subject: Pokemon- Did You Manage To Catch Them All? [print this page] Since the Pokemon franchise of video games, animations and trading cards first appeared in Europe in the late 90s, it has gone on to be one of the most successful media brands in the world. Owned and published by the Japanese video games company, Nintendo, the concept first appeared as a pair of interlinkable role-playing video games designed for the Gamy Boy. However, the brand soon diversified into a range of other popular merchandise of which the most popular has been the trading cards.
This collectible card game was first introduced in America in October 1998 and has since gone on to become one of the most successful trading games ever. Interestingly, it is one of Nintendos last remaining links to its heritage as a playing card company.
The collection of Pokemon cards is popular amongst all age groups, with millions of fans throughout the world. So far Nintendo have published five generations of card sets and although neither full sets nor individual cards hold much intrinsic value, they have generated a wide base of devoted collectors. Most cards are not worth more than a few pennies, and even rare examples are never usually worth more than a few pounds.
The rules of this exciting card game are similar to other collectible battling card systems, with players pitting their character cards against each other to see which has the greatest strength. In each game, players take on the role of trainer and use their creatures to battle other participants. The object of the game is to attack an opponents creature with the intention of reducing their health levels until they are unable to fight. Once a Pokemons health level is reduced to 0 it is knocked out and the winning player collects a prize card. Winning the game can be done in one of three ways: by collecting all of the prize cards (usually 6), if an opponent runs out of cards on the field of battle, or if they are required to draw another card from the deck but have run out.
Play alternates between each of the players and every turn can include several actions such as playing trainer cards, or using non-attack moves. Card types form the basis of all card decks, which consist of 60 cards. Each Pokemon card depicts a creature from the video game, with characters such as Squirtle and Pikachu being the most recognisable.
