How to read a Pokémon card
A Pokémon card packs a lot of information into a space smaller than a playing card. Players care about the top half, collectors care about the bottom strip, and almost nobody reads the whole thing on their first try. This guide walks through a modern Pokémon card from top to bottom and points out which details matter for playing, which matter for collecting, and which quietly changed over the years.
The top line: stage, name, HP and type
In the top-left corner is the stage: Basic, Stage 1 or Stage 2. An evolved Pokémon also shows a small picture and the name of the Pokémon it evolves from. This decides how the card enters play: a Basic goes straight onto your Bench, while a Stage 1 has to be placed on top of the right Basic already in play.
The name sits in the middle. If it ends in ex, V, VSTAR or GX, it is a special rule card, and a grey rule box further down explains the catch: usually that your opponent takes two Prize cards (three for VMAX and Mega Evolution ex cards) when it is Knocked Out.
On the right are the HP (how much damage it can take) and the type symbol. The card game uses fewer types than the video games: Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Metal, Dragon and Colorless. A separate Fairy type existed from XY through Sun & Moon and was folded into Psychic from Sword & Shield onwards, which is why an older Clefairy and a newer one can show different symbols.
Game types and card types do not line up neatly. Poison-type Pokémon usually appear as Psychic or Darkness, and Ground and Rock types as Fighting. When a card "looks wrong", this is almost always the reason.
The middle: Abilities and attacks
- Abilities have a red or coloured header and work without attacking. Many work from the Bench, and in competitive play they are often the reason a card is worth money.
- Attacks list the Energy cost on the left (the symbols you need attached to use it), the name in the middle and the damage on the right. Any extra effect is written underneath.
A number followed by +, × or - means the damage
changes according to the text. An attack with no number at all is not a dud: its whole
effect is in the text, and some of the strongest attacks in the game work that way.
The bottom box: weakness, resistance and retreat
| Box | What it means |
|---|---|
| Weakness | Takes extra damage from that type, ×2 on modern cards |
| Resistance | Takes less damage from that type, usually -30 today (-20 on older cards) |
| Retreat cost | How many Energy you discard to swap it to the Bench |
Retreat cost is shown with Colorless symbols. Zero is a big advantage; three or four means the Pokémon is hard to move once it is stuck in the Active Spot.
The bottom strip: the collector's information
This is the line you will use to identify, sort and price a card. On a current card, reading from left to right, you will find:
- Illustrator, after Illus. Some collectors build entire binders around one artist.
- Regulation mark: a single letter in a small box (G, H, I…). It tells players whether the card is legal in the Standard tournament format.
- Set code: a short code such as
PALorTEF, printed on cards since Scarlet & Violet. Older cards show a small set symbol instead; the code and the symbol both point to exactly one expansion. - Collector number, written as a fraction such as
4/102. The first number is the card's position in the set, the second is the size of the set's main checklist. - Rarity symbol: circle, diamond, star, or one of the multi-star icons used for modern high rarities.
If the first number is larger than the second, for example 201/198, the
card is not misprinted. It is a secret rare, numbered beyond the
official checklist, and usually one of the most wanted cards in the set. The very
bottom line holds the copyright years, which help date older cards.
Things that are easy to miss
- The finish. Holo, reverse holo and non-holo copies share the same number, but are priced separately. Always note which one you have.
- Stamps. A "1st Edition" stamp on early Wizards of the Coast cards, or a set logo or event stamp on promos, changes the value dramatically.
- Language. Japanese and other non-English cards use the same layout but different numbering, so a collector number alone does not identify a card across languages.
Where to go next
The rarity symbol deserves a guide of its own, because the system has grown far beyond circle, diamond and star.