GLOSSARY

TCG Glossary

A glossary of basic terms for NARUTO fans who are new to card games. Where the NARUTO Card Game has revealed something relevant, it is noted alongside.

Basics

TCG (Trading Card Game): A genre of games where you collect cards, build your own deck, and battle other players. The NARUTO Card Game is introduced on the official site as a full-fledged NARUTO TCG.
Promotional Card (Promo): A special card distributed outside of regular product purchases, such as at events or campaigns. For the NARUTO Card Game, "CP-001 Chakra Card -Gen Con 2026 Ver.-", the Gen Con 2026 demo participation gift, has been announced as the first promo card.
Rarity: A rank indicating how scarce a card is. Most TCGs have tiers such as common, rare, and super rare, each appearing at different pull rates. The rarity structure of the NARUTO Card Game has not been announced.

Products

Booster Pack: An expansion pack containing a random assortment of cards. It is the standard product format for most TCGs, but the product lineup for the NARUTO Card Game has not yet been announced.
Starter Deck (Preconstructed Deck): A deck sold ready to play right out of the box. It is the classic first purchase for beginners. Whether the NARUTO Card Game will offer one has not been announced.
Booster Box: A retail format that bundles booster packs into a single box. The number of packs per box and the pull structure vary from game to game.
Single Card: A card bought or sold individually at card shops rather than pulled from packs. It is the way to get exactly the card you want.
Sleeve: A clear or printed protective pouch that keeps cards safe from scratches and dirt. In tournaments and matches, it is standard to sleeve your whole deck identically.
Playmat: A dedicated mat to place your cards on during play. The "NARUTO CARD GAME Official Playmat" ($35 excl. tax, arriving 2027) has been announced, purchasable via voucher by Gen Con 2026 demo participants.

Gameplay

Deck: The stack of cards you bring to a match. You build it yourself following the card counts and construction rules of the game. The NARUTO Card Game has announced battles with 1 Leader card, a 50-card deck, 5 Chakra cards, and 1 Summon card (details such as copy limits are unannounced).
Chakra Card: One of the five card types, officially described as "cards required to activate support cards like Ninjutsu." You start each battle with five. The promo card "CP-001 Chakra Card" foreshadowed this card type.
Hand: The cards you have drawn from your deck and hold in front of you. In most TCGs you keep them hidden from your opponent and choose which to play. Hand-size rules for the NARUTO Card Game have not been announced.
Draw: Taking the top card of your deck and adding it to your hand. In most TCGs this happens at a fixed point each turn, and also through card effects.
Mulligan: The common name for a rule that lets you redraw your opening hand under certain conditions. Whether and how often you can redraw varies by game. It is not yet known whether the NARUTO Card Game will have such a rule.
Turn / Phase: Most TCG matches proceed as players alternate turns, with each turn divided into phases such as drawing and attacking. The turn structure of the NARUTO Card Game has not been announced.
Cost: What you pay to play a card. Most TCGs have a dedicated resource system (energy, mana, etc.), and more expensive cards tend to be more powerful. The NARUTO Card Game has announced that Ninjutsu is activated by paying Chakra cards as its cost (detailed mechanics unannounced).
Keyword Ability: Abilities that condense frequently used effects into a single word. Their exact meanings are defined in the rules document, and learning them as defined is key to improving. Keyword abilities for the NARUTO Card Game have not been announced; we plan to publish individual explainers once the rules are out.
Win Condition: The condition for winning the game. The term covers both the rules-defined win condition and, as strategy jargon, the plan by which your deck wins. The NARUTO Card Game has officially announced that you win by reducing the opponent Leader's Life to 0 (both sample Leaders show LIFE 15 on their faces, but how that maps to LP is unannounced).
Going First / Going Second: Which player takes the first turn. To balance the advantage, most TCGs place restrictions on the first player's opening turn (no draw, no attack, etc.). Rules for the NARUTO Card Game have not been announced.
Metagame (Meta): The prevailing mix of decks and strategies in tournaments at a given time. Reading the meta — knowing the popular decks and preparing for them — is a core part of getting better at any TCG. We plan to cover the metagame on this site after launch.
Leader Card: One of the five card types, officially described as "the Leader card that your deck is built around." You bring one to each battle, choose Character cards based on its color, and win by reducing the opponent Leader's Life to 0.
Character Card: One of the five card types: "chosen based on your Leader's color, Character cards form your front line in battle." They carry various effects — some activate Ninjutsu by paying Chakra costs, others support the battle.
EX Character: One of the five card types: "powerful Character cards that can be played once you reach certain play conditions." What those conditions involve is unannounced.
Summon Card: One of the five card types: "cards required to play Character cards onto the battlefield" (English site name: Summon Card). You start each battle with one, and rest it to bring a character onto the field.
LP (Life Points): The Leader's durability value — the official site announces that you "win by reducing your opponent's Leader's Life to 0." Both sample Leaders (Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha) show LIFE 15 on their card faces, but how LIFE maps to LP and how damage is dealt are unannounced. Among the 22 confirmed cards with readable text, only two touch the Life number — Kakashi Hatake (N-009), "reduce your Life by 2," and Karin (N-010), "gain 2 Life" — and no confirmed card reduces the opponent's Life directly.
Rest: Turning a card sideways to show it has been used — a common action in Bandai card games. The official site describes "resting your Summon card to bring a Character card onto the field." Of the 24 revealed entries with readable effect text, five mention resting. The three that rest something (the [Recovery] on the Leaders Naruto Uzumaki N-001 and Sasuke Uchiha N-012, plus the Summon Card S-001) all say "rest this card" — your own card — and no revealed card rests an opponent's card. The other two (Jiraiya N-006 and Orochimaru) read "Choose up to 2 rested Characters: K.O. the chosen cards," targeting the rested state. How a Character becomes rested is not printed on any card face and remains unannounced, as does when rested cards ready again.
Color: An attribute classification for cards. The official description — "Character cards are chosen based on your Leader's color" — confirms a Leader-anchored color system. The list and number of colors are unannounced.
Trash: The pile where used cards and cards that leave the field are placed — Bandai card games use this term rather than "graveyard." The official playmat handed out at Gen Con 2026 has a TRASH box on it. Of the 24 revealed entries with readable effect text, only 4 mention the trash, and those 4 (Naruto Uzumaki N-003, Gamabunta N-005, Sasuke Uchiha N-014, Manda N-022) are exactly the four confirmed EX Characters. Their [Summon Requirements] place a combined 6 Characters in the trash, while only 2 cards (N-003 and N-005) summon anything back out — and only N-005 names the trash exclusively (N-003 reads "from your deck or trash"). No revealed card touches the opponent's trash, and none returns a card from the trash to hand or deck; the field is the only destination written. No card states that K.O.'d Characters are placed in the trash either, and with the rulebook unpublished this remains unconfirmed.
K.O.: Removing a Character from the field. Confirmed cards word it as "K.O. the chosen card" (Hinata Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha N-014) or "K.O. all Characters" (Rasengan, Chidori). Six K.O. effects are confirmed so far, and none of them is restricted with "your" — so as printed, either player's Characters can be hit. Rasengan and Chidori say "all Characters," which includes your own board. Where a K.O.'d card goes is unannounced: searching the 24 revealed entries for "trash" turns up no card stating that a K.O.'d card is placed there — the only printed trash placements are the [Summon Requirements] on the four EX Characters.
Trait (Type): The classification line printed under a card's name. An attribute (Wind, Fire, Lightning, Water, Special, Taijutsu) is followed by affiliations and teams such as Hidden Leaf Village, Uchiha Clan, Team 7, or The Taka. Traits are referenced by effects as conditions — Itachi Uchiha (N-013) checks "if the revealed card has the {Uchiha Clan} type," and Sasuke Uchiha (N-014) requires "1 of your {The Taka} type Characters." The leading attribute has been confirmed to change between versions of the same character, so traits belong to the individual card, not to the character. The English card face calls them "type."
DMG (Damage): One of the three stats on a Character card's face — the value dealt when that Character's attack connects. Across the 20 confirmed Characters, 11 have DMG 1, seven have 2 and two have 3, making 1 the baseline. DMG 3 appears only on the EX Characters Naruto Uzumaki (N-003) and Sasuke Uchiha (N-014). Since Leaders have LIFE 15, a single point of DMG changes the number of attacks needed to close a game considerably. Whether a connecting attack reduces LIFE by exactly the DMG value is unconfirmed, as the rulebook is unpublished.
Power: One of the three stats on a Character card's face — the value compared in combat, and a frequent reference point for effect text. Confirmed values run from 4 to 11, and only EX Characters reach 10 or more (the highest non-EX is Jugo N-019 at 9). That "10" looks like a designed threshold: it is referenced by the [Summon Requirements] of Naruto Uzumaki (N-003) and Gamabunta (N-005) — "1 of your Characters with 10 or more power" — and by Minato Namikaze's (N-007) condition for gaining [Rush]. Whether a temporary power increase counts for those checks is unconfirmed.
HP (Hit Points): One of the three stats on a Character card's face — how much the Character can absorb. Leader cards print LIFE instead of HP. Across the 20 confirmed Characters HP ranges from 3 to 11, and looking at POW+HP the totals fall into three clean bands: 9–11 for Characters with a Support, 13–16 for non-EX Characters without one, and 18–21 for EX Characters. The reading is that the flexibility of being playable face-down as a Support is paid for with lower board stats. Exactly how HP is reduced and when a Character is K.O.'d awaits the rulebook.
Negate (Counter): Cancelling the effect of a card your opponent has activated. Two confirmed cards carry the [Support Activated] trigger: Kakashi Hatake's (N-009) Lightning Blade reads "Negate that card. Then, reduce your life by 2," and Shisui Uchiha's (N-016) Koto Amatsukami reads "Negate that card. Then, from this turn until the end of your next turn's End Phase, you cannot turn your CHAKRA face-up." Both are designed so that the counter is paid for with a cost on your own side.
Bounce (Return to Hand): Returning a card on the field to its hand — a common informal term across TCGs. The only confirmed instance in the NARUTO Card Game is Sakura Haruno's [Support] Cha!, which reads "Choose 1 Character: Return the chosen card to the owner's hand." Because it says "the owner's" rather than "your" or "your opponent's," the printed text also allows choosing your own Character to pull it to safety. Unlike a K.O., a bounced card can be summoned again.
Removal: Taking a Character off the field. Two families have been confirmed in the NARUTO Card Game: K.O. effects and bounce (return to hand) effects. Six cards K.O.: Hinata Hyuga's [8-TRIGRAM] Air Palm (1 non-EX Character), Jiraiya's (N-006) Fire Style: Toad Flame Bombs and Orochimaru's Striking Shadow Snake (up to 2 rested Characters), Sasuke Uchiha's (N-014) [On Summon] (1 Character), and Naruto Uzumaki's (N-004) Rasengan and Sasuke Uchiha's Chidori (all Characters). One card bounces: Sakura Haruno's Cha!. What they share is that none of them says "your" — every one is written so that either player's Characters can be chosen. Whether a K.O.'d card goes to the Trash has not been stated officially.
Board wipe: An effect that removes multiple Characters at once. Two are confirmed in the NARUTO Card Game — Naruto Uzumaki's (N-004) [Support] Rasengan and Sasuke Uchiha's [Support] Chidori — and both carry identical text: "K.O. all Characters." Because neither says "your," your own Characters go too. Both cost 2 and trigger on [During Your Main], so they never come flying in during your opponent's Main Phase — but the player firing one has to accept wiping their own board. These two also happen to have the lowest POW+HP (9) among the twelve revealed Characters that carry a Support.
Exclusion Area: A zone printed on the official playmat handed out at Gen Con 2026, separate from the Trash. Of the eight board zones confirmed per player, it is the only one that appears nowhere in the official site's gameplay explanation or card-type introduction. Nothing has been announced about which cards or effects use it, or how cards placed there are treated — and unlike the CHARACTER AREA and SUPPORT AREA, the playmat prints no rules note for it. Given that recursion cards exist — Gamabunta (N-005) summons a Character out of the Trash — its existence implies that somewhere in the game there is a process needing a resting place handled differently from the Trash.
Top of deck: The top card of your deck. Three revealed cards in the NARUTO Card Game reveal it and pay off on a hit: Itachi Uchiha's (N-013) [On Summon] (locks an opposing Character out of attacking on an {Uchiha Clan} hit), Jugo's (N-019) [When Attacking] (summons it if it is "Sasuke Uchiha" or a non-EX {Taka} card), and Manda's (N-022) [On Summon] (summons it if it is a non-EX Character). Only one card can deliberately place a card there: Sasuke Uchiha's (N-012) Leader [Activate: Main] [Once per turn] — "draw 1 card, then place 1 card from your hand on top of your deck." Your hand size does not grow, but you get to fix what the next reveal will be, which turns those reveal effects into something you can steer.
Resource: Whatever you spend to use an effect. The central resource in the NARUTO Card Game is the Chakra Card: five are set aside at the start, separate from the 50-card deck, and each is turned face-down when spent. The only confirmed way to get them back is the [Recovery] both revealed Leaders share — from turn 2 onward, rest your Leader and turn all of your Chakra face-up. Because the count is fixed at five and how many remain face-up is public information, you can narrow down which Supports your opponent can still fire from what they have left. Cards that charge something other than Chakra are confirmed too: Kakashi Hatake's (N-009) Lightning Blade costs 2 of your own Life, Shisui Uchiha's (N-016) Kotoamatsukami costs your Chakra recovery until the end phase of your next turn, and EX Characters' [Summon Requirements] cost your own Characters.
Attack: Attacking your opponent with a Character or Leader. In the NARUTO Card Game, Characters appear to be unable to attack on the turn they are summoned — that reads out of the reminder text on [Rush], "(This card can attack on the turn in which it is summoned.)" Two attack-related timing notations are confirmed: [When Attacking] (Jugo N-019) and [During Your Opponent's Attack] (six revealed cards), the latter being the window in which the defending player fires face-down Supports. Two effects stop an attack: Shikamaru Nara's (N-008) Shadow Possession Jutsu (interrupt that attack) and Itachi Uchiha's (N-013) [On Summon] (the chosen card cannot attack during your opponent's next turn). The detailed sequence of an attack, whether anything like blocking exists, and exactly when you may interrupt have not been announced.
Support: A tag printed at the top of a Character card's effect box, marking that the card can be set face down and activated by paying Chakra. The English official site describes activating "face down" Support cards with Chakra. Below the [Support] tag come the jutsu name (Rasengan, Chidori, Lightning Blade and so on) and the effect text, including its activation timing ([During your opponent's attack], [Quick] and others). Twelve of the 20 confirmed Characters carry this tag, showing that a single card has two faces: a Character to summon, and a card to set and fire. Some, like Shikamaru Nara (N-008) and Karin (N-010), summon themselves as part of the Support effect.
Summon: Putting a Character card onto the field. The official site describes the Summon card as "the card needed to summon Characters to the field," and the Summon card (S-001) reads "Rest this card to summon a Character card." Beyond using the Summon card, confirmed card text shows three more routes: meeting an EX Character's [Summon Requirements], summoning itself as part of a Support effect, and being summoned by another card's effect. Effects that trigger the moment a card reaches the field carry the [On Summon] tag. Characters normally appear unable to attack on the turn they are summoned — which is what [Rush] changes.
Active: A general TCG term for a card standing in its normal orientation — that is, not rested (turned sideways). In the NARUTO Card Game, both the Summon card (S-001) and a Leader's [Recovery] pay their cost by resting, and Jiraiya (N-006) and Orochimaru can only K.O. "rested Characters," so whether a card is rested is important board information. Officially, however, only the word "rest" is confirmed from card faces: what the opposite state is called, and when rested cards straighten up again, are unannounced. One clue is that the first turn phase on the official Gen Con 2026 playmat is named "Refresh Phase."

Events

Demo Event (Tutorial Session): An event where you learn the rules and actually play, before or after release. The world's first demo event for the NARUTO Card Game has been announced for Gen Con 2026 (one session per person).
Gen Con: One of the world's largest tabletop game conventions, held annually in Indianapolis, US. It is the venue for the world's first NARUTO Card Game demo event.
BANDAI TCG+: Bandai's event and tournament app for TCGs. The English official site notes that at Gen Con 2026, logo stickers are available by following the official social accounts or registering with BANDAI TCG+.
Organized Play (Official Events): The general term for tournaments and events sanctioned by the publisher. Most TCGs have tiers from local store events up to world championships. An organized play program for the NARUTO Card Game has not been announced.