learn to play

Ah, a fellow Brit?

Card games can be quite challenging to learn and understand even for people without dyslexia, especially these days as power creep and complexity creep balloons card text. So don't be too hard on yourself.

Fortunately I would say Pokémon is one of the easier games to read, being focused on a younger audience and lacking a lot of complex game actions that feature in other games.

I would recommend checking the tutorial videos offered on this website as a good starting point. Sadly the site seems to be down right now, so you may need to try again later.

I usually recommend reading the rule book, but maybe hold off on that for now. Or use a text-to-speech program to read it to you.

There are a number of tutorial videos available on YouTube from third party creators. I learned to play several decades ago before YouTube existed, so I haven't used them myself, but I am sure you can find one that makes it easy to understand.

Games are often easier to learn by doing, rather than reading or watching in abstract. You could try playing Pokémon TCG Live. I assume it has a tutorial.

Finally, if you do not have any family or friends to teach you, you could try going to a local games store.

Back when I lived in the UK, I recall that LGSs were fairly low on the ground, but maybe there is one in your local area.

You can probably find someone to help you learn how to play there. There are even sometimes events for new players, I believe.

Best of luck to you in learning how to play. I hope you have fun.

@nickyfry1980 I am glad that you found my post helpful.

A word of caution. I am not sure how old you are. If the 1980 is your birth year, you're older than me. But I would be careful arranging to meet with people over the internet. Most people are benevolent, but all it takes is one unlucky encounter with a bad actor.

If you (or anyone else for that matter) are under 18, make sure you have your parent's permission and they know where you are before you meet anyone.

@NoahLaprasForum Thank you. I try to be helpful and informative where I can.