The Daily Duel

Yes. A new trainer and a new six at midnight Pacific, the same for everyone. Gym Leaders early in the week, Elite Four and rivals in the middle, a villain team's boss on Saturday and a Champion on Sunday.

Every pack is checked before it goes out, and par is the fewest turns that win it, counting none of your conditions as landing. You see it once your duel is over, and the leaderboard scores your turns against it.

About every third turn something happens: rain or harsh sunlight changes Water and Fire damage, Team Rocket grabs a waiting card, a Potion heals 30, and each trainer has one event of their own. The next one shows a turn ahead.

As many as the trainer brings, and at least 3, picked from your six after you tap Battle now. A trainer with fewer than five cards starts each card with Energy: one for each card it's short of five, up to 3.

The Daily Duel is its own game. It borrows Pokémon cards and plays them like a battle from the video games, so each card shows the Duel's version: its art, type, HP and Weakness, and each move's Energy, damage and any condition it can cause. The rest of a card's text isn't used. Tap a card to see its moves, or to see the real card.

A move can make the card it hits Burned (it loses 20 HP at the end of every turn), Poisoned (10, then 20, then 30, and so on), Paralyzed (a 25% chance each turn it can't move), Asleep (it can't move for 1 to 3 turns) or Confused (for 3 turns, each move has a 33% chance to hit itself for 20). The number beside the icon is the chance: 50% when the card always causes it, 25% when the card flips a coin. A card holds one condition at a time, plus Confused, and swapping it out cures it. The same moves get the same luck for everyone.

Your first duel each day counts. Once it's over you can practice the same duel as often as you like.

No. Play as a guest and add a name to go on the leaderboard. A free account keeps your streak on every device, earns tokens and adds the day's cards to My Cards.