Japanese: July 9, 2021 Korean: November 27, 2021 Traditional Chinese: August 6, 2021 Simplified Chinese: November 17, 2023 Thai: November 26, 2021 ("Anytime, Anywhere" version)
The Family Pokémon Card Game (Japanese: ファミリーポケモンカードゲーム) is a Pokémon Trading Card Game product that was released in Japan on July 9, 2021, Taiwan and Hong Kong on August 6, 2021, South Korea on November 27, 2021 and Mainland China on November 17, 2023.
Information
Much like the original Family Pokémon Card Game set released during the Sun & Moon Era, this iteration is designed to introduce children and their families to the TCG by featuring cards with relatively basic effects and including step-by-step guides on how to play the game. The set includes three 60-card decks that each focus on two types and incorporate Pokémon V cards to represent them. Three of these are the namesake for each deck: Cinderace, Pikachu, and Tyranitar. The decks share a collective numbering system and set symbol; each card also features a colored silhouette of the appropriate focal Pokémon to denote which deck it belongs to. The set also comes with a pair of battle guides, a beginner's guide, a battle record sheet, a full-size playmat, a set of color-coded deck bands, a damage counter case, and a cardboard sheet containing damage counters, status markers, and an extra-large coin.
The battle guides are also available as video on YouTube. In order for players to follow the guides, 17 cards in the Cinderace V deck and 19 cards in the Pikachu V deck have "teaching numbers" printed over their Pokémon silhouettes, and players are required to start the game with the numbered cards placed on the top of their decks in order instead of fully-shuffled decks. Also, all trainer and energy cards in the Japanese version had their card headers printed in Japanese instead of English, a feature inherited from the original Sun & Moon set.
The expansion mark assigned to this set is SH in all languages except Simplified Chinese, whose expansion mark is CS2Da. Although the Simplified Chinese set has a different expansion mark, contents within the product and card lists are exactly the same as other languages.
A smaller version of the set designed to be carried around was available from the same day—the Family Pokémon Card Game Anytime, Anywhere (Japanese: いつでもどこでもファミリーポケモンカード). This version only includes the Cinderace V and Pikachu V decks, plus a pair of single-player playmats, a regular-sized plastic coin, a pair of deck cases, and a sheet containing damage counters and status markers. Physical copies of the battle guides are not included, but players can view the video instead by scanning the QR code printed on the back of the playmats. Another difference in this version is that all Pokémon V cards included are non-holofoil instead of the regular holofoil copies in the 3-deck version.
The "Anytime, Anywhere" version was later released in Thai on November 26, 2021. As the full 3-deck set was never released in Thailand, cards found only in Tyranitar V deck were excluded from the Thai card list, reducing the list to 38 cards instead of 53 in other regions. All Thai cards are also renumbered to 0**/038 to reflect their places in the Thai card list.
