Bakugan?! Here's What Parents Need To Know

The ultimate Bakugan guide for parents! This buyer's guide will help you find the very best versions of this kids' gaming craze. These links will take you to our other pages on this topic:

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Be the Coolest Dad: Learn to Battle!

What's there to say about the game that combines card-based games like Yugioh with the age-old game of Marbles, and throws in an element of Transformers, too? Don't expect an easy transition for a Dad who wants to sit down and play with his son, but while everything looks confusingly Japanese and impenetrably complex, it's really not that hard to grasp.

Confused by this Japanese creation? Us too. But fear not. We'll peel away the layers of weirdness for you. Thankfully there are some useful instructional videos out there.

This one's a bit basic (kids are so cute when they try to teach games to people!), but it tells the story well enough:

Dadiot's Guide to Gameplay

As far as we can tell, you roll your marble-like Bakugan creatures (also known as Battle Brawlers), still rolled up into ball form, towards metal cards which you place face-down in the center of the play area (any carpet or floor will do), on the travel mat, or on the optional, but very cool-looking, Battle Arena.

A brawl happens when any of the the robots pops open on the card, and an enemy one pops open on the same card. Now remove both of the robots and flip over the card to face-up.

Compare the G power rating of each robot (found just inside the front of the robot's case when it's popped open). Dads may need their glasses on to spot these tiny numbers! Each metal card has power ratings in colored circles. These affect the G power rating of each robot, plus or minus.

Now each player can play a regular (non-metal) card from their hand to supplement the metal card and the robot's G power rating and the metal card. Highest total G power wins the brawl. The winner captures the loser's Battle Brawler robot and gameplay continues. Replace the metal cards, or replace the used metal cards with new ones if you have more cards available.

We hope this makes things a little clearer! You'll find links here to various add-ons and accessories, plus our reviews of those Bakugan items we've managed to get our hands on.

These links will take you to our other pages on this topic:

T-shirts | Battle Brawlers | Card guide | Related toys | More info