Pokémon Party Game Rules

Objective

Be the first player to play every card in your hand.

Cards and modes

Choose one deck configuration before setup.

Core game: 2–4 players

• 72 Pokémon marked base_set=true in data/pokemon.csv
• 6 distinct one-of Trainer wilds
• 78 cards total

Full multiplayer game: 5–10 players

• All 151 Pokémon in data/pokemon.csv
• 9 Trainer wilds total
• 160 cards total

Every Trainer wild should be a different physical Trainer card. Its printed TCG effect does not change its Pokémon Party Game behavior.

Energy cards are never used.

Card attributes

Each Pokémon has two game attributes:

• Type: the card's assigned game type or printed Pokémon TCG type.
• HP: the printed HP number.

Use the specific card in play rather than the species' type or health in the video games. The normalized catalog records the intended type and HP when assembling the original decks.

Expansion attributes

Every deck uses one seven-by-seven matching rubric. Choose the deck configuration before selecting physical printings:

• Universal: Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, and Colorless with 40–100 HP. Use this for Kanto or unrestricted mixing.
• Regional Core and Expansion: separately playable modules with their own seven types and seven consecutive ten-point HP values. Together they contain every native species exactly once.
• Two-expansion: one jointly optimized rubric for the combined pool. Never shuffle two sets while retaining their separate native rubrics.
• The printed type and printed HP are always the matching values. There is no hidden conversion or HP folding.

Three named exceptions are part of the standard format: Magikarp and Feebas use 30 HP, and Charizard uses 120 HP as an intentional blocker. New types or numbers never enter a deck implicitly.

Native cards missed by both regional rubrics are still playable outliers. They retain their visible type and HP and receive an art-forward printing. Outliers may match naturally, evolve, or follow a Trainer wild; they are excluded only from the seven-lane balance-fit calculation. Reserve status is limited to optional non-native bridge cards.

Every regional Trainer roster contains distinct one-of Trainer wilds chosen for local characters and flavor. They have no type or HP of their own.

Setup

1. Build the appropriate deck and shuffle it thoroughly.
2. Choose a dealer.
3. Deal 7 cards face down to every player.
4. Place the remaining deck face down as the draw pile.
5. Reveal cards until a valid Pokémon appears, then use that Pokémon to start the discard pile.
6. The player to the dealer's left takes the first turn. Normal play proceeds clockwise.

Normal play

On your turn, play one Pokémon that matches the top Pokémon by at least one attribute:

• The same type can be played on the same type: Fire on Fire.
• The same HP can be played on the same HP: 70 HP on 70 HP.

Matching either attribute is sufficient. A card does not need to match both.

Evolution-family plays and Trainer wilds provide additional legal plays even when type and HP do not match.

Drawing

If you have no legal play:

1. Draw exactly one card.
2. Play the drawn card immediately if it is legal.
3. If the drawn card cannot be played, keep it and end your turn.

A drawn Pokémon may be paired with a Trainer already in your hand. A drawn Trainer may be paired with any Pokémon already in your hand. Either combination counts as playing the drawn card.

After drawing, you may not substitute a different ordinary card from your hand. You may only use the drawn card, a required Trainer/Pokémon partner, and any valid evolution combo that follows.

Trainer wilds

All physical Trainer cards behave identically. Ignore their printed TCG effects.

To play a Trainer wild:

1. Place the Trainer on the discard pile.
2. Immediately cover it with any Pokémon from your hand.
3. Use the covering Pokémon's type and HP as the new top attributes.

The Trainer and covering Pokémon form one play but remove two cards from the player's hand. A Trainer cannot be left uncovered and cannot be played alone.

The covering Pokémon receives combo priority and may immediately begin a valid evolution combo.

If a Trainer is your only card, you cannot play it. Draw normally until you can pair it with a Pokémon.

Evolution-family plays

Evolution-family cards may be played without matching type or HP. They may be used during your own turn, to continue your own play, or as an out-of-turn interrupt that changes whose turn it is.

Ordinary evolution families

Adjacent evolution relatives may be played on each other in either direction.

Examples:

• Charmeleon may be played on Charizard, and Charizard may be played on Charmeleon.
• Charmander may be played on Charmeleon, and Charmeleon may be played on Charmander.
• A player holding the right adjacent cards may play Charmander → Charmeleon → Charizard or Charizard → Charmeleon → Charmander as one continuous combo after legally placing the first card.

Ordinary evolution combos move only through adjacent evolution stages. A non-adjacent stage cannot be skipped in either direction: Charmander cannot use the evolution rule to jump directly onto Charizard, and Charizard cannot jump directly onto Charmander.

An ordinary type or HP match may still make a card legal even when the evolution rule does not.

House-rule evolution families

Some groups may agree before the game that a small flavor group behaves like an evolution family even when the printed cards are not a strict evolution line. These are house-rule evolution families.

When a house family is enabled, any member may be played on any other member in that family, regardless of type or HP. A player holding multiple family members may play them consecutively in any order.

Example: the Legendary Birds can be treated as one fully interchangeable house family:

• Articuno
• Zapdos
• Moltres

Example: the Eevee line can be treated as one fully interchangeable house family:

• Eevee
• Vaporeon
• Jolteon
• Flareon

Keep house families explicit before the game starts, and prefer small iconic groups so interrupts stay exciting instead of constant.

Combo priority and interrupts

Use combo priority to resolve self-chaining and out-of-turn play without relying on whose card touches the pile first.

1. Whenever a player places a Pokémon, that player has first priority to continue with a valid evolution-family card.
2. The player may continue playing valid family cards until they stop or run out of cards in that family.
3. Once the player stops, the table receives a brief interrupt window.
4. Another player holding a valid evolution-family card may call “Evolution!” and play it out of turn.
5. The interrupter becomes the player with combo priority and may immediately continue their own chain.
6. When no player continues or interrupts, normal play resumes clockwise from the last player who successfully played a card.

You may continue a combo on a card you just played. Self-interrupting is explicitly allowed.

Other players may not break into the middle of the current player's declared combo priority. They may interrupt after that player stops. If multiple players call an interrupt together, priority goes to the first clear call; an exact tie is resolved clockwise from the player who last played.

An interrupt consumes no separate future turn. The interrupt changes whose turn it is by making normal play resume clockwise from the interrupter after all combos settle.

Because a new family card creates a new combo window, interrupts can cascade between players.

Stall Battle

If play makes one full lap around the table with no cards played, the game is stalled. Start a Stall Battle to reset the top card.

1. Leave the current top Pokémon in place for now.
2. Each player reveals cards from the draw pile until they reveal one Pokémon.
3. Compare the revealed Pokémon by HP.
4. The highest HP wins the battle.
5. The winner chooses one revealed Pokémon to become the new top card, even if it does not match the previous top card.
6. Discard all other revealed cards, including Trainers.
7. Play resumes clockwise from the battle winner.

If the highest HP is tied, only the tied players keep revealing Pokémon until the tie breaks. The final winner may choose from all Pokémon revealed during the whole battle.

The battle winner does not take revealed cards into hand. Stall Battle is a pressure valve: it clears a stuck pile, creates one dramatic flip, and gets normal matching moving again.

Winning

The first player with no cards remaining wins immediately.

A player may win by:

• Playing one final matching Pokémon.
• Playing a Trainer together with a final Pokémon.
• Completing a self-chain.
• Playing the final card during an interrupt.

Optional party call

For a louder endgame, require a player to call “Pokémon Master!” before placing the final card of a play or combo. If another player catches a missed call before the pile settles, the player draws two cards instead of winning.

Agree before setup whether this optional rule is active.

Recycling the draw pile

If the draw pile runs out:

1. Leave the current top Pokémon in place.
2. Shuffle the remaining discard pile.
3. Use it as the new draw pile.

Trainer cards remain part of the reshuffled draw pile. If a Trainer is exposed while reconstructing the top of the discard pile, continue until a Pokémon is on top.

Table ruling principles

When an unusual card or timing question appears, apply these principles in order:

1. A clearly established evolution-family relationship overrides type and HP.
2. The player who just played controls their uninterrupted combo priority.
3. Once that player stops, valid out-of-turn interrupts are allowed.
4. The player who last played determines where clockwise play resumes; at setup, the first normal turn belongs to the player to the dealer's left.
5. If a full lap passes with no cards played, start a Stall Battle.
6. If no special rule applies, match type or HP; otherwise draw one.