Jo-Kén-Pokémon

Jo-Kén-Pokémon Johto Journeys Promotion logo

Jo-Kén-Pokémon cards, as seen in the game trailer

Jo-Kén-Pokémon is a Brazilian Pokémon-themed card game based on rock paper scissors. It was released in 2001 as the Jo-Kén-Pokémon Johto Journeys Promotion (Portuguese: Promoção Jo-Kén-Pokémon Jornada Johto) by the Brazilian snacks company Elma Chips, a subsidiary of PepsiCo.

This game involves square-shaped Pokémon cards that were released in snack food packages. They have similar size and material as the Tazos from the same company.

Each Pokémon card has one of these eight elements: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Rope, Fire, Water, Fireproof, and Waterproof (Portuguese: Pedra, Papel, Tesoura, Corda, Fogo, Água, Anti-Chamas, and Impermeável, respectively).

This was the third Pokémon collection released by Elma Chips, after the Supercard (Portuguese: Supercarta) from 1999, and the Tazo / Evolutazo from 2000.

Terminology

The name "Jo-Kén-Pokémon" is based on Brazilian Portuguese "jokenpô" or "joquempô" (rock papers scissors), ultimately based on Japanese 「じゃんけんぽん」 (rock papers scissors).

The names of the eight elements (such as "Fogo" and "Água", respectively meaning "Fire" and "Water") are written in Portuguese at the back of the cards. The Portuguese word "elemento" (element) was used in the trailer.

The objects used in this game are officially referred to as cards, despite being similar to Tazos. The Portuguese word "carta" (card) is used in the description of the Fireproof and Waterproof cards, while "cartinha" (small card) is heard in the trailer.

Gameplay

Gameplay sources

The gameplay is explained to some extent in the game trailer. The Elma Chips website also used to have some Adobe Flash pages[1][2][3] about this game in 2001, but they have since been lost. It is unknown if there is an official ruleset beyond this.

Main gameplay

As stated in the trailer, two people play their Pokémon cards against each other. The trailer implies that one Pokémon from each side is played at a time. However, the Fireproof and Waterproof Pokémon cards (explained below) are an exception; they are not mentioned in the trailer, but the card text indicates that a player can use them together with another Pokémon.

In the trailer, it is also implied that both players should keep their own Pokémon cards hidden in their hands during gameplay, and that they should say "Jo-Kén-Pokémon!" out loud together when they reveal the element of their Pokémon to each other at the same time.

The winner is decided by comparing the element of each Pokémon. At the back of each Pokémon card, its respective element is shown, as well as a list of which elements win or lose against it.

Fireproof and Waterproof

The Fireproof and Waterproof Pokémon cards include a short text explaining that they are supposed to be played alongside another Pokémon (to protect against a Fire or Water opponent, respectively).

Fireproof card text:

"Play simultaneously with another card, nullifying the power of a Fire card."

(Portuguese: "Jogue simultaneamente com outra carta, anulando o poder da carta do Fogo.")

Waterproof card text:

"Play simultaneously with another card, nullifying the power of a Water card."

(Portuguese: "Jogue simultaneamente com outra carta, anulando o poder da carta da Água.")

It is further clarified that "nullifying the power" means winning against that element, because "Fireproof" and "Waterproof" are found in the list of elements that win against Fire and Water, respectively.

It is unclear if a player is allowed to play a Pokémon card (other than Fireproof and Wateproof) together with both a Fireproof and a Waterproof cards on the same turn.

Arguably, it may or may not be possible to play a Fireproof card and a Waterproof card together but with no other Pokémon, or two Fireproof cards, or two Waterproof cards, based on their exact wording: "play simultaneously with another card".

Winner taking loser's cards

In Jo-Kén-Pokémon, there is no known official rule about the winner taking the loser's cards. However, some other Tazo-related games by Elma Chips encouraged people to compete and take each other's collectibles based on the game results.

For instance, although the Pokécard (Portuguese: Pokécarta) is a separate Pokémon card game by Elma Chips with its own rules, its game trailer specifically states that the winner takes the loser's cards.

Elements

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Add element images (as seen on the back of the cards)

• Rock (Pedra)

  wins against Scissors and Water

  loses against Paper, Rope, and Fire

• Paper (Papel)

  wins against Rock and Rope

  loses against Scissors, Fire, and Water

• Scissors (Tesoura)

  wins against Paper and Rope

  loses against Rock, Fire, and Water

• Rope (Corda)

  wins against Rock

  loses against Paper, Scissors, Fire, and Water

• Fire (Fogo)

  wins against Rock, Paper, Scissors, and Rope

  loses against Water and Fireproof

• Water (Água)

  wins against Paper, Scissors, Rope, and Fire

  loses against Rock and Waterproof

• Fireproof (Anti-Chamas)

  wins against Fire

• Waterproof (Impermeável)

  wins against Water

Pokémon cards

In this game, there are 60 Pokémon species numbered from 1 to 60. This includes 3 species from Generation I and 57 from Generation II.

Each card has a single element. However, each card has two versions with different elements. Therefore, a total of 120 card versions are available.

List of cards

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Add images of all cards

Card	Ndex	Species	Elements
1	#0006	Charizard	Fireproof or Water
2	#0025	Pikachu	Fireproof or Scissors
3	#0052	Meowth	Scissors or Water
4	#0152	Chikorita	Paper or Waterproof
5	#0155	Cyndaquil	Fire or Rope
6	#0158	Totodile	Paper or Rope
7	#0161	Sentret	Paper or Waterproof
8	#0163	Hoothoot	Rock or Scissors
9	#0165	Ledyba	Rock or Rope
10	#0167	Spinarak	Scissors or Water
11	#0170	Chinchou	Paper or Rope
12	#0172	Pichu	Paper or Rock
13	#0175	Togepi	Fireproof or Scissors
14	#0177	Natu	Paper or Scissors
15	#0179	Mareep	Fire or Rope
16	#0183	Marill	Paper or Rock
17	#0185	Sudowoodo	Rope or Waterproof
18	#0186	Politoed	Scissors or Water
19	#0187	Hoppip	Fire or Scissors
20	#0190	Aipom	Paper or Rock
21	#0191	Sunkern	Rock or Scissors
22	#0193	Yanma	Rock or Scissors
23	#0194	Wooper	Paper or Rope
24	#0198	Murkrow	Rope or Waterproof
25	#0200	Misdreavus	Paper or Scissors
26	#0201	Unown	Fireproof or Rock
27	#0202	Wobbuffet	Fire or Water
28	#0203	Girafarig	Paper or Rock
29	#0204	Pineco	Paper or Rope
30	#0206	Dunsparce	Paper or Rock
31	#0207	Gligar	Rock or Rope
32	#0209	Snubbull	Rock or Rope
33	#0211	Qwilfish	Rock or Scissors
34	#0212	Scizor	Paper or Rope
35	#0213	Shuckle	Rock or Water
36	#0214	Heracross	Fire or Rock
37	#0215	Sneasel	Fireproof or Water
38	#0216	Teddiursa	Scissors or Waterproof
39	#0218	Slugma	Paper or Rope
40	#0220	Swinub	Paper or Scissors
41	#0222	Corsola	Paper or Rock
42	#0223	Remoraid	Rock or Scissors
43	#0225	Delibird	Fire or Rock
44	#0226	Mantine	Scissors or Water
45	#0227	Skarmory	Scissors or Waterproof
46	#0228	Houndour	Rock or Rope
47	#0230	Kingdra	Paper or Rope
48	#0231	Phanpy	Fire or Paper
49	#0234	Stantler	Fireproof or Scissors
50	#0235	Smeargle	Rock or Scissors
51	#0236	Tyrogue	Paper or Rope
52	#0237	Hitmontop	Paper or Scissors
53	#0238	Smoochum	Rock and Water
54	#0239	Elekid	Rope or Waterproof
55	#0240	Magby	Fire or Rock
56	#0241	Miltank	Fire or Rope
57	#0244	Entei	Paper or Water
58	#0246	Larvitar	Scissors or Water
59	#0249	Lugia	Fireproof or Scissors
60	#0250	Ho-Oh	Fireproof or Water

Trailer

In the game trailer, a girl asks to borrow scissors from a boy at school. Then, she takes a rock from her backpack and destroys the scissors with it, and then remarks that rock really wins against scissors.

In another scene, children are playing the Jo-Kén-Pokémon card game, while the narrator shortly explains the rules.

Trivia

• Rope may be considered the weakest element, since it only wins against Rock. For comparison, there are some elements that win against Rock while also winning against other elements.
• In the game trailer, both players were hiding the card elements from each other, but they failed to hide the Pokémon themselves, despite the fact that a knowledgeable player might remember the elements of each Pokémon. Specifically, in the trailer, both players were looking at the back of the cards (where the Pokémon's element is seen), while the front of the cards (where the Pokémon is identified) was visible to their opponent.

This article is part of Project Merchandise, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all Pokémon toys, dolls, books, and collectible merchandise.