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The Pokemon Company on teaching the TCG to new players

We spoke with The Pokemon Company about the process of onboarding new players to the Pokemon TCG.

Donovan Erskine

September 26, 2023 12:30 PM

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The Pokemon franchise is a sprawling empire of media entertainment, and the Trading Card Game is one of the cornerstones. It’s seen countless iteration and evolution since its introduction in the late 90s, and continues to reel in new players. At PAX West, The Pokemon Company actually had stations where it was teaching people how to play the TCG, and we spoke with them about the process.

Shacknews’ Greg Burke was at PAX West where he stopped by the Pokemon booth to chat with the people in charge about the state of the Trading Card Game. At the booth, the company had three different stations set up to teach new players about the core aspects of the Pokemon TCG: deckbuilding, basic, and advanced gameplay. Players were able to learn about attacking, managing energy, and how to win.

The Pokemon Company expressed that their goal was to equip players with enough knowledge of the game that they could go home and start participating in their local leagues, meeting new players and expanding their love for the game. For more interviews from the convention floor, subscribe to the Shacknews Interviews YouTube channel.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_