when were the pokémon playing cards first released by the pokémon company
Pokémon Trading Card Game The Pokémon Trading Card Game (ポケモンカードゲーム, Pokemon Kādo Gēmu, "Pokémon Card Game"), abbreviated to PTCG or Pokémon TCG, is a collectible card game, based on the Pokémon video game series, first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was initially published by Wizards of the Coast; Nintendo eventually took over publishing the card game alongside the video games in June 2003.