The Pokemon Company has officially launched the Pokemon TCG (Trading Card Game) Battle Academy board game worldwide. The company originally announced the board game adaptation of the popular trading card game back in June and initially released it in the same month on June 21, 2020, exclusively through Target and the Target website with a worldwide release to follow on July 31, 2020.
The Battle Academy board game isn’t exactly a brand-new game. Rather, it wraps the Pokemon TCG into an easy-to-learn package. The Pokemon TCG has become significantly bigger and more complex since the original set of cards, which were recently reprinted, were released in 1996 so it may appear quite daunting for newcomers – especially children. To remedy this, the Battle Academy board game strips down the Pokemon TCG back to its basic mechanics and provides not only pre-built decks with accompanying guides but also a game board with visual aids to more comfortably introduce new players to the game.
According to the Pokemon Company’s announcement, it is primarily aiming Battle Academy towards families. The Pokemon Company International Consumer Marketing Senior Director J.C. Smith said in a press statement that the company is “excited to give families a fun and accessible way to spend quality time together while bonding over something both kids and longtime fans of the franchise adore: Pokémon TCG cards.” The company may be banking on the possibility that those who played the Pokemon TCG back in the late ‘90s or early ‘00s and are now parents may be interested in teaching the classic game to their kids.
The Battle Academy board game comes with a two-player game board, three 60-card decks, tutorial guides, gameplay accessories, and a code card for the free-to-play Pokemon Trading Card Game Online. The most useful element of Battle Academy is its game board, which makes it easier for players to keep track of some of the game’s mechanics, providing areas for their active Pokemon, benched Pokemon, Prize Cards, and more. The cards in the pre-built decks are also numbered and ordered to create a much easier “first game” environment for brand-new players as it partially removes the randomness of drawing cards from the deck.
The Pokemon Trading Card Game Battle Academy board game is a pretty good way to get more people, particularly kids, into the Pokemon TCG as it creates a more intuitive and comfortable way to learn the game’s basics through its accompanying visual aids. It’ll be interesting to see if The Pokemon Company plans to expand the board game further, such as releasing more pre-built decks or releasing expansions that introduce more advanced mechanics to give players more options to slowly grow and expand their knowledge and experience of the game before fully jumping into the Pokemon TCG. The company had its second most successful year in its history last year so it wouldn’t be surprising to see it try to expand its products even further.
Source: Pokemon