Naruto Card Game (Bandai): everything we know so far
On 29 July 2026 Bandai finally said how the game works: five card types, Chakra as the resource, and a win condition. It arrives worldwide in Summer 2027 and is playable at Gen Con first. This page collects every fact Bandai has actually published — and, just as usefully, everything it still hasn’t.
Last updated: Rewritten after Bandai’s 29 July reveal, which finally described how the game is played. Updated as official information lands.
- Publisher
- BANDAI CO., LTD. — Card Business Department, under the BANDAI CARD GAMES brand animenewsnetwork.com
- Announced
- 18 June 2026 animenewsnetwork.com
- Playable debut
- Gen Con 2026 — 30 July to 2 August 2026, Indianapolis naruto-cardgame.com
- Worldwide release
- Summer 2027 — narrowed from “2027” at the 29 July reveal. No month or street date. naruto-cardgame.comnaruto-cardgame.com
- Rules published
- Yes, since 29 July 2026 — an official overview covering card types, resources and the win condition naruto-cardgame.com
- Win condition
- Reduce the opponent’s Leader’s Life to 0 naruto-cardgame.com
- Deck
- 51 cards, 5 Chakra cards and 1 Summon card (the Japanese page reads it as 1 Leader + 50) naruto-cardgame.comnaruto-cardgame.com
What the Naruto Card Game is
BANDAI CO., LTD. announced the NARUTO CARD GAME on 18 June 2026: a new trading card game built on Masashi Kishimoto’s NARUTO. It is published through Bandai’s Card Business Department under the BANDAI CARD GAMES brand — not, as several outlets reported, by Bandai Namco.
Bandai’s own framing of the game is one sentence long: it is “designed as a strategy-focused title for the competitive trading card game audience”. That line is the entire official description of how it plays.
Source: prnewswire.com
I’m glad to see the world of NARUTO grow larger once again. I truly hope these cards find their way to both your hands and your hearts.
Source: animenewsnetwork.com
The scale behind it: the NARUTO manga has passed 250 million copies in circulation worldwide. And this is Bandai’s second run at an English Naruto card game — the previous Naruto Collectible Card Game launched in 2006 and was supported until 2013, which makes this the first official Naruto TCG in over a decade.
Sources: prnewswire.comicv2.comkotaku.com
Not the same thing as Naruto Mythos
Naruto Mythos is a different game, from a different company (CICABOOM S.r.l., Genoa, Italy), and it has been on sale since March 2026. If that is what brought you here, read the side-by-side comparison.
Where things stand: the calendar
Five dates define the launch so far. Only the Gen Con announcement has come with concrete product detail attached.
18 Jun 2026
The game is announced
BANDAI CARD GAMES reveals the NARUTO CARD GAME, a new trading card game based on Masashi Kishimoto’s NARUTO. The announcement carried a new key visual (Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha), a teaser video, a commemorative illustration and a comment from Kishimoto himself.
Sources: animenewsnetwork.comanimecorner.me
21 Jun 2026
Gen Con tutorial tickets open
Registration for the Gen Con 2026 Tutorial Sessions was set to open at 12:00 PM PDT through the official Gen Con site. A Gen Con admission badge is required on top of the (free) session ticket.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
29 Jul 2026
The game is finally described
The countdown ran out at 14:00 UTC and Bandai published an “About” page: five card types, Chakra as the resource, the deck composition, the win condition, and card images. The same day brought a second announcement, BANDAI CARD GAMES Fest 26-27, to be held in 11 locations worldwide. The release window tightened from “2027” to “Summer 2027”.
Sources: naruto-cardgame.comnaruto-cardgame.comnaruto-cardgame.com
30 Jul – 2 Aug 2026
World debut at Gen Con 2026
The first time anybody outside Bandai plays it. Indiana Convention Center, 200 South Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46225. Booth #605 in the Exhibition Hall; Tutorial Sessions run in Event Room #121.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
2027
Simultaneous worldwide release
Bandai has confirmed the year and a simultaneous global launch, and nothing more precise. Further tutorial sessions are planned at events around the world after the Gen Con kickoff.
Sources: prnewswire.comnaruto-cardgame.com
What Bandai has actually revealed
On 29 July 2026 the game stopped being a logo. Here is everything Bandai has now put in writing about how it is played — and nothing that it hasn’t.
There are five card types. The Leader card is “the Leader card that your deck is built around”. Character cards are “chosen based on your Leader’s color” and “form your front line in battle”. EX Characters are “powerful Character cards that can be played once you reach certain play conditions”. Chakra cards are “required to activate Support cards like Ninjutsu”. Summon cards are “required to play Character cards onto the battlefield”.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
You play with “a deck of 51 cards, 5 Chakra cards, and 1 Summon card”. The Japanese edition writes the same total differently — 1 Leader card plus a 50-card deck — which is what the English “51” is counting.
Chakra is the resource: you “use Chakra to activate face down support cards”, and Ninjutsu is one of those supports — “unleash Ninjutsu to stop their attacks”. Summoning is a separate cost: you “rest your Summon card to bring one of your characters onto the field”.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
You “win by reducing your opponent’s Leader’s Life to 0”. Leader colour is what constrains deck building, since Character cards are chosen based on it.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
The game draws on all three series — NARUTO, NARUTO: SHIPPUDEN and BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS — settling a question the June announcement left open.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Card images are now public: eleven card designs appear on the official About page. Bandai still publishes no card list, and notes that “images used on this website may differ from the actual product as it is still under development”.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
One card exists publicly by name and code: the promo “CP-001 Chakra Card -Gen Con 2026 Ver.-”, handed to Gen Con 2026 Tutorial Session attendees. Now that Chakra cards are known to be a real card type, the promo reads as one of them — though Bandai has still not said what this particular card does.
Sources: prnewswire.comnaruto-cardgame.com
In the interest of keeping our own record straight: until the reveal, this page listed “chakra is the resource system” and “there is a chakra deck separate from the main deck” among the claims Bandai had never made, because at the time it had not made them — the word only existed as a promo card’s name. Both turned out to be right. They were good guesses reported as fact, and the reveal has now made them fact.
Sources: naruto-cardgame.comprnewswire.com
What the cards themselves show
Bandai published sample cards alongside the rules overview. They answer things the text does not — and, being samples, they carry Bandai’s own warning that the printed cards may differ.
Character cards carry three numbers: DMG (damage) at the top left, and POW (power) and HP at the top right. Bandai has not published what any of them do beyond their names.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Under the name sits a trait line — “Special / Jinchuriki / Hidden Leaf Village / Team 7” on Naruto Uzumaki, “Special / Akatsuki Organization” on Itachi, “Special / The Legendary Sannin / Village Hidden in the Sound” on Orochimaru. Teams, villages and organisations are all card traits.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Each card is framed in a single colour — the same colour that, per Bandai, decides which Characters a Leader can field. The sample cards show at least blue, green, magenta and a multicolour treatment.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
One sample carries full rules text: Ino Yamanaka (card code N-011), DMG 2 / POW 5 / HP 8, reading “[Activate: Main] [Once Per Turn] If you have [Shikamaru Nara] and [Choji Akimichi] on the field, your [Ino Yamanaka], [Shikamaru Nara], and [Choji Akimichi] all gain [Rush] and +5 power/+1 damage during this turn.” It defines the keyword in place: “This card can attack on the turn in which it is summoned.”
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
So three things follow from that one card: there is a Main phase, there are once-per-turn restrictions, and [Rush] is the first named keyword in the game. Card codes run on an N- prefix.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
A Character can also be a support. Shikamaru Nara shows a SUPPORT line — “Shadow Possession Jutsu”, cost CHAKRA 1 — reading “During Your Opponent’s Attack: Summon this card and interrupt that attack.” That is what “activate face down support cards” means in practice: the same card is either a body on the field or a trick held back.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Chakra cards have their own card back, distinct from the main deck’s, and the front instructs you to turn the card face down when you spend it. The press reading of Kishimoto’s illustration — two card backs, a separate chakra deck — was right.
Sources: naruto-cardgame.comanimecorner.me
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Gen Con 2026: the world debut
Gen Con runs 30 July to 2 August 2026 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. It is the game’s first playable outing anywhere, and the only part of this story with real detail attached. Bandai says further tutorial sessions are planned at events around the world afterwards.
The Tutorial Sessions are free and aimed at newcomers, run in Event Room #121 with demo decks supplied by Bandai, are limited to one session per person for the entire event, and prohibit photography, video and audio recording.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Attendees receive a gift set: the CP-001 Chakra Card -Gen Con 2026 Ver.- promo, a special backpack, a logo sticker, and a purchase ticket for the “NARUTO CARD GAME Official Playmat -Arriving in 2027-”.
Source: animenewsnetwork.com
Claiming the CP-001 promo requires registering for the TCG+ channel and filling in a post-session questionnaire; the sticker requires a social follow or TCG+ registration; backpacks are capped at a daily quantity, while supplies last.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Booth visitors who do not play a tutorial can still pick up the backpack and the sticker, within the same daily quota.
Source: prnewswire.com
The only price Bandai has announced for anything NARUTO CARD GAME is the Official Playmat: $35 (+tax), sold only to Tutorial Session attendees holding a purchase ticket, and only on the same day the ticket was issued.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
Sources: naruto-cardgame.comprnewswire.com
What we still don’t know
This list is longer than the confirmed one, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. None of the following has been announced by Bandai.
Rules and gameplay
- Turn structure: the sample text proves a Main phase exists, but not what the other phases are, nor who goes first
- How much Chakra you get, and whether it replenishes each turn
- Copy limits per card, and whether a side deck or extra deck exists
- The keyword glossary — [Rush] is defined on the card that grants it, and nothing else is published
- What DMG, POW and HP each do: the numbers are printed on every card, their rules are not
- How a Leader’s Life works beyond “reduce it to 0”: its starting value, and whether damage lands in points or in cards
- What the play zones are, and how many Characters can hold the front line at once
- How Leader colour restricts a deck in practice — how many colours, and whether off-colour cards are legal at all
Products and release
- The name and set code of the first set
- The launch line-up: starter decks, boosters, displays
- Pack contents, rarities, pull ratios and set size
- MSRP for any playable product (the $35 playmat is not one)
- The street date inside the Summer 2027 window — no month announced
- Which languages the cards will actually be printed in
- Specific distribution regions, retail channels and distributors
Everything else
- Organized play: formats, championships, tournament and launch kits
- Any official digital client or simulator beyond the BANDAI TCG+ app
- Any technical relationship with One Piece, Digimon, Dragon Ball Super, Union Arena or Gundam Card Game — Bandai names none of them
- Whether CP-001 will be tournament-legal after the launch
- Which 11 locations host BANDAI CARD GAMES Fest 26-27, and what the NARUTO CARD GAME does at each
- Whether a full rulebook follows the About overview, and when
Why this section exists
The 29 July reveal answered the big questions — card types, resource, win condition, deck size — and stopped there. What is above is what Bandai has not covered: an overview is not a rulebook, and anything filling those gaps right now is inference, not announcement.
Claims you’ll see that Bandai never made
Five claims circulating as fact that do not trace back to any Bandai statement.
“Bandai Namco is publishing it.”
The press release names BANDAI CO., LTD., through its Card Business Department, under the BANDAI CARD GAMES brand. Several outlets get this wrong.
Source: animenewsnetwork.com
“It’s the same thing as Naruto Mythos.”
Different game, different publisher. Naruto Mythos is made by CICABOOM S.r.l. in Genoa, Italy, and has been on sale since March 2026. Bandai’s game arrives in 2027.
Sources: narutotcgmythos.comprnewswire.com
“It’s a relaunch of the old Naruto CCG.”
Bandai’s previous Naruto Collectible Card Game ran from 2006 and was supported until 2013, which makes this the first official Naruto TCG in over a decade — but no relationship, compatibility or continuity between the two has been announced.
Sources: icv2.comkotaku.com
How to follow the updates
The official channels, exactly as Bandai lists them. We print the handles rather than links, because Bandai publishes the handles and not the URLs.
X: @narutotcg_eng · YouTube: @NARUTO_TCG_EN · Facebook: /narutotcgeng/ · Instagram: @narutotcg_en · plus the BANDAI TCG+ app for notifications.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
The official site runs in four editions — Japanese, English (Global), English (Asia) and Traditional Chinese.
Source: naruto-cardgame.com
For context on reach: Bandai’s own boilerplate says BANDAI CARD GAMES operates card game titles in more than 50 regions worldwide, including North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Oceania and the Middle East.
Source: animenewsnetwork.com
“Wait — isn’t there already a Naruto card game?”
There is, and it is a completely separate product. Here is what actually separates Bandai’s NARUTO CARD GAME from Naruto Mythos, dimension by dimension.
Compare the two gamesSources
Every claim on this page traces back to one of these. External links open in a new tab.
- NARUTO CARD GAME — official site (English) naruto-cardgame.com
- NARUTO CARD GAME — official site (Japanese) naruto-cardgame.com
- NARUTO CARD GAME at Gen Con 2026 — official announcement naruto-cardgame.com
- BANDAI CARD GAMES Reveals NARUTO CARD GAME — press release prnewswire.com
- Bandai Announces New Naruto Card Game animenewsnetwork.com
- BANDAI CARD GAMES Reveals NARUTO CARD GAME — press release mirror animenewsnetwork.com
- Naruto Card Game Announced by Bandai, Global Launch Planned for 2027 animecorner.me
- Bandai Announces Naruto Card Game icv2.com
- Naruto To Receive First Official Trading Card Game In Over A Decade kotaku.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — official site narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — The first expansion now has an official release date narutotcgmythos.com
Combalo is an independent, unofficial fan project. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by BANDAI CO., LTD., Shueisha, Cicaboom S.r.l., or any card-game publisher. "NARUTO", "NARUTO CARD GAME", "Naruto Mythos" and all related names, logos and artwork are the trademarks and copyrights of their respective owners. This page reports publicly available information and cites its sources.