One Piece Card Game Releases Official App

Bandai Namco has released a "teaching app" designed to teach players how to play the upcoming One Piece Card Game. The app was released this week and teaches players the basics of the new card game, which features characters and artwork from One Piece. Currently, the app has three Tutorial Modes, each of which teach different aspects of the game. This marks the first time the rules for the new One Piece Card Game has been officially released in the United States. A trailer for the One Piece Card Game was also released, which breaks down the basics of the game. 

Gameplay in the One Piece Card Game centers around trying to reduce your enemy's "life" to zero by scoring successful attacks on the opponent's Captain card, which permanently stays in play. Each player also has a "Don!!" deck, which contains Don!! cards (named for a distinctive sound effect from the manga series). Players either spend Don!! cards to play cards from their hand or they equip Don!! cards to cards in hand to temporarily increase their power. All spent Don!! cards return to a special play area at the start of a player's turn, so the amount of Don!! a player has access to increases over time.

While the One Piece Card Game will be released in Japan in July, it won't get a full release in the United States until December. However, some hobby stores will receive "super pre-release" starter decks in September and will host tutorials for the game leading up to its full release in December. 

The One Piece Card Game app is available as a free app for iOS and Android devices. Expect the One Piece Card Game to be released later this year.