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Hi, I'm Joe D'Andrea, a Pokemon professor at Comic Cafe in Warren New Jersey, and we're
here to show you how to play the Pokemon trading card game.
On your turn, you may want to do one of several things before you attack. One of these is
using a Pokemon's abilities. Now abilities are not attacks. These are special powers
that a Pokemon has that you can play during your turn. You can use abilities at any point
during your turn before you attack. Simply follow the directions on the card for that
ability. Sometimes you may use an ability once per turn, per card. Sometimes you can
use an ability many times per turn, per card. And sometimes an ability is always active,
or sometimes an ability can only be used when the Pokemon is in the active position. It's
possible you may notice Pokemon cards with Poke-powers or Poke-bodies. These are okay
— these are from previous expansion sets. Abilities have since replaced them in the
newer cards. Its important to note though that Poke-powers and Poke-bodies are treated
separately from abilities in the game. For example, let's say you play a card that references
a Poke-power or Poke-body, and your opponent's Pokemon uses an ability. The ability is treated
separately.