Pokemon TCG is Launching in Simplified Chinese for Mainland China, Starting with Reprints of Sun & Moon Favorites!

Updates available on the latest status of the Pokemon TCG Simplified Chinese release - "Pokemon TCG Simplified Chinese for Mainland China - Going "All-in"! (February 2023 Update)", "Pokemon TCG Simplified Chinese Sun & Moon - Wrapping Up Three Years of the TCG in Six Months (March 2023 Update)", and "Pokemon TCG Simplified Chinese Sword & Shield - Still Catching Up, but Less Frantically (September 2023 Update)".

UPDATE (Oct. 26th): All secret rare cards revealed from CSM1a, CSM1b, and CSM1c (left to right)!

It's been a while since we've written an article here at PokeWayne - hope everyone has been doing well! We have some huge news to unpack in the world of Pokemon TCG - the launch of the Simplified Chinese version of our favorite trading card game into the Mainland China market!

Why This is Big:

While the Chinese print of Pokemon TCG has been around since the relaunch in 2019, marketing has been limited to only Hong Kong and Taiwan by virtue of the print being in Traditional Chinese, with some of our favorite sets being Sun & Moon All Stars Collection and Sun & Moon Dreams Come True. With the launch of Simplified Chinese, the doors are now wide open to Mainland China, the largest market in the world of 1.4 billion people - that's >40x the combined population of Hong Kong and Taiwan (~30 million), >10x that of Japan (~125 million), and >4x that of USA (~330 million)!

The First Set:

As with the release of other Asian language sets (e.g. Thai, Indonesian), the first set in Simplified Chinese will start from Sun & Moon, and will be a "catch up" set. The Chinese name of our first set is 横空出世, which is a Chinese idiom that roughly means "to appear out of the blue". Potential translations could be "Roaring Across the Horizon" or "Soaring Across the Skies", but a bit of a mouthful for a Pokemon set though! We'll simplify it and call it "Crossing the Sky", while "Storming Emergence" is also gaining traction. Can you see the clouds and sky being featured vividly in the imagery? The set is split into three parts: 赫, which roughly translates to "Fiery Red" (Charizard); 苍, which is "Dark Green" (Rayquaza); and 泽, which means "Pond" - we'll call it "Blue" just to stick with colors. It's interesting that Sylveon was featured for "Blue" - while Sylveon does have traces of Blue, my guess is that it was more likely featured to ensure all segments of collectors are appealed to (not all people like Charizard or Rayquaza). We don't have complete information regarding the set contents yet, but can likely expect some of the biggest bangers from the Sun & Moon era.

The Products:

There will be a total of three different products on the initial release of the Simplified Chinese version of Pokemon TCG. First, your plain vanilla 30-pack booster box, with each pack containing 5 cards, similar to what we're already used to with standard Japanese releases (link).

Second, a never-released before larger format, more tailored for retail outlets in Mainland China, a 24-pack booster box, with each jumbo pack containing 25 cards (you read that right). That’s 600 cards in total, which is larger than English booster boxes by quite a margin!

Finally, there will also be a GX starter deck that will help players get started with the Pokemon TCG.

Summary:

Overall, I am really looking forward to this launch! Given that prices for Sun & Moon packs in English are largely out of reach (for opening purposes), it'll be a treat to be able to rip and pull some nostalgic cards that were released as early as 2017 in English / Japanese. Stay tuned to our blog - we'll continue to update as we learn more!