Q&A for How to Play With Pokémon Cards

A damage counter is a little token that tracks how much damage a Pokemon took. Usually one counter is worth 10 damage.

You do not discard any energy unless the attack specifies otherwise.

You can use anything small that you can place on the card as a reminder, such as a coin or pebble. You can also try to keep track of the condition in your head.

A Pokemon EX is basic. For a Mega EX, evolve the regular EX.

The Burn and Poison conditions go away once your Pokémon retreats to the Bench, or is Knocked Out. This is why no attack in the game gives these conditions to any Pokémon on the bench.

Active Pokemon are the ones that are battling. Benched Pokemon are the ones you can swap into the battle to trade places with the active Pokemon.

At most retailers. A local department or even grocery store will suffice. Game stores usually have the best deals.

Then you can't, unless the attack requires no energy shown by a gray hole in place of the energy requirement. Example: Sableye #48/100 Stormfront Attack just under the poke-body called Impersonate.

You pick the active Pokemon from your opening hand.

Draw into it or use search cards like Professor's Letter.

You take six card from your deck, place them faced own for your prize cards. Once you knock out an opponent, select one order card per knock out.

Yes you may. Energy cards stay attached to your Pokemon.

The energy does not go into the discard pile unless the attack specifies otherwise.

Basic cards are cards of Pokemon that haven't evolved yet; in the top left corner, it should say "Basic."

You can build a half deck which has thirty cards and three prize cards to play against another half deck. Or you can use whatever size deck you can make with the cards you have, as long as there's an equal distribution between you and the other player. However, half decks can't be used in most tournaments, so you can just play for fun with a friend.

Regular coins.

No. The damage only goes away if you play Trainer cards, use Abilities, or do attacks that allow you to heal damage from your Pokémon.

After shuffling your cards, pick 7 cards from the top and keep them in your hand. Then choose another 6 prize cards from the top.

You need a deck of 60 cards to play, and can only have 4 card that are the same.

You draw six prize cards, and if you knock out your opponent's, pokemon draw (collect) one prize card.

If you have enough energy on your next turn, yes. But you can't use more than one attack in the same turn unless an ability or something else specifies that you can do so.

Yes. you can, just as long as you don't attack on your first turn, and be sure you attach your energy before attacking.

Look up the card on Pokemon.com and compare your card to the images provided. Then, look for any differences, like the shadow under the Pokemon illustration being unnaturally dark or the border around the card being a brighter shade of yellow. From personal experience, just look at the border around the back of the card. If it is significantly brighter, then I would say it is definitely a counterfeit.

You cannot play the standard game, because you need 60 cards to make a full deck, but you can create some other format to play with friends.

There is no limit, but you are only allowed to draw 7 cards at the start of the game and one card each turn after that.

Pokemon energy cards can be found in booster packs. But the best way to get them would be to buy a theme deck or elite trainer box. You can also get them for a few cents a piece on Amazon.

You can't. You need energy cards to play.

If the necessary energy is already equipped to the Pokémon, yes. You can attack directly.

If all the Pokémon on your bench and Active Position are Knocked Out/in your discard, then you lose regardless of how many Prize Cards you or your opponent have taken.

Paralysis goes away after a full turn of a Pokémon being paralyzed. For example, your opponent paralyzes your Pokémon, then you take your turn, then after your turn, the paralysis is automatically gone. No coin flips, no retreating, no shenanigans.