Pokémon playing cards

The Pokémon playing cards are decks of playing cards released in Generation I.

Japanese versions

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Add list of Japanese cards and their photos

Japanese Gen 1 Decks

The Japanese Gen 1 decks were released in 1996, with the red (Charizard back) deck and green (Bulbasaur back) deck released together in a joint box as well as individually, and a yellow (Pikachu back) deck (having a 1996 copyright on the box - however PSA grading identifies these cards as from 1998). The blue (Blastoise back) deck was released in 1998. The cards feature Pokémon and human characters.

There are multiple versions of many of the cards. For example, the Red deck 8 of Spades can be found alternatively with Abra, Kadabra, or Alakazam artwork.

1996 Japanese Red deck

The cards in this deck have Charizard on a red background on the card backs.

Cards in the 2 - 10 of each suit have up to 4 card variants (as indicated in the table). Face cards J - A do not.

1996 Japanese Green deck

The cards in this deck have Venusaur on a green background on the card backs.

1996 Japanese Yellow deck

The cards in this deck have Pikachu on a yellow background on the card backs.

The card box does have a 1996 copyright date, whereas the PSA and CGC grading databases indicate these cards are from 1998.

1998 Japanese Blue deck

The cards in this deck have Blastoise on a blue background on the card backs.

English versions

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

English mini decks

The English mini decks were released in 1999 by Nintendo. There are three mini decks, a red one, a blue one, and a green one. The face cards have a slightly different color scheme than the number cards, such as with the blue deck, the face cards are dark blue instead of light blue. On the back of each card is a Poké Ball with the Pokémon logo in it surrounded by an either blue and red (on the red and blue decks although the colors are in a different order) or blue and a green background (on the green deck). In addition to that, the Pokémon logo was also put on the Ace of Hearts and Spades.

Blue mini deck

Green mini deck

Red mini deck

Trivia

• Pikachu's card depicts it as holding a Poké Ball.
• Kabutops appears as the 9 of Diamonds in both the Blue and Green English mini-decks.

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.