Pokémon Master Trainer (1999)

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Can you catch the most powerful Pokémon and become the new Master Trainer?

Pokémon Master Trainer is a board game produced in 1999 by Hasbro and Milton Bradley. The object of the game is to travel the Kanto region, capture and battle Pokémon (in the form of cardboard chips), and reach the Indigo Plateau to battle one of the Elite Four members. All Generation I Pokémon (excluding Mew are catchable in this game.

In the United States, the game was in English only. A fully bilingual (English and French) version of the game was released in Canada.

Playing the game

The player pieces are six colored models of Ash Ketchum. The colors available are pink, red, blue, green, yellow, and brown.

Each player receives one of the game's six starter Pokémon selected at random. A player rolls the dice to travel around the board, which is based on the Kanto region, capturing Pokémon along the way. Pokémon are split into 5 different categories; Starter Pokémon (pink star-like chips), weak unevolved Pokémon (pink circular chips), slightly stronger unevolved and evolved Pokémon (green circular chips), strong evolved Pokémon (blue circular chips), very strong fully evolved Pokémon (red circular chips) and legendary Pokémon (Yellow circular chips).

There are two types of cards present in this game; item cards, which incorporate ideas similar to items in the main series games such as Poké Balls, Potions and Vitamins, and event cards, which allow players to catch legendary Pokémon, trade Pokémon between players and obtain Pokémon without actually having to catch them.

Once the player has made it around the board, they can go to the Indigo Plateau if they arrive at Cinnabar Island with 20 power points (indicated by yellow number on chip). If players own two or more Pokémon from the same evolutionary line, they may combine these power points. When a player reaches the Indigo Plateau, they may enter the "Final Battle", which is a battle against a member of the Kanto Elite Four or Gary Oak selected at random. If the player defeats this opponent, they win, but if they lose then they must go back to Pallet Town and start over.

Gallery

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  The back of the box.

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  All six starter Pokémon of the game.

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  Five of the six game pieces that can be used.

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  The five different chip colors, in order from weakest to strongest. All yellow chips are legendary Pokémon.

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  The rival cards featuring Gary and the Kanto Elite Four. Unlike other cards, these are thicker and hard.

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  An item card. These give the player items such as Poké Balls and Potions.

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  An event card, which let players do things such as Fly and get a chance to obtain a legendary Pokémon.

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  The game board, completely set up.