POKÉMON TCG: Battle Academy 2024, Ages 8+

I got the Pokémon TCG: Battle Academy 2024 for my 11 year old son and he absolutely loves it! The card quality is great, the game is fun and easy to learn, and there’s a nice variety of Pokémon. Perfect for beginners and totally worth the price!

I'm pretty middle-aged, enough so that when Pokemon came out for Game Boy, I was a teen and thought it was for babies - who knew it would become a mega franchise? As a result, I know about the franchise and that the game exists but never really played any of it and had no idea how the card game worked. My 8 year old son has been showing a lot of interest in Pokemon lately, but it wasn't clear whether he wanted shiny cards with cool monsters, or wanted to be able to trade cards, or wanted to actually play the game. I thought this Battle Academy would be a good intro based on reviews and recommendations of some coworkers. It comes with a game board, three decks, and a guide. The brilliant thing about this set is that the decks are balanced, so you don't need to know how to do deck building to start playing, and the guide is actually a walkthrough based on the decks being ordered a certain way. Each player has a copy and it tells you draw a card, you'll get an energy, now play this creature, etc. It's brief but demonstrates pretty much all the features of the game including drawing, energy cards, attacks, trainer cards, leveling up, combat/damage, and kills. There's a bit to remember but it's not overwhelming, and if you do the walkthrough once or twice you're ready to play for real. Then you just shuffle up the decks and go for it. My son and I had fun playing matches after that, and I appreciate that you can reuse the decks or buy more cards and use the board for your own decks. The price isn't bad for what you get, and each deck does get a shiny special card which is a cool touch. Definitely recommend if you're a noob to the TCG, if you've already got cards and know how to play, you can probably skip this one.

This was the perfect introduction for my kids into actually learning how to play the game. It was important for me that they learn the game and not just blindly collect cards for no reason. I wanted them to appreciate a cards value for its practical use, not its rarity. This was designed perfectly for that scenario. This is a really high quality product and I believe it’s perfect for anyone who isn’t sure what the best approach is to getting into Pokémon. Start here.

Excellent quality. Great way to learn the Pokemon TCG. My son loves it.

I recently purchased the "POKEMON TCG: Battle Academy 2024," and I couldn't be happier! This set is perfect for both newcomers and seasoned players. The layout is clear and user-friendly, making it easy to learn the basics of the game. I love the three ready-to-play decks, featuring popular Pokémon, which adds to the excitement. The included guide is comprehensive, helping us grasp strategies quickly. The quality of the cards is top-notch, and the vibrant artwork is a nice touch. Overall, it’s a fantastic value for the price.

It's overall a good introduction to the game. I've taught a number of friends the game using this tool, and they felt it was a good first step, but also noted that it didn't fully prepare them for play with an actually competitive deck. There's no beating around the bush: the three included decks absolutely SUCK. They are simple, which is good for cutting down on elements to learn, but I fear that it presents a subpar experience of what the actual game is like. Much more than with normal decks, these are extremely dependent on whether you get a good shuffle or not. The Darkrai EX alone is worth the price though

Been enjoying these sets, I have been collecting them since they first started. It's great for beginners to learn &/or veterans who just wants to do a relaxing game.

My 7-year-old was so excited to get this Pokémon TCG learning kit. It taught us the basics while letting us play, and it encouraged him to explore the game's world. The board game pieces are high quality. Not bad value for all the pieces you receive, though of course he'll need to invest in better cards to compete with his friends. My main word of caution is that you need excellent eyesight to read the tiny print on the cards. Parents, bring your reading glasses. I also wish it included some advice on improving the decks with other cards, since these starter-decks are very underpowered. But that's an advanced topic for follow-up to this "academy". This serves it's purpose as a beginner tutorial very well.