NYCC and PAX Aus: how the NARUTO CARD GAME tutorial sessions actually work

Bandai has now published operating details for the two October stops on the NARUTO CARD GAME pre-release tour. They are the first tutorial sessions since Gen Con, and the rules for getting into one have changed.

The two stops

New York Comic Con: October 8 to 11, 2026, at the Javits Center, 429 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001. Bandai gives a booth number: #2705.

PAX Aus: October 9 to 11, 2026, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Wharf, VIC. The page adds the obvious but necessary caveat that participation in any of the activities requires entry to PAX Aus.

The two events overlap by three days, which means the NARUTO CARD GAME will be playable on two continents simultaneously for the first time.

Registration is on the day, at the booth

This is the substantive change from Gen Con. There, tutorial tickets were registered through the Gen Con events system from June 21, weeks ahead. For NYCC and PAX Aus, Bandai states that registration is planned to take place on-site on the day of the event.

The conditions attached to a session:

• Admission to the session itself is free
• Demo decks cannot be taken home: you play with Bandai's cards
• You may participate in only one tutorial session across the whole convention

The one-session cap is stated separately on both pages, worded per event: one session throughout New York Comic Con, one session throughout PAX Aus.

The gift, and the condition attached to it

Tutorial participants receive:

• CP-001 Chakra Card
• Logo Sticker

But not automatically. Both pages carry the same restriction: only participants registered to the NARUTO TCG UPDATES CHANNEL on BANDAI TCG+, and who complete a survey after the tutorial session, are eligible to receive those items. Participation prizes are limited to one per person regardless of how many sessions are reserved or attended.

BANDAI TCG+ is Bandai's card-game application. It handles event applications, check-in and match results across its TCG titles. The NARUTO channel is explicitly not an event registration; Bandai's own page for it states the channel exists only for receiving the latest updates on the NARUTO CARD GAME, not for participating at a venue. Registering means downloading the app on iOS or Android, selecting the NARUTO CARD GAME title, finding the channel on the Events page, applying, and signing in with a BANDAI NAMCO ID.

In other words: the barrier to the promo card is an app install and an account, completed before you reach the survey. Worth doing in advance rather than in a queue.

The Logo Sticker has a softer route at PAX Aus. Bandai's page there offers a free sticker to anyone who follows its social channels (Instagram, Facebook or X) or registers the NARUTO TCG UPDATES CHANNEL. The CP-001 card has no such alternative; it requires the session.

Note also what is absent. The Gen Con gift set included a special backpack. Neither the NYCC nor the PAX Aus listing mentions one.

The playmat

Both pages list the same item:

NARUTO CARD GAME Official Playmat -Arriving in 2027-, MSRP: $35 (+tax)

Limited to one item per person; the NYCC listing adds that it is available in limited quantities each day. Neither page spells out whether you walk away with it or receive it in 2027. At Gen Con the mechanism was a purchase voucher collected at the event. The "-Arriving in 2027-" suffix in the product name suggests the same arrangement, but Bandai has not said so directly.

This remains the only price Bandai has published for anything attached to the NARUTO CARD GAME. No set names, booster configuration, starter deck lineup or card-product MSRP has been announced.

Where this sits on the road to launch

October is the busiest month of the pre-release tour: NYCC and PAX Aus, then Spiel Essen, Paris Games Week and Lucca Comics & Games later in the month. The convention phase runs to BANDAI CARD GAMES Fest in Orlando and London in January 2027, the same month in-store tutorial sessions begin at local game stores, ahead of the Summer 2027 worldwide release.

Full schedule on the events page; the confirmed mechanics are in the rules guide and the terminology in the glossary.