On what date was the Pokémon Trading Card Game first published in Japan?

The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first published in Japan on October 20, 1996.

Media Factory published the original Japanese card game, which was developed by Creatures Inc. It was based on the Pokémon video games and translated the series’ collecting and battling ideas into a tabletop format for two players.

The first Japanese release followed Pokémon Red and Green by several months. The game later reached the United States in 1998, where Wizards of the Coast held the publishing license during the card game’s early international expansion.

The Pokémon TCG is sometimes confused with the video-game launch or the anime premiere because all three arrived during Pokémon’s rapid rise in 1996 and 1997. They were separate releases: the Japanese video games came first, the card game followed in October 1996, and the television anime debuted in Japan in April 1997.