or she attacked with the card. Disproving liars who wanted to do a lot of damage for a few energy turned out to require much more effort than it was worth. The Japanese version of the card has red text in the margin stating its illegality. It is one of the few Japanese cards with this message that was produced in English, most likely because of its immense popularity with collectors.Ancient Mew Ancient Mew was a banned card because of its alternate background. It has no real attacks or Pokémon Powers that would make it broken, as it has a mere 30 HP and does 40 damage. The card's "ancient" runic writing, which confused players and lack of an easy translation method contributed to its banning. Despite the fact that it is a foreign card, it is not considered a foreign card in the Unlimited 2009-2010 Pokémon modified format.
The bans that WotC placed were removed when Pokémon Organized Play took over the game. Their only limitation is that cards must have the normal English or Japanese card back to be playable. In addition, the cards printed in the promotional World Championship Decks are not allowed in any competitive events. These cards are supposed to be printed as promotional items and are not meant to help people collect the large numbers of rare and valuable cards that were played in these decks.
Media Release[edit]
Burger Kings world wide sold BK Meals with Pokémon toys that are a total of 12 cards and accessories combined. Announced on June 10, 2008, the toys were released at participating Burger Kings on July 7, 2008.[2]
In 2011, McDonald's released a set of eight toys (not all were released outside of North America) and twelve cards, featuring Pokémon from the Pokémon Black and White era of the TCG.
As an interesting point, a misprint in 2002 by WotC caused the English translated Mew to halt in production, several were produced but it was banned as a precaution. This was later remedied and the misprinted card was branded as a collectible. It had only participated in one minor tournament.[3]
Video games[edit]
There are a few video games based on the card game.
The eponymously titled Pokémon Trading Card Game, known as Pokémon Card GB in Japan, was developed for the Game Boy Color, releasing in Japan in December 1998 and later in North America and Europe in 2000. The game is based on the rules of the card game and features 226 cards from the game, as well as infrared linking for multiplayer and trading. A sequel, Pokémon Card GB2: Great Rocket-Dan Sanjō! was released exclusively in Japan in March 2001.
Pokémon Trainer Challenge is a downloadable game based on the Pokémon Trading Card Game, released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in April 2011. The game initially offers three starting decks, and features more content after release. After April 6, 2011, players can buy cards from the Black and White series, which have a code to be digitally represented.[4] Players can also create a custom avatar.[5] There are now booster pack codes which allow booster packs up to Black and White-Boundaries Crossed, to be purchased from the online shop. However as of Black and White- Plasma Storm, the code card within booster packs directly redeem as online booster packs of their respective set. GamesRadar praised the game, stating "Everything looks to be faithfully recreated, including the card mat, prize card layout, and even coins."[5]
See also[edit]
List of Pokémon Trading Card Game sets
Pokémon Organized Play
Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game)
Obake karuta
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Kane, Gordon (November 2000). "The Scene on the Queen". Pojo's Unofficial Pokémon News & Price Guide Monthly 2 (1): 60–66
2.Jump up ^ http://www.pokemon.com/#news_/XML/news_275.xml
3.Jump up ^ Beckett Pokémon Unofficial Collector
4.Jump up ^ Matthew Kato (February 15, 2011). "Online Battles Start With Pokémon Trainer Challenge - News - www.GameInformer.com". Retrieved 2011-02-15.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Mark Raby (Feb 16, 2011). "Pokémon trading cards getting free browser-based game, Pokemon Black / White DS News". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
External links[edit]
 Wikibooks has more on the topic of: Pokémon Trading Card Game
Official Pokémon TCG sites[edit]
Official Japanese Pokémon TCG website (Japanese)
Official Pokemon CG website (Japanese)
Official Pokémon TCG website
TCG Online website
Official Pokémon website
Pokémon TCG fansites[edit]
PokéBeach Pokémon TCG news, card scans, card translations, and forum for trading, discussion, and organized play events.
PokéGym A website with Pokémon TCG news, scans and event gallery, information, trading community and a forum for discussion of the Pokémon TCG.
Pokepedia A Pokémon TCG database with a decklist builder, trader base, and event mapper.
SixPrizes A Pokémon TCG strategy blog and forum.
The Deck Out A Pokémon TCG blog covering competitive play worldwide
Bulbapedia Pokémon Trading Card Game on Bulbapedia, a Pokémon Wiki
WikiHow A WikiHow page on spotting fake Pokémon Cards.

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Categories: Pokémon Trading Card Game
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