How to play

Deck construction

Building your deck#

Your Leader is the constraint that shapes everything else. Bandai states that “a player's cards and strategies are determined by the color of their Leader,” so the Leader you pick defines the pool you may build from. Copy limits per card number have not been published.

Source: Bandai — official 対戦方法ガイド (How to Play Guide) — Deck construction, turn structure, the battle sequence, the Chakra loop and every play-area limit are transcribed from Bandai's own guide.

Winning

How you win#

Games are won when an opponent's Leader's Life is brought to zero. Leaders print DMG, POW and LIFE; Characters print DMG, POW and HP. Both revealed Leaders start on 15 Life, which sets the clock for how long a game runs.

Whether running out of cards also loses you the game has not been confirmed.

Turn structure

How a turn works#

Both players open on 5 cards. Only the player going second may mulligan, and only once. A turn then has just two phases:

Source: Bandai — official 対戦方法ガイド (How to Play Guide) — Deck construction, turn structure, the battle sequence, the Chakra loop and every play-area limit are transcribed from Bandai's own guide.

Getting Characters out

Deploying Characters#

• Normal deployment happens once per turn, by resting your Summon card. That single card is the throttle on how fast a board can develop.
• Deployment via an EX Character or a card effect does not use the Summon card, so it is additional — this is how decks break the one-per-turn limit.
• A Character cannot attack on the turn it is deployed, unless it has [Rush].

Combat

How battle resolves#

Characters carry two different attack values, and which one applies depends on what you attack:

1. Declare the attack — the attacking Character rests.
2. Damage step: subtract your value from the target.
3. A Character reduced to 0 HP goes to the trash.
4. A Leader reduced to 0 Life loses the game.

Note the unusual restriction: you may only attack Characters that are already rested. Standing Characters cannot be targeted, so resting to attack is what exposes you.

The pieces

The five card types#

Bandai has named exactly five card types. There is no Ninjutsu card type — Ninjutsu is a Jutsu that Character cards unleash by paying a Chakra cost, which is why it appears in ability text as a Support cost rather than as a card of its own.

Resources

The Chakra loop#

Chakra is described by Bandai as “a player's resource pool, spent to activate Jutsu and other Support effects at the moment they're needed.” The revealed cards fill in how that actually cycles:

• Costs are paid by flipping Chakra face-down — Naruto's Leader ability reads “flip 1 of your CHAKRA face-down.”
• Leader [Recovery] abilities rest the Leader to flip all of your Chakra face-up again, from the second turn onward. Chakra renews; it is not burned.
• Denying that refresh is already a design axis — Shisui Uchiha stops you turning Chakra face-up for a full turn cycle.

The board

Play areas and limits#

Source: Bandai — official 対戦方法ガイド (How to Play Guide) — Deck construction, turn structure, the battle sequence, the Chakra loop and every play-area limit are transcribed from Bandai's own guide.

The trap layer

Three ways to use a Support card#

1. Deploy it normally to the field as a Character.
2. Set it face-down in the Support area — this is what lets it fire on your opponent's turn.
3. Activate its Jutsu straight from hand — but only on your own turn.

All three pay the Chakra cost. The face-down option is the whole reason this game has a bluffing layer: a set card and a spent Chakra look the same to your opponent, and Kakashi Hatake can negate a Support outright while Shisui Uchiha can negate the negate.

Reference

Keywords and timing windows#

Every entry below is transcribed from a revealed card, with the cards it appears on so you can check the wording yourself.

Source: Joseph Writer Anderson — Complete Naruto Card Game Card List — Transcribed from cards shown in Bandai's July 29, 2026 reveal trailers and corroborated against Bandai's own press release.

Stats, resource terms and general game vocabulary are defined in the full glossary.

Not yet confirmed

What Bandai hasn't said#

Plenty of sites will fill these gaps with guesses. We would rather list them:

• How many copies of one card number a deck may contain.
• How the starting player is decided.
• Whether damage on a Character persists between turns or clears.
• Whether a defending Character deals damage back to the attacker.
• Whether running out of cards loses you the game.
• Hand size limits, and whether you discard at end of turn.
• Individual Chakra and Summon card text — only their roles are confirmed.
• Set names, product lineup, and rarity distribution at launch.

In-store tutorial sessions begin January 2027, and the game is playable at Bandai's event tour before then — that is where the comprehensive rules are most likely to surface first. We will update this page as they do.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions#

How many cards are in a NARUTO CARD GAME deck?

1 Leader card, 50 main deck cards, exactly 5 Chakra cards and exactly 1 Summon card. Bandai has not published how many copies of a single card number a deck may contain.

How do you win a game of the NARUTO CARD GAME?

You win by reducing your opponent's Leader's Life to zero. Both revealed Leaders — Naruto Uzumaki (N-001) and Sasuke Uchiha (N-012) — start on 15 Life.

What is the turn structure?

Two phases: a Draw Phase then a Main Phase. On turn one the player going first draws 1 and the player going second draws 2; from then on everyone draws 2 per turn. In the Main Phase you deploy Characters, activate Jutsu and attack.

How does the opening hand work?

Both players draw 5 cards. Only the player going second may mulligan, and only once.

What is the difference between DMG and POW?

DMG is the damage a Character deals when it attacks the opposing Leader. POW is what it deals when attacking a rested Character, reducing that Character's HP. You may only attack Characters that are rested.

How does Chakra work?

You start with 5 Chakra face-up. Paying a cost flips one face-down, and there is no automatic refresh at the start of your turn. The only way to turn them face-up again is to rest your Leader — and resting your Leader means it cannot attack that turn. Attack or refresh is the core decision each turn.

Can the Leader attack?

Yes. Each turn your Leader either attacks or rests to refresh all of your Chakra — you cannot do both. That trade-off is the heart of the game's tempo.

Is Ninjutsu a card type?

No. The five card types are Leader, Character, EX Character, Chakra and Summon. Ninjutsu is a Jutsu that Character cards unleash by paying a Chakra cost — on the card it is printed as a Support ability, such as Support [1 CHAKRA]: Lightning Blade.

What does a Summon card do?

Bandai describes the Summon card as "a required card to bring Character cards into battle." Every deck runs exactly one. No individual Summon card's full text has been revealed yet.

How do EX Characters work?

EX Characters cannot be deployed normally. Each prints [Summon Requirements] that place your own Characters into the trash — Gamabunta (N-005) needs a Character with 10 or more power discarded. Deploying one does not use your Summon card, so it does not consume your one normal deployment for the turn.

How many Characters can I have on the field?

Five in the Character area and five in the Support area, plus one EX Character. Your Chakra area holds exactly 5.

Has Bandai released a full rulebook?

Not a comprehensive one, but the official how-to-play guide covers far more than the press release did: deck construction, turn structure, the battle sequence, the Chakra loop, the three ways to use Support cards, and every play-area limit. A handful of edge cases remain unpublished — they are listed at the bottom of this page.