Best Pokémon Board Games To Play

1999 - Pokémon Memory

As the name suggests, Pokémon Memory is a reskin of the classic Memory game. The 48 tokens provided with the game have been shaped as pokeballs and the pictures to match represent classic Pokémons from generation I.

As in the classic game, players take turns to turn two tokens hoping to find two matching Pokémons. If they do, the player takes the two tokens and if they don't the tokens are turned over and the turn passes to the next player. Fun fact: Chikorita is a key Pokémon to find as it breaks any tie at the end of the game.

1999 - Pokémon Master Trainer

Pokémon Master Trainer board game is considered by many as THE Pokémon board game. It was first released in 1999, just one year after the Pokémon Trading Card game made its appearance and it has the challenging aim to recreate the experience of Pokémon video games on the tabletop.

The original version of the game is set in the Kanto region thus featuring the main Pokémons seen at the very beginning of the series. Each player journeys through the region using an Ash Ketchum’s token of their own colour and one of the 6 starting Pokémon available in the game. While travelling, the player can catch, trade, and battle other Pokémon in order to grow their team. The power of the team is measured in power points and once a player reaches 20, they can challenge a Pokémon Masters in order to win the game.

Pokémon Master Trainer is an impressive board game that succeeded in bringing to the table the great aspects of both the Trading Card Game and the anime series. Unfortunately, some players found the balance of the game and the strong dependency on dice rolls to be a bit frustrating. Disregarding some negative aspects, Pokémon Master Trainer is still the most comprehensive board game for Pokémon fans.

1999 - Monopoly: Pokémon Edition

Considering how Pokémons are renowned, it does not surprise that a classic game like Monopoly received a Pokémon adaptation. The very first edition of this game focused on the characters from the anime and the very first video game, Red and Blue.

In Monopoly: Pokémon Edition, the property deeds are substituted by Pokemons grouped in Gyms to match the properties in the original game. Players can travel the game board as usual battling all the Pokémon in order to collect all those belonging to the same gym. Once a player collected enough Pokémon of the same Gym, they can build Pokemon Centres and Poke Marts that take the place of Houses and Hotels.

Other than the graphical reskin, Monopoly: Pokémon Edition is played exactly as the original game and the aim is to collect the most Pokémons. The only real difference is the possibility to use a Pokémon power instead of rolling again once you roll double. Some of them are quite powerful including the ability to teleport anywhere on the board or to challenge another player to win one of their property.

1999 - Pokémon Yahtzee Jr.

As the name suggests, Pokémon Yahtzee Jr. is a push-your luck board game based on the very popular dice game Yahtzee. As you may imagine, in this version of the game, the numbers on the dice have been substituted by Pokémon characters and your aim is to score as many points as possible by rolling up to 5 matching figures.

Each player can roll the dice up to three times setting aside any matching dice and rolling the remainder. The challenge comes from the fact that Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Jigglypuff can only be scored once per game thus the players must decide which Pokemon they want to score at each round even if that means to score a zero. The sixth Pokémons on the dice, Ditto, counts as any of the other five characters.

The score can be tracked in a a nice player sheet using cardboard tokens to mark the amount of matching Pokémons for each row.

2001 - Monopoly: Pokémon Edition

The 2001 edition of Monopoly: Pokémon Edition is another variation of the classic Monopoly game themed around the second generation characters.

In this edition, the Pokémon game board was updated to reflect the design of new gym badges and the railroad took the form of the three Johto starters (Totodile, Cyndaquil, and Chikorita) plus Heracross. The equivalent of Community Chest and Chance cards were also updated to feature Ash and Professor Elm.

Other than updating the characters and board, the gameplay of the 2001 edition of Monopoly: Pokémon Edition is exactly the same of the original 1999 edition.

2004 - Pokémon Yahtzee Jr.

The 2004 edition of Pokémon Yahtzee Jr. game is very similar to the 1999 edition although it features Generation III Pokémon.

In this version, the character on the dice are Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Taillow, and Wynaut while the wild Pokémon is Pikachu.

The rules of the game are the same as the previous version including the possibility to play less rounds if there are more than 2 players.

2005 - Pokémon Master Trainer

While the 2000 edition Pokémon Master Trainer can be considered an expansion featuring more Pokémons and a different region, the 2005 edition of the game looks more like a complete different game.

To begin with, the game offers the option to control one of the main characters of the series (Ash, May, Max, or Brock) and to start with three random Pokémon. Players also start with some Pokémon chips that represent the in-game currency and that are key to progress through the game.

In the 2005 edition, the dice has been substituted by a spinner that is used for movement and to increase the combat power of a Pokémon during a battle. The other main difference is that the game does not feature a map of a region but a path from “start” to “goal”. Each space on the path will have a different effect including the possibility to battle other Pokémon, players, Gym Leader or to catch a rare Pokémon.

Once all players reach the final space of the game board, they score the points depending on the order in which they arrived, the Pokémon chips they have and the value of all Pokémon they have. This last aspect is quite important as you receive the opponent's Pokémon as the price for winning a match against them.

2005 - Pokémon Battle Dome

Born from the collaboration of MB and Hasbro, Pokémon Battle Dome is a nice pinball themed game released in 2005. As in the classic Battle Dome, a numbers of balls are released insight a hemispheric area periodically and they start bouncing against pinball-like elements moving progressively towards one of the four corners of the dome.

Each player is then tasked to protect their buddy Pokémon by deflecting any ball that come their way operating the flippers. At the end of each round the Pokémon that took less damage wins.

2007 - Pokémon Champion Island

In 2007 there was a lot of interest in creating more interactive gaming experience for boardgames. Following this trend, Snap TV games released “Pokémon Champion Island” featuring a DVD with interactive content to enhance the game experience.

In Pokémon Champion Island players travel through the Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn regions collecting and training Pokémon.

The adventure also include interactive mini-games, adventure and Gym battle stages and elements of Pokémon trivia board game. Each Pokémon is represented on cardboard disk listing all its characteristics that can be collected through the game to increase replayability. The game also featured a special edition with a total of 100 Pokémon (40 more than the standard edition).

2007 - Pokémon On A Roll

Pokémon On A Roll is another push your luck game that shares some similarities with the Pokémon Yahtzee Jr. series although it does not bear the Yahtzee name.

Players start their turn by rolling seven dice featuring different combination of Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup and Poké Ball. Players can set aside any dice they want and re-roll all the others as many time as they want although if they roll a Poké Ball their turn is over. The aim is to match one of the patterns on the score card with your dice and to be the first one to obtain all the patterns.

The game mechanics of Pokémon On A Roll is much more dependent on chance than the Pokémon Yahtzee Jr. series and can therefore result in a longer game duration.

2008 - Guess That Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl

Guess That Pokémon is a Pokémon trivia board game based on the “Guess Who?” mechanics. In this Pokémon based edition, each of the two players receives a board with 24 Pokémons and a card representing one among them.

The aim of the game is to guess which Pokémon card the opponent has received. As in the original “Guess Who” game, players can narrow down the possibilities by asking question that can be answered with a “Yes” or “No”.

Questions may range from the type or characteristic of the Pokémon or focus on their appearance on the card. Even if this is Pokémon trivia board game, player will not necessary need to know everything about their Pokémon as some basic information are listed on the card.

The game has a very good value overall as it offers the possibility to play with two sets of Pokémons offering a greater replayability.

2011 - Pokémon Battle Chess

Any chess player should probably have at least one chess set Pokémon-themed. They are usually not cheap but they make a gorgeous impression when you play with them. Disregarding if you like or not chess, you may also look for a Pokémon board game variant of chess called “Pokémon Battle Chess”.

Released in 2011-2012 in three different version, Pokémon Battle Chess feature Pokémon pieces that are placed on a chess like board. Each piece features a different Pokémon with its specific movement ability and power that can attack any other piece in their range.

The aim of the game is to fight your way to the opponent king and score three hits to destroy the egg protecting it in order to win. There are a couple of twists in the game mechanics that make this game interesting including the ability to summon a powerful Legendary piece once you have lost enough of your starting pieces.

2014 Monopoly: Pokémon Kanto Edition

Monopoly: Pokémon Kanto Edition is the third special edition of the classic Monopoly game adapted by Hasbro to feature the most recent Pokémon. Focusing on the Pokémon of the Kanto region, this game is largely similar to the two previous editions with just a few style changes.

First, the railroads spaces are back to their original Poké Ball design instead of the starter Pokémon used in the previous version. Zapdos and Articuno replace the Electric Company and Water Works spaces while "Blue Attacks" and "Team Rocket Attacks" replace the "Income Tax" and "Luxury Tax" spaces to align more the Pokémon Origin series.

A special edition of the Monopoly: Pokémon Kanto Edition was also released in 2015 including additional player tokens and a character specific power card for each of them. The power cards in this version can only be used once per game but they can greatly benefit a player making this version a bit more strategic and interesting.

2016 - Monopoly: Pokémon Johto Edition

The latest version released for Monopoly: Pokémon Edition was edited in 2016 and it is the one you should most likely find in the shops together with the slightly older Kanto Edition. As the name suggests, the game focuses on the Johto region Pokémon and feature the same game mechanics of the previous versions.

In this edition, the railroads have been replaced by the four original types of Poké Balls (Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, and Master Ball) as in the 1999 and 2014 editions. The Pokémons Raikou and Suicune replaced the Electric Company and Water Works spaces and "Professor Elm" and "Trainer Battle" replaced "Chance" and "Community Chest" spaces.

2017 - Pokémon Visual Companion: Second Edition

Pokémon Visual Companion: Second Edition is a hardcover book published by Prima Games in 2016. This 272 pages book provides a great guide to the Pokémon world featuring key characters, places, battles, events and, most important, facts and data about Pokémons from each explored region. The 2017 special edition of Pokémon Visual Companion book comes with a Pikachu figurine and an exclusive board game, “Race to Pikachu”.

Once you read thought the book, you may want to try your knowledge in one of the Pokemon trivia board games like Pokemon Trainer Guess: Ash's Adventures.

2021 - Pokémon Labyrinth

Pokémon Labyrinth is the another reskin of a very well known classic game where the game mechanics remains the same of the original game. In this case, the player tokens become standees of the first starter Pokémons (plus Pikachu) and the treasures to find are other famous Pokémons. To fulfil the theme, these Pokémons are featured on Poké Ball shaped cards to make sure you will Catch'em all.

Last but not least, instead of the walls of the original game, the tiles in Pokémon Labyrinth feature paths among green fields. This change is really nice fit for the Pokémons considering that the little monsters are very well known for hiding in the tall grass and to be difficult to find.

2022 - Pokémon TGC battle academy

Pokémon TGC Battle Academy is a board game designed as a friendly entry-level version of the related Trading Card Game. The game include three pre-built and balanced decks together with a scripted tutorial designed to help players of any age to learn the basis of the card game. It also includes everything you need to play including a coin, damage counter and deck boxes.

The first two decks are considered beginner level decks and are built around Pikachu and Cinderace. After a few games with the starter deck, player can use the third and more advanced deck feathering Eevee. This last deck exploits more complex game strategies allowing players to have a taste of the complexity of the trading card game.

The best aspect of this game is the great value you get for the price. Considering this, the 2020 version of Pokémon TGC battle academy can also be a great investment as it offer three more decks to practice with.