Card Game Domonstration - Game Codes - http://maxpages.com/pokemontrenzy/Demonstration

Pokémon has a lot in common with games like Magic. You play cards from your hand, and some of those cards are creatures - that is, Pokémon - that fight for you. Some cards, like the Pokémon and the Energy cards that power up their attacks, you play once and then use turn after turn, but other cards - called Trainers - are played once and then discarded after they have their effect.

However, Pokémon is different in a number of ways. There are no costs to playing cards; if a card is in your hand, you can just play it. In order to attack, Pokémon need Energy cards attached to them, and the more powerful the attack, the more Energy you'll need attached to that Pokémon for it to use the attack. You only have one Pokémon, called the Active Pokémon, fighting at a time (other Pokémon wait on the Bench, ready to join in if the Active Pokémon leaves the fight). Your Active Pokémon fights directly against your opponent's Active Pokémon; you win by Knocking Out three of your opponent's Pokémon.

Another thing that separates Pokémon from other trading card games is the way your Pokémon evolve into more powerful incarnations. For example, if you have a Pikachu on the table and a Raichu in your hand, you can play the Raichu card on top of the Pikachu card. Raichu has more Hit Points and more powerful attacks than Pikachu, but you can only play Raichu if you already have a Pikachu on the table.

Here's how the first few turns of a Pokémon game might go. If you have a starter set, follow along!

Andy and Becky are playing. Andy won the coin toss, so he goes first. In his opening seven-card hand, Andy has Charmander, Charmeleon, four Fire Energy, and a Gust of Wind. Becky has Machop, Rattata, three Fighting Energy, and two Potions. Each player also takes three cards from his or her deck and sets them aside face down (without peeking) as Prizes. Whenever a player's Pokémon gets Knocked Out, the other player gets to draw one of his or her Prizes - if you Knock Out three opposing Pokémon and draw your last Prize, you win!

Before the game starts, each player chooses an Active Pokémon and puts it face down. Andy chooses Charmander and Becky chooses Rattata. Then they both flip their cards over and begin.

Andy's first turn: Andy draws a card from his deck and adds it to his hand - it's Ponyta. He attaches a Fire Energy to Charmander. He puts Ponyta down on his Bench so that he'll have a backup Pokémon in case anything happens to Charmander. Then Andy uses Charmander's Scratch attack (the to the left of the Scratch attack means that Charmander needs one Energy of any color to use Scratch). This does 10 damage to Rattata, so 1 damage counter is put on Rattata (each damage counter represents 10 damage).

Becky's first turn: Becky draws a Fighting Energy. She decides to play Machop onto her Bench and then retreat Rattata, moving it to the Bench and choosing another Pokémon (Machop) to be the Active Pokémon. Normally Becky would have to pay the Retreat Cost by discarding from the retreating Pokémon as many Energy cards as there are symbols on the card's lower right. But Rattata doesn't have any symbols under Retreat Cost, so it retreats for free. Now Becky attaches a Fighting Energy card to Machop and attacks Charmander with Low Kick for 20 damage.

Andy's second turn: Andy draws a Fire Energy. He attaches it to Charmander. He could use Charmander's Ember attack to do 30 damage by discarding an Energy card, but he decides just to Scratch Machop for 10 damage.

Becky's second turn: Becky draws another Machop. She sees that her current Machop has 10 damage and figures that Charmander's Ember attack can only do 30 damage, so she decides not to play a Potion. Becky simply has Machop Low Kick Charmander for 20 more damage.

Andy's third turn: Andy draws an Energy Retrieval. This isn't much use to him now, but if he runs short of Energy later he'll be glad to have it. Now Andy is ready to give Becky a nasty shock: He attaches an Energy card to Charmander, and then evolves Charmander by playing Charmeleon on top of Charmander! Andy uses Charmeleon's Flamethrower attack (discarding a Fire Energy card from Charmeleon in order to do so) to do 50 damage to Becky's Machop and Knock Out Machop in one mighty blow. Becky brings out Rattata as her new Active Pokémon. Andy gets to take one of his Prizes and add it to his hand (it's a Fire Energy).

Becky's third turn: Becky isn't happy to see Charmeleon, but she draws an Energy Drain! Now she has a plan. She plays Energy Drain on Charmeleon so that it has only one Energy left. She plays her second Machop onto her Bench, attaches a Fighting Energy to it, and retreats Rattata, replacing it with Machop. Machop does a Low Kick, doing 20 damage to Charmeleon.

Andy's fourth turn: Andy draws Growlithe. Charmeleon now has 60 damage, which means that Machop could Knock Out Charmeleon next turn. Andy decides to play Ponyta onto his Bench. He retreats Charmeleon (discarding a Fire Energy card from it in order to pay the Retreat Cost of ) and makes Ponyta his Active Pokémon. Then he attaches a Fire Energy card to Ponyta. Ponyta doesn't have enough Energy to attack yet, so Andy ends his turn without attacking.

Becky's fourth turn: Becky draws Diglett. She has Machop use Low Kick to do 20 damage to Ponyta.

Andy's fifth turn: Andy draws another Fire Energy. Andy attaches it to Ponyta. He puts Growlithe on his Bench. Then he plays Gust of Wind to switch Becky's Machop for Rattata and has Ponyta do 30 damage to Rattata, Knocking Out Rattata. (Becky brings Machop back out as her Active Pokémon.) Andy draws another Prize - a Switch!

Becky's fifth turn: Becky draws a Fighting Energy. She decides on another Low Kick, which Knocks Out Ponyta. Andy makes Growlithe his new Active Pokémon. She now gets to draw a Prize, which turns out to be Machoke.

After five turns, Becky has two Prize cards left to draw and Andy only has one, so Andy is ahead. But Becky's Machop is doing 20 damage each turn, and she still has two Potions in her hand in case Machop gets damaged. She has a pretty good chance of defeating Growlithe and tying the game. And if Machop evolves into Machoke, things could get even scarier for Andy. Who will win is anybody's guess!

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Page Updated Sat Aug 25, 2001 1:25pm EDT