Order by the year each character first appeared in the Pokemon anime, by Japanese air date. You place all 30 cards on one timeline, one at a time. You start with three lives, and ten right in a row wins a lost one back.
The cards are characters from the Pokémon anime, from trainers and Gym Leaders to rivals and Team Rocket, each with a short description below. You're ordering them by the year they first appeared, using the Japanese air date. One character opens on the line with the year in view. Each newcomer has to be fitted in among the characters already down. Fit it correctly and its year comes up. Misjudge it and the character still lands in place, and one of your three lives is spent.
Each new region in the games brought a fresh set of companions and rivals to the show, so the line moves in waves. Region names, towns and Gym titles in the descriptions are the best clue if you know the order the games came out. Recurring rivals and champions are tricky, since some appeared well before their big story arcs, and characters with no place named on the card take the most thought.
Want a longer game? On the deck tree you can tick this deck alongside any other one measured in release years and dates, and they shuffle into a single timeline together.
Here are 28 of the 30 cards you might be dealt, with 2 more in the deck. Their values stay hidden until you place them.
