Pokemon Trading Figure Game

The figures are made of high quality plastic and are all sculpted in dramatic poses. Even the Eevee figure has attitude written all over his face! All of the information you need to play the game is clearly printed on the base.

Each figure has a removable black or white outer ring that has an arrow to indicate the spin result. These rings are meant to be switched out so that each team will have all of their Pokemon using matching ring colors. This is very important because opposing may use the same Pokemon. Sadly, with the exception of the starter set, all of my Pokemon figures have come with white rings.

The bottom part of the dial contains collecting information such as; Name, Collector Number and an Expansion Symbol. The top part of the dial holds all of the game information including attacks, movement points and possibly a Pokemon Power. you can look here for a close up look.

The graduation marks on the dial are each worth 1.4%. Each attack on the dial covers a number of graduation marks so you can easily figure out the odds behind a Pokemon working or not. For example the Pokemon Beedril has a 50% chance of a miss and a 50% chance of using Twin Needle. Twin Needle has the added text of having a base attack of 40 but you re-spin and if you spin it again the attack does 80 damage. Even if you lose at this point Beedril will poison the other Pokemon. Beedril is clearly a high risk Pokemon to use but it also has a movement of three.

Game Play
Playing the game is very easy on your turn you move one Pokemon and you can only attack with the Pokemon you moved. Once you land one of your Pokemon on your opponent’s goal space you win. There is a small degree of strategy when playing the game but the biggest strategic element occurs when you build your team.

When you end your movement adjacent to an opposing Pokemon you have the option of initiating combat. Both players spin their Pokemon and look at the result on the dial. Blue results beat all others, followed by purple and white. A miss always loses.

When you both spin a white result the attack that does the most damage wins out. When you both spin purple the attack with the most stars wins out. in all ties nothing happens and combat ends.

The loser of a battle is knocked out (purple attacks have an effect that does not knock out a Pokemon) and placed in their owner’s Pokemon Center. They can only leave the Pokemon Center via a trainer card or if another Pokemon is sent there. In that case the Pokemon in the Pokemon Center is placed on the bench and suffers from ‘wait’.

You can also knock out an opposing Pokemon by surrounding it with your Pokemon.

Strategy
90% Of the strategy in this game takes place when creating your team. Do you use only fast Pokemon who have weak attacks or do you go for the high-power slow Pokemon?

Treeko is a fast Pokemon (3MP) but his best attack is Slam (60%) and only does 30 damage. He also has Pound (15%) for 20 damage and Dodge (Blue/25%). This Pokemon is great in a three-on-three game but not so useful on the larger six-on-six board.

Charizard is a slow Pokemon (1MP) with two very powerful attacks; Iron Tail (25%) for 60 damage and Fire Spin (58%) which does 50 damage for each time you spin it (re-spin each time). I have had games where fire Spin did over 200 damage! There are also two Miss (17% total) spots on Charizards dial.

Every Pokemon in the game is different and with 38 Pokemon in the current set (there are also 3 Diamond and Pearl promo figures) you can build some very interesting teams.

Products
The figures are sold in multiple types of packs.

There are two starter sets; Flamethrower and Riptide. The Flamethrower set includes the trainer Red and the Pokemon Charizard, Meowth and Treeko. The Riptide starter set includes the trainer Brendan and the Pokemon Feraligatr, Murkrow and Pikachu. Each set also includes a rule book, game mat and three trainer cards.

Both sets are evenly balanced with one Pokemon from each movement point category.

After buying the starter sets you can purchase single figure packs, 2-figure packs, 3-figure packs and a special Battle Pack that includes both teams from the Starter Packs and a bonus referee figure.

The two and three figure packs also include a single mystery figure. This allows you to insure that at least one of the figures you purchase will be known to you.

Conclusion
The Pokemon Trading Figure Game is a fun diversion but I do not like the random nature of the booster packs. I have been in too many stores where all of the 2-figure packs have the same three Pokemon in the clear section. Because of this I know that almost no one is going to want the extra Pokemon I end up buying in the hopes of getting something new in the secret part of the pack. You can probably complete your collection by going to eBay (links below).

The game is fun to play and the rare Pokemon are not so powerful as to unbalance the game (unlike the GBA/DS games). Because of the high cost of the figures I imagine most people you meet will not have access to a complete collection and will instead be making teams out of the small collection they currently own. There is also nothing in the game in regards to type match-ups. This might come into play in the future where if a Pokemon has type advantage is does more damage.

At the very least pick up the starter sets and try it out. If you are very lucky you may be able to find a copy of the Battle Set which contains both starter sets and a referee figure.

Comments

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7 Comments »

Comment by tyvaughn

2007-11-10 18:28:51

yay im the first to post a comment

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Comment by SniperDragon

2007-11-10 20:35:16

Very nice report. If we were in the same area, I would be glad to battle you.

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Comment by pablo

2007-11-11 10:45:53

thats awsome i have the game to i got the reptile set with picachu
murkrow and feralagator. my friend has brock pack.i woul like to battle u one day.i have a 8 winnig streek.

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Comment by nak

2007-11-12 07:32:36

Ooooh… very nice. It looks so fun and pretty! :p If I had money, I would probably buy the game and try it out for my own… If……….

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Comment by jacob

2007-11-14 16:58:37

Man i have been out of pokemon for so long but im comin back and awesome report

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Comment by Cassi

2007-11-25 13:36:36

I am a girl, but I am also a pokemon freak. From what you reported,
I’d say you know alot about pokemon. Your report was really interesting.I have seen some of those and wondered if they made my
favorite pokemon UXIE.Thanks.

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Comment by HMTKSteve

2007-11-25 23:06:07

No, I do not think any Sinnoh Pokemon are out yet except for the promo starters in some three packs.

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