The Palworld Official Card Game is at SPIEL 2026 in Essen, with official demo sessions running during the fair. The game has been in stores since July 30, 2026, and its second booster set, Legends Awaken, is coming next.
Palworld is the monster-catching survival game the internet nicknamed "Pokémon with guns," because its creatures, called Pals, were shown holding firearms. The card game carries that over. Next to Pal cards, there are Gear cards that let players equip their Pals, and the cards on display at SPIEL included weapons.
A match is a duel between two players. Each one builds a team of Pals, gathers resources and places structures to take control of the field. Every card uses new artwork drawn for the card game, but the style stays close to the video game, so Palworld players will recognize the Pals right away.
We didn't get to play a round ourselves, but from what we saw at the booth, the game looks easy to pick up. A match took about 20 minutes. Bushiroad (the Japanese publisher behind card games) recommends its trial decks for newcomers, since they can be played straight out of the box. The game is available in English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.
Legends Awaken was also on display in Essen. The second booster set releases in English on October 30, 2026.
Bushiroad has also started a tournament series that leads to the first Palworld Official Card Game World Championship at Card Game Festival 2027.
