Author: James Harding

Pokemon 4D Studio Version

Use 40 cards in a deck.

Flip a coin to see who goes first.

Whoever goes first cannot attack during their first turn.

Draw 4 cards and place them facedown in front of your deck. These would be considered your prize cards. When you knock out your opponent’s Pokémon, draw a prize card. When you draw all 4 before your opponent does, you win. You also win if your opponent has no remaining pokemon on the field.

The game continues even if a player’s deck runs out of cards.

Both players draw 7 cards at the beginning of the game. If you don’t have at least 1 pokemon in your hand to play on the playing field, shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 7 new cards. Repeat until you are able to play at least 1 pokemon.

*Optional (You also have the option to reshuffle if you only have 1 pokemon in your hand and do not wish to play it down.)

Each player draws one card at the beginning of their turn.

Each player can only have one attacking Pokémon and a maximum of five on the bench.

Each player can play as many Pokémon on their bench up to the 5-bench maximum.

For this game, disregard the energy costs and effects such as burned, poisoned, paralyzed and asleep.

Each player can only attack once per turn and if the damage counters total or exceeds the HP of the Pokémon, the Pokémon would be knocked out and placed in the discard pile.

Trainer cards can only be played during the player’s turn. And a player can play as many as they have in their hand. Once played, the trainer card is discarded.

Stadium cards are placed on the field separately and any player can replace them with another stadium card.

Pokémon powers can only be used once per game per Pokémon.

Evolution cards are placed on top of the pokemon they correspond with (the card will say “evolves from X”)

During attacking, choose the attack and if the attack does damage place the damage counters on the defending Pokémon and the other appropriate Pokémon if applicable. Once you attacked, your turn is over.

You can have an unlimited number of cards in your hand.

You are allowed to retreat your attacking pokemon and switch it with one of your benched pokemon, this is allowed only once during your turn. And this is done before your attack.

Play Test Notes

I feel that the experience the other student had with this version of the game seemed more technical than the other games within the classroom. The trainer cards had a wide range of impact and can change the experience of the gameplay very quickly. Some students picked up on the rules more quickly than others.

This version of the game seem to have had a positive engagement for the students that tested this game.