Gundam

What do I need to start playing the Gundam Card Game?

Published · By the Cards from Japan editors

Summary

The official play guide calls for a 50-card deck, a 10-card Resource Deck, Token Cards, and damage counters such as dice. A starter deck covers all of it, and STARTER DECK Heroic Beginnings [ST01] sells for $11.99 in English (July 11, 2025) and ¥1,320 in Japan (July 12, 2025). When you build your own deck, you are limited to two colors and four copies of any card number.

What comes in ST01

The English ST01 contains a ready-to-play 50-card deck, 10 Resource Cards, 8 Token Cards, a paper damage counter, a rule sheet and playsheet, and one bonus pack. The GUNDAM ASSEMBLE Starter Set [ST01A] adds three miniature Gunpla (Gundam, Guncannon, and Guntank) for $34.99, or ¥3,300 in Japan. The miniatures come unpainted, need assembly, and can sit on Token Cards during play.

How a game runs

You start by placing the top six cards of your deck face down as shields and drawing five cards. Each turn you move one card from your Resource Deck to your resource area, and you can play any card whose level is at or below your resource count. Each Unit can pair with one Pilot, and a paired Unit that meets its link requirement becomes a Link Unit that can attack the turn it arrives.

You win by dealing battle damage to an opponent with no cards left in their shield area, or when their deck runs out. The full detail sits in the Comprehensive Rules, version 1.9.0, updated September 11, 2026.

Before the full launch, Bandai released the GUNDAM CARD GAME Edition Beta on December 7, 2024 for $69.99 (December 14 in Japan, ¥7,700), with 16 beta booster packs of 9 cards and a fixed 56-card set.

Sources

  1. How to play
  2. Comprehensive Rules
  3. STARTER DECK Heroic Beginnings [ST01]
  4. STARTER DECK Heroic Beginnings [ST01] (Japanese)
  5. GUNDAM CARD GAME Edition Beta
  6. Limited Box Ver.β (Japanese)

Details are as published on these pages on the date above and can change. Check the official page before you buy or submit.

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