What Is Union Arena? A Beginner's Guide

If you love anime and manga, Union Arena might be the card game you've been waiting for. It's made by Bandai, the company behind the One Piece Card Game and Dragon Ball Super Card Game, and it first launched in Japan in 2023.

One set of rules, loads of series

Union Arena is built around one big idea: every series uses the same rules. Bandai calls it a "common rules" card game. Each set is based on a single anime, manga or game, so you might pick up a BLEACH set, a Solo Leveling set or a Re:Zero set, but once you've learned to play with one, you can play with all of them.

That makes it easy to collect the series you love most and still have a game everyone can play.

How a game works

• Each player builds a 50-card deck.
• You play characters onto the field and attack your opponent.
• Each player starts with 7 Life cards, and you win by taking all of them.
• Energy is generated by the cards you have in play, so there's less resource juggling than in many card games.

Most new players get the hang of it within two or three games, which makes it one of the friendlier anime card games to pick up. Bandai also has a free Union Arena tutorial app if you want to practise first.

Which series are there?

There's a long list, and it keeps growing. We currently stock sets including BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, Solo Leveling, Gurren Lagann, Re:Zero, The Eminence in Shadow, One Punch Man and Steins;Gate.

Booster packs or a booster box?

If you just want to try it, a few booster packs from a series you like are a great start. If you're keen to build a deck or chase the rarest cards, a sealed booster box is better value per pack. Look out for the special rare cards with new artwork, including signed cards, which make Union Arena fun to collect even if you never play.

Japanese or English?

Union Arena is released in both Japanese and English. Japanese sets usually come out first and include series that haven't reached English yet, which is why most of our range is Japanese.

Ready to start? Browse our full Union Arena range.