Marker (TCG)
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Counters and Markers are objects that Pokémon Trading Card Game games use to indicate certain elements of the game state, easing the need for players to track the events of prior actions. They are obtainable via official merchandise, with in many introductory products being punched out of a damage counter sheet.
One could, however, use anything to represent a marker, should all players agree to that. The rules for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Raid Battle offer using sticky notes, dice, paper, and coins.[1] In particular, six-sided dice have gained favor in the western Pokémon community, and damage counter dice can be found in certain products aimed at more competitive players like in League Battle Decks and Elite Trainer Boxes.
Design
Markers included as part of introductory products are cardboard punch out counters, to be removed from their sheet before use. Other products provide markers made from plastic, acrylic, or metal instead.
The fronts of markers have designs indicating their use; Damage counters have numbers to show the amount of damage they represent, Poison markers from before Sword & Shield had skulls, while Burn markers from the same time period used a band-aid image.
The same type of marker may have a different design and color over their releases. One example is the GX marker, which was initially released in blue, but has an alternate red version released after Ultra Prism as a motif to Ultra Beasts, and a black and yellow design after Team Up to incorporate the TAG TEAM logo. The Poison and Burn markers also received a redesign after the Sword & Shield Series.
The backs of markers usually contain copyright information for the Pokémon brand.
Types of markers
Damage counters
Traditionally, damage counters are circular and have warm colors. Their printed numbers represent the ammount of damage applied to a Pokémon, usually 10/50/100 damage. Pokémon Trading Card Game Raid Battle's downloadable materials include square damage counters representing up to 1000 damage, the highest amount of damage a single officially released damage counter can represent.
Damage counters used to be considered a kind of counter with special rules separating them from other similar objects, persisting when a Pokémon evolves, devolves, or Levels Up. The entire entry on counters, which included the statement considering damage counters as a kind of counter, stopped being included in the TCG rulebooks between BREAKthrough and Steam Siege.
Such counters are frequently referenced by effects in the game, usually to put them on a Pokémon or move them from one Pokémon to another. (Healing used to be worded as removing damage counters, but this was changed to "heal" in regards to the damage they have taken in Black & White). These effects all exclusively mean the standard 10-damage counter and changes the amount of damage the Pokémon involved have taken, increasing it when a damage counter is put onto a Pokémon and decreasing it from Pokémon that have damage counters moved from them. Placing damage counters is considered an effect and not damage dealt to that Pokémon.
When using dice to track damage, the faces seen from above will be the used tracker. While official products have the displayed number of intended damage in each face, damage is counted from regular dice by multiplying the pips on the corresponding faces by 10.
Special Condition markers
A Special Condition marker[2] is used to track if a Pokémon has a Special Condition. A Burn marker indicates that a Pokémon is Burned, and a Poison marker indicates that a Pokémon is Poisoned. As such, the same Pokémon can have both markers.
GX and VSTAR markers
A GX marker (also called TAG TEAM GX marker[3] in releases after Team Up) is flipped to its reverse side when the player uses a 
attack, indicating that they can no longer use GX attacks that game. VSTAR markers are identical, but indicate the use of a 
Power.
Other
Some cards make use of counters and markers for effects that are not Special Conditions. These effects have an unique property of not being removed when a Pokémon moves to the Bench, but can be still removed by other means, including evolution and Tropius δ's Poké-Power that specifically remove markers:
| Cards with special counters and markers Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card | Type | English Expansion |
Rarity | # | Japanese Expansion |
Rarity | # |
| Hungry Snorlax | 
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | |||||
| Electabuzz | 
|
Wizards Black Star Promos | 46 | Expansion Sheet 2 | 
|
||
| Dark Ivysaur | 
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | |||||
| Smeargle |
|
Wizards Black Star Promos | 32 | Unnumbered Promotional cards | |||
| Gardevoir ex δ | 
|
EX Dragon Frontiers | 
|
93/101 | Imprison! Gardevoir ex Constructed Standard Deck | ||
| Tyranitar ex δ |
|
EX Dragon Frontiers |
|
99/101 | Shockwave! Tyranitar ex Constructed Standard Deck | ||
The Ditto Marker, used in the Pack Battle and Ditto Draft alternate formats, is the only marker whose use is not called for by a card. Rather, it is placed as part the Ditto Draft rule or Ditto Evolution rule of those formats that allow players to put a Ditto Marker on one of their Pokémon once per turn.
Release Information
Most counters and markers have official versions made by The Pokémon Company. Damage counters and Special Conditions markers all see regular releases in products. GX markers were included as part of products released as part of the Sun & Moon Series to go with the Pokémon-GX and their GX attacks. VSTAR markers were included in products and as cards of some booster packs (in the place of the usual Energy card slot) released in the Sword & Shield Series, following the introduction of Pokémon VSTAR and their VSTAR Powers in Brilliant Stars. Even some of the ones used by specific cards have seen print:
- Food counters were released as part of the Nintendo 64 Double Get Campaign, which occurred in Japan in certain stores from December 10, 1997 to January 31, 1998. For buying an Nintendo 64, customers also got a booklet which had Cool Porygon, Hungry Snorlax, and two Food counters for Hungry Snorlax.
- Shock-wave markers and Imprison markers were printed in the Theme Decks for EX Dragon Frontiers: Shadow Blaze and Power Wave.[4] They replaced the Burn and Posion markers in those products. [4]
However, some markers have never received an official release. Players are required to be creative in determining how they should represent such a marker in a game. Some markers do have official artwork depicting them, such as the Ditto Marker.
In the video games
As digital games, the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online and later Pokémon Trading Card Game Live display a single damage counter on each Pokémon to represent the sum of the damage it has taken so far. In TCG Live, choices to damage or place damage counters on Pokémon are also represented by draggable damage counters; For example, Radiant Greninja's Moonlight Shuriken has the player place two damage counters representing 90 damage to the opposing Pokémon.
When Burn and Poison deal more damage than usual, a number displayed in their markers shows how many damage counters the Special Condition will put on the Pokémon during Pokémon Checkup.
In the TCG Online, the GX and VSTAR markers were present on the game's board and, when used, dramatically flipped to their reverse side. The GX marker's design was changed accordingly to each newly released physical marker.
In TCG Live, the GX and VSTAR markers are instead incorporated into the game interface on the right of the screen, along with both player's timers and remaining Prize cards. The GX symbol is not displayed in formats without cards with GX attacks. After using a GX attack or VSTAR Power, they glow blue or yellow respectively and then are crossed out for the remainder of the game.
References
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This article is part of both Project TCG and Project Merchandise, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Trading Card Game merchandise. | 
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