The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I feel I should first confess -- I love Pokemon. I played the Gameboy Pokemon game through to the end, and this from a gamer who normally hates RPG video games and quits on them after a few hours play. I've only seen a few episodes of the cartoon, but if I had more time I'd watch 'em all. I even -- and I only admit this under the greatest duress -- I even own a little plastic Pikachu. I'll be trying my best to remain objective for this review, but it's oh-so-tough to badmouth those 'lil cuties…

The premise of Wizard of the Coast's new collectible card game is simple. You play a "Pokemon Trainer", someone who collects little POCKEt MONsters (the Pokemon of the title) and trains them to battle against other Pokemon. Your goal is to prove that you're the best Trainer of them all.

There are only three type of cards in the Pokemon game -- Trainer, Energy, and the Pokemon themselves. Each Pokemon has a number of attributes listed -- hit points, any attacks it has, any special "pokemon power" it has, resistances and weaknesses, retreat cost, and what stage of evolution that Pokemon is.

Each Pokemon has at least one attack, and most have two or more. Each attack has an Energy cost listed next to it. There are a number of different types of Energy -- Fire, Water, Fighting, Electric, and so on. To use a Pokemon's attack, you must attach Energy cards to the Pokemon equal to that listed for the attack. An attack might also ask for "colorless" energy, which means you can use any type of energy. Energy cards are not discarded from the Pokemon once used, unless the attack states you do. So, for instance, the Arcanine pokemon has an attack that reads: "[1RR] Flamethrower (50) Discard R to use this attack". To allow the Arcanine to use his Flamethrower attack on another Pokemon, you must first attach two Fire and one other Energy card to him -- once you have, you can do 50 points of damage to the other Pokemon but you must then discard one of your Fire Energy cards from Arcanine.

Pokemon attacks can also include other effects besides damage -- they can cause the other pokemon to sleep and just lay there as your pokemon whales on him (50% chance to wake up each turn), or they can paralyze the other pokemon (do nothing for one turn), or confuse him (might do nothing and hurt himself in the process), or finally poison the other pokemon (take 10 damage each turn).

The pokemon powers are effects that can be used outside of combat -- for instance, your pokemon might be able to attach one extra Energy card to another pokemon, allowing you to build your pokemon up faster.

The Trainer cards allow for other game effects, such as allowing you to draw more cards, prevent damage to your pokemon, and other goodies.

Play is fairly simple. Each player is dealt a number of cards. He can then lay down one "active" pokemon and up to five "benched" pokemon. Only the active pokemon can attack or be attacked. He then lays out six "prize" cards face-down. On each players turn he can then perform a number of actions. You may attach one, and only one, Energy card to any pokemon you like. You may also attack the other player's active pokemon with your active pokemon -- once you have, that ends your turn. You can play pokemon cards from your hand to your bench. You may retreat your active pokemon to your bench by discarding Energy cards from the pokemon equal to it's listed retreat cost -- one of the benched pokemon then takes your active pokemon's place. You may also play as many Trainer cards as you like.

A pokemon card might state that it "evolves" from a different card type -- this means that you must first play the non-evolved version, and then play the evolved version over it. Some pokemon might have several stages of evolution. Of course the more you evolve a pokemon the stronger it gets, with more hit points and better attacks. The trade off is speed -- you need two card draws to get to a second stage pokemon, and three for a third stage pokemon. Since you only draw one card a turn, it costs you time to evolve pokemon. You may evolve as many pokemon you want during your turn.

When you attack another pokemon, you do damage to the other pokemon equal to your attack power, doubled if the pokemon has a weakness to your pokemon, and minus any amount listed next to that pokemon's resistance. Once you do damage to a pokemon equal to it's hit points, it's knocked out (no, it doesn't die -- Pokemon are too cute to die, dammit). When you knock out an opposing pokemon, you get to take one of your gift cards into your hand. Knock out six of your opponent's pokemon and you win. The whole gift idea is cute -- it gives you a reward for KO'ing a pokemon, and also helps keep track of how close you are to winning, giving each player a nice visual aid in determining how he's doing. You also win if your opponent ever runs out of pokemon, or if he ever runs out of cards to draw.

First, the bad. Pokemon breaks no new ground. It's very well designed and has some clever ideas, but it's evolutionary, not revolutionary. Like Magic: The Gathering, a good portion of the skill and strategy is wrapped-up in the deck design process. These games are akin to building robots for warfare - once you've designed and programmed them, you let them go and see what happens. A lot of your game choices are obvious.

Now, the good. The Pokemon are well designed, with a plethora of special effects that make the game interesting. Even though your game choices can be very obvious at times, there are other times where you pull off a move that knocks out multiples of your opponent's pokemon and you smile and think "Cool". The illustrations on the pokemon are terrific, while the Trainer cards are merely OK. Some of the cards are holographic --wait, don't roll your eyes yet -- but amazingly, they're not "chase" rares -- they seem to occur with the same frequency as the other rares. Very surprising, and a good move on Wizards part. The holo cards are quite stunning, and a nice visual appeal to an already appealing game.

In the end, I'd say the game will mostly appeal to younger players and Pokemon devotees. It's a fine little game, and is worth your time if you're at all into the Pokemon craze. If you're interested, try picking up two of the preconstructed decks that Wizards is offering and duking it out with a friend. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Pokemon Collectible Card Game
Author: Richard Garfield Category: CCG Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Playtest Review by Ronald Olszewski on 01/27/99. Genre tags: none	I feel I should first confess -- I love Pokemon. I played the Gameboy Pokemon game through to the end, and this from a gamer who normally hates RPG video games and quits on them after a few hours play. I've only seen a few episodes of the cartoon, but if I had more time I'd watch 'em all. I even -- and I only admit this under the greatest duress -- I even own a little plastic Pikachu. I'll be trying my best to remain objective for this review, but it's oh-so-tough to badmouth those 'lil cuties… The premise of Wizard of the Coast's new collectible card game is simple. You play a "Pokemon Trainer", someone who collects little POCKEt MONsters (the Pokemon of the title) and trains them to battle against other Pokemon. Your goal is to prove that you're the best Trainer of them all. There are only three type of cards in the Pokemon game -- Trainer, Energy, and the Pokemon themselves. Each Pokemon has a number of attributes listed -- hit points, any attacks it has, any special "pokemon power" it has, resistances and weaknesses, retreat cost, and what stage of evolution that Pokemon is. Each Pokemon has at least one attack, and most have two or more. Each attack has an Energy cost listed next to it. There are a number of different types of Energy -- Fire, Water, Fighting, Electric, and so on. To use a Pokemon's attack, you must attach Energy cards to the Pokemon equal to that listed for the attack. An attack might also ask for "colorless" energy, which means you can use any type of energy. Energy cards are not discarded from the Pokemon once used, unless the attack states you do. So, for instance, the Arcanine pokemon has an attack that reads: "[1RR] Flamethrower (50) Discard R to use this attack". To allow the Arcanine to use his Flamethrower attack on another Pokemon, you must first attach two Fire and one other Energy card to him -- once you have, you can do 50 points of damage to the other Pokemon but you must then discard one of your Fire Energy cards from Arcanine. Pokemon attacks can also include other effects besides damage -- they can cause the other pokemon to sleep and just lay there as your pokemon whales on him (50% chance to wake up each turn), or they can paralyze the other pokemon (do nothing for one turn), or confuse him (might do nothing and hurt himself in the process), or finally poison the other pokemon (take 10 damage each turn). The pokemon powers are effects that can be used outside of combat -- for instance, your pokemon might be able to attach one extra Energy card to another pokemon, allowing you to build your pokemon up faster. The Trainer cards allow for other game effects, such as allowing you to draw more cards, prevent damage to your pokemon, and other goodies. Play is fairly simple. Each player is dealt a number of cards. He can then lay down one "active" pokemon and up to five "benched" pokemon. Only the active pokemon can attack or be attacked. He then lays out six "prize" cards face-down. On each players turn he can then perform a number of actions. You may attach one, and only one, Energy card to any pokemon you like. You may also attack the other player's active pokemon with your active pokemon -- once you have, that ends your turn. You can play pokemon cards from your hand to your bench. You may retreat your active pokemon to your bench by discarding Energy cards from the pokemon equal to it's listed retreat cost -- one of the benched pokemon then takes your active pokemon's place. You may also play as many Trainer cards as you like. A pokemon card might state that it "evolves" from a different card type -- this means that you must first play the non-evolved version, and then play the evolved version over it. Some pokemon might have several stages of evolution. Of course the more you evolve a pokemon the stronger it gets, with more hit points and better attacks. The trade off is speed -- you need two card draws to get to a second stage pokemon, and three for a third stage pokemon. Since you only draw one card a turn, it costs you time to evolve pokemon. You may evolve as many pokemon you want during your turn. When you attack another pokemon, you do damage to the other pokemon equal to your attack power, doubled if the pokemon has a weakness to your pokemon, and minus any amount listed next to that pokemon's resistance. Once you do damage to a pokemon equal to it's hit points, it's knocked out (no, it doesn't die -- Pokemon are too cute to die, dammit). When you knock out an opposing pokemon, you get to take one of your gift cards into your hand. Knock out six of your opponent's pokemon and you win. The whole gift idea is cute -- it gives you a reward for KO'ing a pokemon, and also helps keep track of how close you are to winning, giving each player a nice visual aid in determining how he's doing. You also win if your opponent ever runs out of pokemon, or if he ever runs out of cards to draw. First, the bad. Pokemon breaks no new ground. It's very well designed and has some clever ideas, but it's evolutionary, not revolutionary. Like Magic: The Gathering, a good portion of the skill and strategy is wrapped-up in the deck design process. These games are akin to building robots for warfare - once you've designed and programmed them, you let them go and see what happens. A lot of your game choices are obvious. Now, the good. The Pokemon are well designed, with a plethora of special effects that make the game interesting. Even though your game choices can be very obvious at times, there are other times where you pull off a move that knocks out multiples of your opponent's pokemon and you smile and think "Cool". The illustrations on the pokemon are terrific, while the Trainer cards are merely OK. Some of the cards are holographic --wait, don't roll your eyes yet -- but amazingly, they're not "chase" rares -- they seem to occur with the same frequency as the other rares. Very surprising, and a good move on Wizards part. The holo cards are quite stunning, and a nice visual appeal to an already appealing game. In the end, I'd say the game will mostly appeal to younger players and Pokemon devotees. It's a fine little game, and is worth your time if you're at all into the Pokemon craze. If you're interested, try picking up two of the preconstructed decks that Wizards is offering and duking it out with a friend. You might be pleasantly surprised. © 1999 Ronald Olszewski Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Pokemon Collectible Card Game