Just backing up
@crystal_pidgeot.
On the playmats that I use when playing the TCG, it says that Pokemon can be evolved as often as you want. I was under the impression that there was a one-per-turn limit. I also thought the one-per-turn limit holds for Energy as well. Am I correct about this?
The playmat probably oversimplified a bit more than it ought to have; it isn't so much that the rules contradict as they are each part of the whole picture. A Pokémon cannot normally Evolve the first turn it is in play or the first turn of the game; some cards can override this, but that is how the core game rules function. So why does the mat say you may Evolve as often as you want in a turn? The more precise way of wording it would be "You may Evolve as many times as you want and are able to in a turn; there is no blanket restriction on the number of times you may Evolve your Pokémon [plural] in a single turn."
Think of it compared to Trainers. You may play as many Item cards in a turn as you wish
but only if you are able to play the specific Item in question; the Item in question must be in hand, if it has any costs (like discarding for
Ultra Ball) you must be able to pay them, and cannot be played for no effect (if something like a coin flip is involved and one result would have an effect, that is also still allowed). Both Stadium cards and Supporter cards, on the other hand, may only be played from hand once per turn, with Stadium cards having the added restriction that they cannot replace a Stadium with their same name and Supporters having the same "cannot be played for no effect" restriction as Item cards.
You are allowed one manual (from the hand) Energy attachment per turn; various card effects can enable you to bypass this.
Also, I was wondering whether it was true that the player who goes first cannot attack on the first turn. Is that true? It's different from what I recall from, for instance, the old Game Boy Color game.
The original
Pokemon Trading Card Game released all the way back in December of 1998 for Japan, and for North American and European markets in December of 2000. The rules for the Pokémon TCG, like the video games, evolve over time. There have been several variations on "first turn" rules, though if you happened to play during the BW-era, at that time the first turn rules reverted back to the original, before once again being changed. The video game does not completely follow the rules for the game at the time either, as there is no penalty for mulliganing. A "mulligan" in the Pokémon TCG refers to when your opening hand contains no Basic Pokémon (or acceptable substitute) that can function as your initial Active Pokémon. This results in you showing your opponent your hand, shuffling it back into your deck, then drawing a new hand (repeat as needed until you get a Basic Pokémon). Under the original rules, your opponent was allowed to draw two cards for each of your mulligans; under the current rules, it is only one card.
Any other questions?
