well, after seeing super knex builder freak's instructable i though it left out a lot. so i am here to clear things up.

pokemon is a card game, video game, and T.V. show. i will talk about all of them in this instructable.

Step 1: Card Game

the card game is a very fun game if you understand it. weather it is collecting or battling it has a place for everyone (even pyromaniacs lol)

the rules are pretty easy to learn. they have got more complicated and changed as the game evolved but they are pretty simple.

1. your deck has to have 60 cards
2. you can only have up to 4 of each pokemon in your deck.
3. you can only have up to 4 of each trainer in your deck (that might have changed)
4. on your turn you can do the following (in this order).
1. pull card
2. play trainer/evolve/attach energy
4. attack (once)
5. you can not evolve a pokemon you just put out
6. you can not attach more then one energy per turn.

thats the basic rules. you can get more in depth in the rule book (comes with each deck)

Step 2: Card Game -- Your Deck

well, most people just go out and buy a starter deck (and i recommend you do so, there easy to build off of.) but if you want a really good deck you need to buy some packs and work on it.

my deck is not working right now because i lost some of the cards(i have no abras now lol) but i can still tell you the basics of building a deck

for starters you want to have 1 or 2 types of pokemon take this into account(from yahoo answers)(some of the types are from the video game)

Fire beats grass, ice, bug, and steel. Water beats fire, ground, and rock. Electric beats water and flying. Grass beats water, ground, and rock. Ice beats grass, flying, dragon, and ground. Fighting beats normal, ice, rock, dark, and steel. Poison beats grass. Ground beats fire, electric, poison, rock, and steel. Flying beats grass, fighting, and bug. Psychic beats fighting and poison. Bug beats grass, psychic, and dark. Rock beats fire, flying, ice, and bug. Ghost beats psychic and ghost. Dragon beats dragon. Dark beats psychic and ghost. Steel beats ice and rock.

so with that in mind start making your deck. keep it to 2 types. when you have three it gets hard to get the right energy. were not counting colorless as a type, as they don't need a specific type of energy.

try to keep it to this, 2/6 pokemon, 3/6 energy, and 1/6 trainer cards. trainer cards just help you, there not really needed.

also, unless you are really good and experienced in pokemon keep it to 2 powerful pokemon (or 3 evolution pokemon).

my deck does not really follow that rule as i have more then one powerful pokemon (3 evolution)

make sure that you have the energys for all of the pokemon. you don't want to be caught in a battle with no energys (not fun!!)

after that lay your deck on the floor sorting all the cards and count them to make sure there are 60. when you have them sorted you can see which cards you need more of or don't need to make your deck really good.

right now there is only 1 card banned from tournaments, and that is the mew card. the mew card is banned not for rarity exactly but because the attacks are in hieroglyphics.

keep this in mind, you deck is never perfect, because some types will always be effective against yours. so keep buying packs and adding on to your deck to make it really powerful.

Step 3: Video Game --starting

well, no matter what version you have the beginning always follows the same rule(except yellow version), you will have a choice from 3 pokemon, one will be fire type, one will be water type, and one will be leaf type.

if you have not noticed there is a fighting triangle(thats what i call it) between these pokemon. water>leaf>fire>water>leaf>fire... goes on for ever. anyway your rival(or friend in some games) will always chose the one that is super effective to the pokemon you chose.

the one exception is in yellow version. it came out around the time of blue version and red version and green version in japan. this game is based off of the T.V. show (which came out around this time). you don't have a choice of a pokemon in the start, but are given a Pikachu at the beginning of the game. your rival gets a eevee. depending on how many times you lose or win against him me will evolve it using a stone. if you lose all your battles against him he evolves it with a water stone, making your pikachu's attacks super effective. if you lose some of the battles it evolves it with a fire stone. if you win all your battles against him he evolves him with a thunder stone.

after that the games take there separate paths. the games have always come out with a counter part.(except yellow, though you could say it is red and blue) the counter parts always follow the same story, but just opposite. usely when a new game comes out at least two new legendary pokemon come out. the legendary pokemon are very rare and the focus of the game. one of them is put into each game (the game gets one of them,and the counter part gets the other). because of that the stories between the games differ a little.

thats about it for the game. i could get more indepth but that would take for ever as each game is different from the other one.

Step 4: Video Game -- Battling and Raising

the key thing in the pokemon games is battling.

but you can't just hope to win with weak pokemon.so i will tell you all you need to know(for the most part) on battling and raising pokemon.

first, you want to make sure that your pokemon are high levels, never avoid battles unless you need to because your pokemon have a low health. then make sure that you switch the pokemon you have in the front of your party frequently because you want all your pokemon to be around the same levels. it will be hard to win battles with only one high lever pokemon.

the next most important thing is attacks. good attacks and combinations are the key to winning battles. you don't want to just teach physical attacks, but stat effecting attacks are important to.

i recommend you have two normal physical attacks (attacks with a good amount of pp and power) one physical attack with lots of power(like hyper beam) and one stat effecting attack(like "bulk up")

that is not always the case with all pokemon. some like castform are better with different attacks. like with castform he is best with one physical attack and 3 stat effecting attacks.

if you follow all that you should be able to beat any trainer that comes your way.

Step 5: Video Game -- Objective

the main goal of all the games is to catch all the pokemon in the game. that is almost imposable. you can almost never do that. but you can try.

the games are designed so you need all the before the game you have to beat that one game.

the only game (to my knowing) that can be beaten with out any other game is yellow version. that is because unlike the other games you get all the starter pokemon during the game. the one problem you would have would be is that not all the pokemon are in the game, so you would normally need the other games (red and blue) BUT there is a glitch in the game that lets you get all the other pokemon (and mew) legally in the game.

the games processor is a bit slow, and when you walk up to a trainer that can see across the entire screen there is a .1 second pause before the game registers that you walked in front of the trainer. durring that .1 second you can pull up the start menu. that lets you be able to goto a pokemon that knows fly and fly away. the trainer chanenges you to the battle and then you end up flying away.

so when you fly to a town two things happen. 1. you can't talk to people and 2. you can't pull up the start menu. this happens because the game thinks you are in the battle you flew away from.

it turns out that if you get into another battle the special stat of the opposing pokemon becomes the DEC number of the pokemon the game thought you were battleing at the beginning of this glitch.

so when you go back to the route you flew away from the battler in a strange thing happens, your start menu comes up(remember how you opened it at the beginning of this?). close it and you will go into a battle. durring the battle the pokemon you battle is not restricted, and is decided by the special stat of the last pokemon you battled. since this is not restricted you can battle any pokemon, even ones from the other games not possible to get in the game normaly.

i know that was complicated but there is a easier version at this website.

Step 6: Video Games -- Others

there have been a handful of other games that have come out not following the regular story line.heres a list.(from wikipedia)

PokÃÂ©mon Stadium

Original release dates:
JPN - April 30, 1999
NA - February 20, 2000
AUS - March 2000
EUR - April 7, 2000
1999-Nintendo 64
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Stadium 2

Original release dates:
JPN - December 14, 2000
NA - March 28, 2001
EUR - October 6, 2001
AUS - 2001
2000-Nintendo 64
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Colosseum

Original release dates:
JPN - November 21, 2003
NA - March 24, 2004
EUR - May 14, 2004
AUS - June 24, 2004
2003-GameCube
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon XD: Gale of Darkness

Original release dates:
JPN - August 4, 2005
NA - October 5, 2005
AUS - November 15, 2005
EUR - November 18, 2005
2005-GameCube
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team

Original release dates:
JPN - November 17, 2005
NA - September 18, 2006
AUS - September 28, 2006
EUR - November 10, 2006
KOR - August 30, 2007
2005-Nintendo DS
2005-Game Boy Advance
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Ranger

Original release dates:
JPN - March 23, 2006
NA - October 30, 2006
AUS - December 7, 2006
EUR - April 13, 2007
2006-Nintendo DS
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Battle Revolution

Original release dates:
JPN - December 14, 2006
NA - June 25, 2007
AUS - November 22, 2007
EUR - December 7, 2007
2006-Wii
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness

Original release dates:
JPN - September 13, 2007
NA - April 20, 2008
PAL - July 4, 2008
2007-Nintendo DS
Notes:

those are the RPG(role playing games) that don't follow the normal RPG story line.

then there are others that are not even RPG heres a list (again, from wikipedia)

Hey You, Pikachu!

Original release dates:
JPN - December 12, 1998
NA - November 6, 2000
1998-Nintendo 64
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Trading Card Game

Original release dates:
JPN - December 18, 1998
NA - April 10, 2000
PAL - December 8, 2000
1998-Game Boy Color
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Pinball

Original release dates:
JPN - April 14, 1999
NA - June 28, 1999
AUS - July 13, 1999
EUR - October 6, 2000
1999-Game Boy Color
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Snap

Original release dates:
JPN - March 21, 1999
NA - June 30, 1999
PAL - September 15, 2000
1999-Nintendo 64
2007-Virtual Console
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Puzzle Challenge

Original release dates:
JPN - September 21, 2000
NA - December 4, 2000
PAL - June 15, 2000
2000-Game Boy Color
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Puzzle League

Original release dates:
NA - September 25, 2000
PAL - March 16, 2001
AUS - December 7, 2006
EUR - April 13, 2007
2000-Nintendo 64
2008-Virtual Console
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Card GB2

Original release dates:
JPN - March 28, 2001
2001-Game Boy Color
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Box: Ruby & Sapphire

Original release dates:
JPN - May 30, 2003
NA - July 12, 2003
EUR - May 14, 2004
AUS - July 16, 2004
2003-GameCube
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Channel

Original release dates:
NA - December 1, 2003
EUR - April 2, 2004
AUS - 2004
2003-GameCube
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire

Original release dates:
JPN - August 1, 2003
NA - August 25, 2003
PAL - November 14, 2003
2003-Game Boy Advance
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Dash

Original release dates:
JPN - December 2, 2004
PAL - March 11, 2005
NA - March 13, 2005
KOR - March 22, 2007
2004-Nintendo DS
Notes:

PokÃÂ©mon Trozei

Original release dates:
JPN - October 20, 2005
NA - March 6, 2006
PAL - April 28, 2006
KOR - May 17, 2007
2005-Nintendo DS
Notes:

Step 7: T.V. Show

in the T.V. show the main character is Ash Ketchum. Ash's main goal in life, as described in the first episode, "PokÃÂ©mon! I Choose You!", is to be the world's greatest PokÃÂ©mon Master. throughout the entire show he is always trying to become stronger and catch more pokemon.

theres not much more to say except some fun facts about the show.

episodes that have been banned from being shown (lol)

Episode: "Miniryu no Densetsu"
First up is an episode where everyone appears to have a gun. Not futuristic PokÃÂ©guns. Real guns. With bullets. Which they threaten each other with constantly.

Episode: "Some Enchanted Sweetening"
Next we have Meowth, a member of the bumbling bad guys Team Rocket. Meowth is the only PokÃÂ©mon that speaks like a human (that is, he can say words that aren't variations on his own name.) In the show he periodically tells bizarre stories about "The Boss" of his team. This particular story involves "The Boss" running in the desert while slathered with honey, wearing nothing but a Speedo. Then a bunch of PokÃÂ©mon, um, show their affection for him. In a very physical way. This time it was just the scene that was removed.

"DennÃÂ Senshi Porygon" (Ã£ÂÂ§Ã£ÂâÃ£ÂÂ®Ã£Ââ Ã£ÂâºÃ£ÂâÃ£ÂâÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂªÃ£ÂÂ´Ã£ÂÂ³, DennÃÂ Senshi Porigon?, lit. "Digital Soldier Porygon," although most commonly translated as "Electric Soldier Porygon") was aired in Japan on December 16, 1997, around 18:30 Japan Standard Time (09:30 UTC). The episode became infamous for reportedly causing more than 600 epileptic seizures in young viewers. As a result, broadcasts of PokÃÂ©mon in Japan were halted for four months. Since the seizures, Porygon, and it's evolved forms, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, have yet to appear again in another episode.According to Maddie Blaustein 4Kids did dub this episode and reduced the flashing lights that caused the seizures.

Holiday at Acopaulo: This Episode Was Banned because they gave James clevage so he could win a beauty contest.

The Ice Cave: This Episode was banned due to some people having a problem with Jynx being a "racial stereotype" and since Jynx was prominently in these episodes, they decided not to air it

Shaking Island Battle! Barboach VS Whiscash!!: It was originally postponed due to massive earthquakes in japan and since it features Whiscash making Earthquakes it would have been bad taste. However this episode was scheduled for a further Japanese showing but didn't air. Now it has come to the US Airing and it again has been skipped

credit to the last 3 banned episodes go to craig3