For parents and grandparents

Pokémon, explained for grown-ups

Your child says “Rayquaza” as if it were a normal word, and you have been nodding along for weeks. This page is for you. Hear how the names are said, find out what the words mean, pick a game that suits their age, and see what is safe and what costs money.

Say it right · Pokémon in 5 minutes · The words they use · Which game? · Is it safe? · Learn together · Plus, honestly

Word of the week: Chase card

Collector slang for the one card everyone is hoping to find in a pack. It is also the card that makes some children want to open far too many packs.

A new word every Monday. Next one: Monday 26 October. See every word.

Say it right

These twenty names come up at the dinner table more than any others, and the spelling does not help you. Press the speaker. In the respelling, the capital letters are the loud part of the word.

Starting with the word itself: it is POH-kay-mon, with a “kay” in the middle. All 1,025 names are on the pronunciation pages, and the 50 that people get wrong most are ranked in one list. Hear all 1,025 names · The 50 hardest names.

Pokémon in 5 minutes

What Pokémon is

Pokémon is short for “Pocket Monsters”. It began as a pair of Game Boy games in Japan in 1996 and has grown into video games, a trading card game, a long-running TV series with films, phone apps, toys and books.

All of it shares one world. People called trainers catch creatures called Pokémon, look after them and enter friendly contests with them. There are 1,025 kinds of Pokémon so far.

The four things your child might mean

The games
Adventures on a Nintendo console where you travel through a region, catch Pokémon and battle. This is the heart of it.
The cards
Collectable cards that are also a two-player battle game. Many children collect and swap them without ever owning a console.
The show
A cartoon series that has run since 1997, plus films. It is how many children first meet the characters.
The apps
Pokémon GO (catch Pokémon while walking), Pokémon Sleep and the card game on a screen. The apps are where spending most often comes up.

How it works

Catching
In the games you play a young trainer who explores. Wild Pokémon appear and you throw a Poké Ball to catch one. A Pokémon that is already tired is easier to catch.
Types
Every Pokémon has one or two of 18 types, such as Fire, Water and Grass. Types decide who wins a battle: Water beats Fire, Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water. Think of rock, paper, scissors with eighteen choices.
Evolution
Many Pokémon grow into a bigger form. Charmander becomes Charmeleon, then Charizard. Some evolve by winning battles, some through friendship or a trade, some with a special stone.
Battles
Battles take turns, a bit like chess with monsters. Each side picks a move. The Pokémon that loses faints. It does not die, and a visit to a Pokémon Center heals the whole team.

Why children love it

There is a lot in it for a child. You choose your own team of six, so everyone plays differently. There is always something left to collect, and the full list of 1,025 is a long goal. Children can quickly know more than the adults around them, which is a rare and enjoyable feeling at seven.

It also asks for more than it seems to. The games have a lot of reading and some arithmetic, and the type chart is a real system to learn. Children pick all of that up because they want to win, not because anyone told them to.

The honest other side: it can eat screen time, and the cards and apps can eat money. The sections below cover both.

Read or try next

The words your kid uses

Every word here is one a child has said to you across a table. Each line is short enough to repeat back. A few are fan words that the games never print, and they carry a flag so you know.

Shiny

Collecting. A rare alternate colour of an ordinary Pokémon, with a little sparkle when it appears. Finding one is chance, and children treat it like winning a prize.

Evolve

In the games. To change into a new, usually stronger form. Charmander evolving into Charmeleon is the classic example.

Hear it: Charmander CHAR-man-der Charmeleon char-MEE-lee-un

Legendary

Collecting. A very rare, very powerful Pokémon, often shown on the game’s box. You can usually catch only one of each. Mewtwo is a well-known one.

Hear it: Mewtwo MYOO-too

Type advantage

Battles. When one type hits another extra hard. Water against Fire is “super effective” and does double damage. Some pairings are “not very effective” and some do nothing at all.

Tera

Battles. Short for Terastallization, a Scarlet and Violet power. A Pokémon covers itself in crystal and can change type for the rest of the battle, once per battle.

Mega Evolution

Battles. A temporary, stronger form that a Pokémon takes during a battle using a Mega Stone. Mega Charizard is a favourite.

Hear it: Charizard CHAR-ih-zard

Holo

Trading cards. Short for holographic. A card with a shiny, light-catching finish on part of it. These are usually more sought after than plain cards.

Booster pack

Trading cards. A sealed pack of random cards. Nobody knows which ones are inside until it is opened, which is the whole appeal and the whole risk of overspending.

EVs and IVs (fan term)

Fan terms. Fan shorthand for two sets of hidden numbers that slightly change a Pokémon’s stats. Only players who battle seriously worry about them.

Gym

In the games. A building run by a Gym Leader. You beat the leader in battle to win a badge.

All 43 words, A to Z

Which game or app is right?

The official ways to play, with the PEGI age rating (the European one) and what each costs. A rating of 3 suits everyone. A rating of 7 allows mild cartoon fighting between Pokémon.

A starting point by age

  • Age 3 to 5, not reading yet: Pokémon Primers (books), or Pokémon Pokopia if you have a Switch 2. Pokopia is a calm building game rated PEGI 3. A grown-up reads the text with them.
  • Age 6 to 8, reading: Pokémon Scarlet or Violet. PEGI 7, turn-based battles, and a lot of reading that helps.
  • Age 9 and over: Pokémon Legends: Z-A, plus the card game if they want it. PEGI 7, with real-time battles that ask for quicker thinking.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Console game. Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. PEGI 7.

Explore Lumiose City while it is being rebuilt. Battles happen in real time: you and your Pokémon move around and pick moves as it happens, instead of taking turns. Released 16 October 2025.

Spending: Bought once. The note below says where paid extras are sold.

For grown-ups: PEGI 7 for mild fantasy-style fighting between Pokémon. Optional paid extras are sold in the Nintendo eShop.

Pokémon Pokopia

Console game. Nintendo Switch 2. PEGI 3.

A calm building game. You play as a Ditto that looks like a person, gathering materials, crafting furniture, farming and building a home that Pokémon want to live in. Released 5 March 2026.

Spending: Bought once. Look at the eShop page for any optional extras before you buy.

For grown-ups: PEGI 3, the lowest rating, so the gentlest way in for the youngest players. It needs a Nintendo Switch 2.

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet

Console game. Nintendo Switch. PEGI 7.

The classic Pokémon adventure in the open world of Paldea: catch Pokémon, go to school, battle gym leaders and explore in any order. Scarlet and Violet are two versions of the same story, with a few different Pokémon in each. Released 18 November 2022.

Spending: Bought once. The two paid expansions are sold separately and are not needed to finish the story.

For grown-ups: PEGI 7. Battles are turn-based and mild.

Pokémon GO

Phone app. iPhone and Android phones. Not in the PEGI list. The app stores set the age rating, so check the store page.

A walking game. Pokémon appear on the map around you, so you catch them by getting outside. It has optional in-app purchases.

Spending: Free to download, with optional in-app purchases. Turn on purchase approval on the phone before the first install.

For grown-ups: It uses the phone’s location, so a grown-up should set up and supervise play. Check the store page for the current age rating.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Live

Card game. Computers, tablets and phones. PEGI 3.

The Pokémon card game played on a screen. Learn the rules, build a deck and play against other people online.

Spending: Free to play. A paid Premium Pass is offered on the game’s page, so look at the purchase options before a young child plays.

For grown-ups: PEGI 3. It has online play against other people, so check the in-game settings and the store page for chat and purchase options.

Pokémon Sleep

Phone app. iPhone and Android phones. Not in the PEGI list. The app stores set the age rating, so check the store page.

An app that turns sleeping into a game: set a bedtime, and the Pokémon who gather around you while you sleep are there in the morning. It is free to download and has optional in-app purchases.

Spending: Free to download, with optional in-app purchases.

For grown-ups: It is built around a grown-up’s sleep habits, so it works best on a parent’s phone with the child’s help.

Official Pokémon books and guides

Books. Paper books. Books have no PEGI rating. Look for the age band on the cover.

Pokémon Primers are board books for the youngest readers, including ABC and 123 books. The Pikachu Press Pokémon Deluxe Character Guide is a 336-page hardback covering every Pokémon from Kanto to Paldea.

Spending: Bought once, nothing to unlock later.

For grown-ups: The Pokémon Company announces new books on pokemon.com. Read the age band on the cover and the blurb before you buy.

Card packs: where the money goes

The video games are a one-off cost. Trading cards are different, because a pack is a lottery ticket with a cartoon on it. Children see a rare card in a friend’s hand and want to open ten packs to find their own.

  • Set a card budget for the month, the way you would for sweets, and say the number out loud.
  • Buy a ready-made deck with known contents. A child can play the game straight away and nothing is left to chance.
  • Swap with friends. The cards are worth more to your child as something to play with than as something to hoard.
  • Be wary of anyone selling “mystery boxes”, and treat prices on resale sites as wishes, not facts.
  • Say plainly that a rare card is not worth more to a child than a card they actually play with.

The full list of where to play · A Parent’s Guide to Pokémon

Is it safe?

The Pokémon content is gentle. The two things to manage are who your child can talk to online and what they can buy.

  1. Before the first game: set a play-time limit and an age-rating limit on the console.
  2. Switch off, or limit, chat in the console settings. Online play works without it.
  3. Stop in-app spending on the phone: Ask to Buy on Apple, purchase approval in Google Family Link.
  4. Agree a card budget and say the number out loud.
  5. Keep Pokémon GO a together activity, with ground rules about where and with whom.
  6. Ask your child to show you their favourite Pokémon. It is the best safety check there is.

Read the sourced safety notes

And this site?

pokee.si is an unofficial fan site made by a parent and their 12-year-old. It is not connected to Nintendo, The Pokémon Company or Game Freak. Here is what it does and does not do, taken from our privacy page.

  • No tracking and no third-party analytics. The site sets no cookies and loads nothing from other companies. We count page views ourselves without identifying anyone.
  • You can use almost everything without an account. Progress then stays on your own device.
  • An optional cloud-save trainer is only a nickname and a PIN. We never ask for an email, a real name or a photo.
  • There is no chat. Trainers in a private crew can see each other’s nicknames and scores, and nothing else.
  • Buying anything (Plus) sits behind a parent gate that a young child cannot tap through, and payments are taken by Stripe, so we never see a card number.

Read the privacy page

Learn together

You do not need to become an expert. Ten minutes beside your child, a few times a week, is enough to speak the language. Pick one:

  • Say the Name. Hear a name, find the Pokémon. You will learn alongside them, and they will correct you.
  • One short lesson. Types 101 takes four minutes and explains the thing that decides every battle.
  • A ten-question quiz pack. Take turns answering. It works well on a car ride, and the answers start conversations.
  • A printable for the table. A type chart, pronunciation cards or a maths sheet. No screen needed.

All lessons · Quiz packs · Printables · Games

Plus, honestly

The Pokédex, the guides, the articles and the pronunciation pages are open to everyone, and they stay that way. The games, 12 of the 20 lessons and three quiz packs a day are open too.

Plus is for a family that wants more of the games. It adds extra game modes, hints and longer timers, eight advanced lessons, unlimited quiz packs and Trainer Card themes. If the open parts are enough for your family, they are enough. They are not a trial and they do not run out.

Plus costs £4.99, $5.99 or €5.99 a month, or £39.99, $49.99 or €49.99 a year, in the currency of your region. A grown-up buys it behind a parent gate, payments go through Stripe, and you can cancel at any time. If you change your mind within 14 days of your first payment, contact us for a full refund. The details are in the Terms. The Plus page shows whether sign-ups are open yet.

Plus can also be a present. A gift is a one-off payment for 1, 3 or 12 months, with no subscription to remember, and you get a code to print or send to the person you are buying for. A month is £4.99, three months £13.99 and a year £39.99 in pounds. Gift Plus.

WhatOpen to everyonePlus
Pokédex, guides, articles and name pronunciationOpen to everyoneOpen to everyone
GamesEvery game, in its standard modes. One try of a Plus mode per game per dayAll the extra modes, every day
Hints and timersStandard timers, no hintsHints and 50% more time
Lessons12 lessons, plus the first step of each advanced lessonAll 20, including the 8 advanced ones
Quiz packs3 packs a day, plus the Daily Pack (one scored play a day)Unlimited, with 50/50 hints and a longer timer
Daily gamesToday’s challenge, and one practice of a past dayPractise past days as often as you like, and one rest day a week for your streak
Trainer CardClassic, Daylight and your Belt colourNine more themes and a profile colour

Quick answers

What is Pokémon, explained for a parent?

Pokémon is a world of creatures that trainers catch, raise and battle in friendly contests. It exists as video games, a card game, a TV series and phone apps. Children play, collect and talk about all of it.

How do you say Pokémon names like Charizard and Rayquaza?

Charizard is CHAR-ih-zard and Rayquaza is ray-KWAY-zuh. Press the speaker next to any name on this page to hear it.

Is Pokémon safe for kids?

The games are rated PEGI 3 or 7 and the fighting is mild. The things to manage are online chat and spending, and Nintendo and the app stores have parental controls for both. See the safety page for sources.

pokee.si is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Nintendo, Creatures, GAME FREAK or The Pokémon Company. Pokémon and all related names and images are © their respective owners.