Pokémon Duel is played like a board game. Here are the rules, based on Serebii.
The board
- The first player is chosen at random. You move one piece per turn, by one to three squares depending on the Pokémon.
- Each side has two entry gates. A gate occupied by a piece can no longer be used to bring in a Pokémon.
- You win by moving a piece onto the opponent’s goal square, or by eliminating all of the opponent’s pieces from the board.
- Each player starts with six Pokémon. Defeated Pokémon go to the infirmary (the PC), which holds only two: when a third arrives, the oldest returns to the bench.
- You can only attack an adjacent Pokémon. You can also let the computer play the most logical move.
Wheel battles
When two Pokémon face off, each spins its attack wheel. The color of the space you land on decides the outcome:
| Color | Effect |
|---|---|
| White | A damaging attack; the strongest wins and sends the other Pokémon to the PC. In a tie, nothing happens. |
| Purple | An effect attack (poison, slowing…), which takes priority over white ones; between two purple ones, the one with more stars wins. |
| Blue | A defense (Protect, Dodge…), which beats everything else. |
| Gold | A priority attack, which goes before purple ones. |
| Red | Miss: the opponent’s attack wins. |
Status conditions
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Confusion | The attack you land on is shifted by one space on the wheel |
| Poison | Damage is reduced by 20 |
| Badly poisoned | Damage is reduced by 40 |
| Paralysis | In each battle, the smallest white, blue, purple or gold attack becomes a miss |
| Sleep | The Pokémon can neither move nor attack; an adjacent ally can wake it up |
| Freeze | The Pokémon can move but can do nothing else, its attacks miss; lifted after one battle |
| Burn | The smallest attack becomes a miss, and damage is reduced by 10 |
| Wait | The Pokémon can neither act nor move for a number of turns |
| Curse | If defeated, the Pokémon is removed from the duel |
