GETTING
STARTED

from card one.

Nobody is born knowing what a holo is. This is the whole game from the beginning — read a card, build a deck, buy without getting burned. No jargon, no overspending, no shame.

▸ ANATOMY OF A CARD

Six things every card tells you. Learn to read them and the game stops being guesswork.

Master those six and you can read any card in the game on sight — new set, old set, English or Japanese. That's the first door, and everything below walks you through it.

Name & Stage

What it is, and whether it evolves from something else first.

HP & Type

How much damage it takes to knock out — and the energy color it runs on.

The Illustration

The art. It doesn't affect play, but it's most of why people fall in love.

Attacks & Cost

What it can do, and how many energy cards you must attach to do it.

Weakness & Retreat

Which type beats it, and the cost to swap it out of the fight.

Set & Rarity

The little symbol that tells you where it's from and how rare it is.

A painted farmhouse kitchen in full morning sun, a scrubbed table under a bank of windows with a jug of wildflowers, a bowl of fruit and a mug, squares of light falling across blue floorboards

Start here, in order.

READ → BUILD → BUY.
NONE OF IT NEEDS MONEY YET.

STEP 01 · READ

Read a Card.

Before anything else, you learn to read the little box in your hand — HP, type, attacks, and the cost to use them.

▸What every number and symbol means
▸Energy cost, weakness, and retreat
▸Telling a rare card from a common one

READ THE GUIDE →

A sunlit reading room where a tall stained-glass window throws panels of coloured light across the floorboards and a writing desk

An attic workbench under a skylight with blank card stock laid out in neat rows beside jars of yellow and blue pigment

STEP 02 · BUILD

Build Your First Deck.

Sixty cards, one plan. The simple recipe — Pokémon, Trainers, Energy — that turns a pile into a deck that actually works.

▸The 60-card split that just works
▸Picking one or two types, not five
▸Upgrading a starter deck cheaply

READ THE GUIDE →

STEP 03 · BUY

Buy Without Getting Burned.

Packs are fun and singles are smart. Where to buy, what to skip, and how to spend your first twenty dollars well.

▸Sealed vs singles — what to buy first
▸Spotting a resealed or weighed pack
▸Where a beginner actually gets value

READ THE GUIDE →

A cobbled market street under blue-and-yellow striped awnings, stalls of produce and baskets in bright morning sun

Poppy sitting cross-legged on a rug at home, smiling over an open binder of sleeved cards with a mug beside her

▸ POPPY ON STARTING OUT

"You don't need the expensive card. You need one deck you understand and one binder you're proud of. Start there — the rest is just time."

◆ GUIDE COMING SOON

Essays for a first year

POPPY & IAN · READ ALONGSIDE

The guides teach you the game. These teach you the hobby — what to keep, what to skip, and how to stop a fun afternoon turning into a bad habit.

Poppy writes for the person opening their first pack. Ian writes for the person who has started noticing prices. Between the two of them you get the whole first year without having to live through the expensive parts.

BACK TO THE POKÉMON CHAPTER →