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List of Pokémon Trading Card Game sets


This is a list of Pokémon Trading Card Game sets which is a collectible card game first released in Japan in 1996. As of September 2017, there are 74 card sets released in America and 68 in Japan.

The sets are generally broken into two lists; One for the first line of Wizards of the Coast cards, and the second after Nintendo's acquisition of the card game after Wizards.

When the series first launched in English in late 1998, Wizards of the Coast handled publishing.

The Pokémon Demo Game pack was the earliest Pokémon card pack to be produced in the English Pokémon TCG. This card pack was printed and distributed in December 1998 to select retailers and at Magic: The Gathering (MTG) trading card shows as a limited production run. This Pokémon pack consists of 24 Base Set shadowless cards and an instruction manual. The remaining Pokémon Demo Game packs were given to guests and vendors at the annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) event which was held from May 13–15 in 1999. This Pokémon Demo Game pack is considered the "Holy Grail" within the Pokémon trading card game because it was the very first introduction of the Pokémon trading cards within the United States. This Pokémon pack is limited in quantity and predates all other Pokémon Set cards including the 1st edition Base Set cards making these packs extremely rare and valuable. It is estimated that between 100-200 of these Pokémon Demo Game packs remain unopened. The first ever Demo Game pack to be issued a PSA certification number was Demo Game pack #24287143 making it the default earliest known package of English Pokémon cards to remain sealed in existence.

The Base Set, released on January 9, 1999 in the United States, is the 1st set of 102 cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game and the only one so far not to have a set logo or symbol (with the exception of the error "no symbol" Jungle set cards). It is one of few sets to include Fighting, Fire, Grass, Lightning, Psychic and Water Energy cards, now commonly known as basic Energy cards. The set also contained Double Colorless Energy, the first Special Energy card. The set is one of the more well-rounded sets available, with a mixed amount of Pokémon of all types, and includes only Pokémon from the original 150. Some of the more popular examples are Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur and Pikachu. The set's four main theme decks were based on four different strategies (offensive, defensive, tactic and speed). This set also had a 2-player starter set, containing two half-sized decks and a play mat with no intended strategy.


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