The Basics of Pokemon
Pokemon is one of the most popular video games in the world, with over 368 million copies sold worldwide. It started off with a simple role-playing game, but has evolved into a huge franchise with a TV series, games and even trading cards. It's a great way for kids to learn about sharing and sportsmanship, while also having fun.
The Pokemon universe was first imagined by Satoshi Tajiri, who had a passion for collecting insects as a kid. He and artist Ken Sugimori envisioned a universe where players would capture and train Pokemon to defeat their opponents. The resulting game was released in Japan in 1996, and has become one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time.
A Pokémon is an anthropomorphic creature that carries out its trainer's commands and has special powers to help the player in battle. These creatures have more than 150 different types and come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
Each type has its own abilities, including attacking, healing, and defense. These abilities can be found in the Pokemon's Pokedex or on the card itself.
Some of the abilities are common to all types, such as 'Reading minds' or 'Hypnosis' while others are specific to each type. These abilities include 'Evolution', which lets a Pokemon grow stronger by evolving into another form.
There are also certain types of energy that a Pokemon can use to power up its attacks and abilities, such as 'Soundproof' or 'Powerful Claws'. Some Pokemon also carry stones that can be used to force them to evolve into a new form, but this is rare and only a handful of Pokemon have these abilities.
The Pokemon are divided into types, or categories, such as Bug, Fighting, Fire, Flying, Dragon, Electric, Ghost, Grass, Ground, Ice, Normal, Poison, Psychic and Rock. There are also several different Pokemon within each category that have different abilities and attacks.
Some Pokemon are also powerful healers, which can be useful for preventing damage from being taken from your opponent's Pokemon while they're on the bench. However, some Pokemon are weak against certain types and need to be matched up with other Pokemon of the same type in order for their attack to work.
When a Pokemon is damaged, it's called Burned. The owner of the Burned Pokemon flips a coin in-between turns. If it's heads, the Pokemon isn't affected by any burn damage; if tails, it takes two burn damage.
In addition to these Burned rules, some Pokemon are immune to fire and water damage or can't be hit with poison attacks, like the 'Fairy-type' Charmander or the 'Slugger' Squirtle. Other types can't be burned, such as the 'Electric' Gardevoir and the 'Ghost' Darkrai.
There are also cards that give certain Pokemon different moves or'stats'. These cards are useful in helping you to play more strategic games and to learn how to use each Pokemon's various abilities.
In addition to the basic game rules, there are other things you can do with your Pokemon when they're not in battle, such as 'Status Change'. This means that you can put a status condition on your Pokemon that prevents it from taking any damage until the end of the turn. There are also other'status effects', such as 'Return to Bench' and 'Heal'.