Tournament & Floor Rules

How official Palworld OFFICIAL CARD GAME events are run: time limits, what happens when time runs out, what to bring, and how penalties work. This is a plain-English summary of the Bushiroad TCG Advanced Floor Rules Ver.1.2.12 (last edited July 9, 2026), which cover Palworld alongside Bushiroad's other card games.

Time limits and time up

The recommended time for a game of Palworld OFFICIAL CARD GAME is 30 minutes. Players are expected to finish within the time, and judges or staff may ask a table to speed up.(§4.2)Organizers can set a different time if they announce it clearly — for example, extra time at a beginners' event, or no time limit for a final.

The Palworld-specific time-up procedure is short:(Annex A §7)

1. When time is called, play stops immediately, even in the middle of resolving an effect or action, and a judge steps in.
2. If no winner and loser have been decided, both players lose the game.

Because a double loss helps nobody, there is no life-total tiebreak and no reason to run out the clock. For matches that must produce a winner, the Floor Rules recommend that organizers set no time limit at all.

• Extra turns only exist if the tournament sets them; the Palworld procedure does not add any by default.(§4.7)
• The official time-keeper decides when a round starts and ends. Your own timer is only a rough guide, must be silent, and can't be a phone.(§2.3.3, §4.2)
• If a judge gave your table extra time, the round ends when the round time plus that extra time has passed.(§4.2)

How PalworldCenter online play applies this

Timed matches on this site follow the official rule:

• Timed games run a 30-minute match clock. When it reaches zero before anyone has won, the game ends immediately and both players lose. Ranked games are always timed and count a time up as a loss for both players.
• Online there is no judge to call slow play, so each turn in a timed game also has a 2-minute idle limit: a player who does nothing for a full turn loses. This is a PalworldCenter rule, standing in for the Floor Rules' slow-play penalties.(§3.19)
• If you disconnect, you have a short window to reconnect (60 seconds in timed games) before the game is conceded for you.
• You can concede at any time from the menu.(§4.3) Shuffling is done by the game.

What to bring

For Palworld OFFICIAL CARD GAME you need:(§1.2.2)

• Your deck: the Main Deck and the Soul Deck
• A life counter
• Material and Ingredient markers

Beads, dice, or similar aids can stand in for any of these as long as they do the same job.(§2.3.10) Spare sleeves and a pen are worth bringing too.

Sleeves, playmats, and Palworld-specific rules

• Your Main Deck and Soul Deck must use different sleeves from each other.(§2.3.10)
• Sleeves must not make any card distinguishable from the others — watch for wear, texture, or cut differences — and nothing else can go in a sleeve with a card. At official events you are generally expected to sleeve every card.(§2.3.1)
• Playmats are fine, but not oversized ones or mats with zones marked for a different game.(§2.3.2)

Shuffling

• Shuffle thoroughly, in view of your opponent, without showing card faces. Then offer your deck to your opponent to shuffle or cut.(§2.2)
• Combine methods (for example Hindu shuffles and a riffle-style weave). Deal-counting is fine for checking your card count before a round, but it randomizes poorly, so don't rely on it mid-game.(§2.2.1)
• You have about three minutes before each match to set up, sleeve, and shuffle both decks. Taking too long to shuffle or search can be penalized.(§2.2)

Matches, conceding, and draws

• A match can be best-of-one or best-of-three. In later games of a match, the loser of the previous game chooses whether to go first.(§4.1)
• You can concede a game or match at any time. Conceding can't come with conditions (such as “I'll concede if time runs out”), and deciding results by bribery, splitting prizes, or a coin flip is foul play.(§4.3)
• Intentional draws are not allowed, even if both players agree.(§4.4)
• To drop from an event, tell the scorekeeper before the next round is paired.(§4.5)

Swiss rounds and standings

Round one is paired randomly; after that, players with equal points are paired, and nobody plays the same opponent twice. A match win is usually worth 1 point; a draw or loss is worth 0.(§3.2.1)

Ties in the standings are broken in this order:(§3.2.1.2)

1. Opponents' match win % — the average of your opponents' win rates, each counted as at least 33%. Byes are left out.
2. Head to head — if the tied players played each other, the winner ranks higher.
3. A random method or a playoff, if it is still tied.

Recommended Swiss rounds scale with attendance: for example, 4 rounds for 9–16 players and 5 rounds for 17–32 when there is no top cut.(§3.2.1.1)

Penalties

Most local shop events are Level 1 tournaments, where the focus is a casual atmosphere and rules mistakes are handled leniently and used to teach. Cheating is penalized severely at every level.(Penalty Guide §1)

Penalties, from lightest to heaviest:(Penalty Guide §2)

• Caution — minor issues that slow a match. A second one may become a warning.
• Warning — moderate issues. A second warning is normally upgraded to a loss of match.
• Loss of Match — the match ends immediately as a loss.
• Disqualification — removal from the event, with prizes and standing possibly revoked.

Slow play is penalized whether it is intentional or not; everyone is responsible for keeping a game moving, even when there is no time limit.(Penalty Guide §3.19)