Growing up, I was the perfect age to be captured by the initial Pokemon craze. I played Pokemon Yellow on my Gameboy, I watched the Pokemon Movie, and even collected a few Pokemon cards, my favorite being a Snorlax. While I was aware that Pokemon was a card game, I never learned how to play.

Fast-forward twenty years, and Pokemon is still as popular as ever, and thanks to their friends, the kids were gifted some Pokemon cards! All it took was one shiny card and they were hooked. (Cue checking out allll the Pokemon encyclopedias from the library!) They’ve become so obsessed that I finally thought it was time we learned how to play the card game.

I had no idea where to start with the game. Just typing “Pokemon trading card game” into Amazon, I was overwhelmed with options. Do I need a trainer box, booster packs, theme decks, or 100 random cards for cheap? I have zero experience with collectible card games and needed a product that matched my experience with board games that had everything I needed to get started. That’s when I discovered Pokemon Battle Academy, and it is precisely what I needed!

What Comes in the Box?

Battle Academy is a product designed to help a board gamer learn how to play the Pokemon Trading Card game. 

For twenty bucks, you get three decks (Pikachu, Charizard, and Mewtwo) one game board, one coin, damage tokens, two how-to-play deck books, and an advanced rule book. I found this to be an excellent value for anyone learning the game. I love that we have three decks instead of two, which adds that extra bit of replayability instead of just two dueling decks. The other significant addition this game has over different Pokemon starter sets is the gameboard. The gameboard makes the product feel like a board game. Additionally, the game board is an excellent resource for game set-up and quick rule references.  

Learning to Play

As a general overview, players face off with their 60 card decks filled with Pokemon, trainers, and energy. The winner is the player that can eliminate six of their opponents Pokemon first. 

For complete Pokemon newbies like myself, Pokemon Battle Arena does an excellent job explaining the game!

For your first game, the two how-to-play books will guide players step by step for the first few turns. Numbering the cards in each starting deck makes them easy to reset to teach new players. The board helps players know where to play their cards, which helps organize the cards on the table for younger players. The board has helpful rule reminders printed directly on the game board, so you don’t need to consult the rulebook in future games.

I love how we were able to jump in and play right away and learn the rules as we progressed. This video game style tutorial for learning the rules is something I love in kids’ games.

We got this game for our six-year-old son and our eight-year-old daughter to play. Our eight-year-old can read and had no problem picking up the game. Our six-year-old can’t read quite well enough yet for this, but was able to start playing on his own only after a few games. Since each Pokemon card has a great icon system, he could quickly identify what he needed to play a card and how much damage it could deal when attacking.

On the text-heavy trainer cards, he was able to associate the images with their abilities after playing a few games. There are a few advanced rules; limiting the number of trainer cards played or factoring in a pokemon’s strength and weakness when attacked, that would have been too much for beginner players. (Fortunately, the pre-made decks never had pokemon strengths/weakness. ) By the time you are ready to add new Pokemon decks to your collection, you will be ready for more advanced gameplay and strategy.

Did we have fun?

Pokemon has captured our kids’ imaginations. From the cute creatures, adventures with friends, and the epic battles our kids want to become Pokemon trainers. They love the stories they create when in a Pokemon battle as they act our their Pokemon attack. As a parent, I enjoy watching my kids make gameplay decisions about which Pokemon to use and which Pokemon should get energy for this round. The Pokemon Trading Card game has simple, straightforward gameplay that makes it accessible for kids while creating some engaging tactical decisions during play.  

The one thing our kids struggled with was the luck of the draw. The game can feel unfair quickly if one player gets their best Pokemon active and energized early in the game. Helping the kids accept that sometime they will have bad draws and will lose quickly was an essential lesson to learn to enjoy this game. Fortunately, the decks have a lot of trainer cards that let players search their decks for Pokemon cards to help mitigate those games where you can never get what you want in your hand. 

If you have kids interested in playing the Pokemon card game and have no idea where to start, I highly recommend the Pokemon Battle Academy. 

Pokemon Battle Academy is currently sold exclusively at Target. After July 31st it will be widely available.

Find this and all our favorite board game picks on our Amazon Storefront!

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