Coin (TCG)
A coin, in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, is used in a variety of ways, from Energy cards to Pokémon attacks. Many attacks say "Flip a coin. If heads, _____________________. If tails, ____________________." The coin flip is often the main point of the attack, as it decides the effect that the attack had on the Defending Pokémon: For example, these effects can succeed or fail in attacking the opponent, pick one of two possible status conditions to inflict on the opponent, or succeed in the attack or counter on the user. Sometimes, the attack's effectiveness depends on the number of successive heads-flips. A point to be noted is that the majority of coin-flips require a heads for a good effect on the user, and nothing or a bad effect if tails.
Types of coins
A coin can be a real, monetary coin, a special metal, or a cardboard disc with a Pokémon on it, or any small, flat object that has the same chance of landing on either of two sides when flipped. Coins that are not official Pokémon merchandise and supplied expressly for use in the Trading Card Game are not allowed in sanctioned events.
Sometimes, the player may prefer to use a die rather than a coin, with even numbers representing heads and odd numbers representing tails. Organized play dice used for coin flips must be a different type or color of die than ones being used to mark damage. Beginning in the 2013 season, a new rule was added stating that any die used during sanctioned events for coin flips must be transparent or translucent. Dice are generally preferred over coins by tournament players because of their ease of use.
Official Pokémon dice to be used in lieu of coins are often distributed at larger organized play events, such as State/Province/Territory Championships and Regional Championships.
A special plastic coin is distributed to all pre-constructed decks, such as the starter decks and theme decks and excluding the Championship decks and Generation II sets by Wizards of the Coast as the Johto series sets came with a silver, metal Lugia coin. There will be a Pokémon or a symbol on top (representing heads) and a logo and/or copyright on the back (representing tails). The Pokémon or symbol usually represents in some way the set that the pre-constructed deck came from, but sometimes it's just the game in general, like the coin that depicts all the elements, before the Darkness and Metal types were introduced. There is usually more than one type of coin per set, featuring a different Pokémon or symbol on top, and can be distributed based on the deck purchased, or otherwise at random. Most of the Wizards of the Coast sets only had one coin with a seemingly random Pokémon on front.
Aside from the metal Lugia coin, a silver, metal Pikachu coin was also made for the Base Set 2 also released by Wizards or the Coast. These metal coins were the only actual metal, TCG coins that came with the decks. The rest are plastic.
Gallery
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Metal Lugia coin from Generation II
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Team Aqua emblem
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Team Magma emblem
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Silver Charmander Coin
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Coin depicting the type symbols
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Coin depicting the type symbols
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Magmortar and Electivire
Tails
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Tails side of the very first coins released by Wizards of the Coast.
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Tails side of coins released by Wizards of the Coast up til Generation II.
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Tails side of coins released during Generation I in Japan.
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Tails side of the Metal coins released during Generation II.
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Tails side of Metal Pikachu Coin
In the games
In Template:Card GB 2, there are several collectible coins that can be obtained by the protagonist, Mark or Mint. These coins are used as proof of achievements within the game, much like Gym Badges from the main series or the Medals from the previous TCG Game Boy game. Besides marking achievements, the player may choose one of their coins to use in duels for coin flips in place of their original coin. The appearance and purpose of these coins mimic the real-life collectible coins.
List of available coins
TCG Island coins
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GR Island coins
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Special coins
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References/Sources
- alamedyang.tejat.net - Coin Images
- Various Coin images used from PokeGym.Net - Dice, Coin & Accessory Gallery