The Pokémon Trading Card Game , abbreviated to PTCG or Pokémon TCG, is a collectible card game, based on Nintendo's Pokémon franchise of video games and anime, first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was initially published by Wizards of the Coast; Nintendo eventually transferred the rights to The Pokémon Company which has published the game since June 2003. In 2016, it was the year's top-selling toy in the strategic card game subclass. In 2017, it had an 82% share of Europe's strategic card game market. As of March 2020, the game has sold over 30.4 billion cards worldwide.
