No.3 Trainer (Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament promo)

No.3 Trainer (Japanese: Ｎｏ.３トレーナー No.3 Trainer) is an TCG Item card. It was first released in Japan as a TCG Trainer card through several tournaments before becoming the third place prize in the Pokémon World Championships.

Release information
This card was first awarded to the third place winners of the qualifying rounds of the Japanese Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament which was held on the first day of the two day event held at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba prefecture on June 14 and 15, 1997. This card was reprinted later in the year and awarded to the third place winners from both of each regional Lizardon Mega Battle conference, held between November 1997 and February 1998. It was also reprinted and distributed in the same manner to the third place winners of each regional Kamex Mega Battle conference held between July and August 1998.

The card was reprinted again and awarded to the third place winners of each regional Challenge Road '99 SUMMER event held between July and August 1999. Participants in elementary school were eligible for entry into Tropical Mega Battle tournaments, whereas those in elementary school third grade (third grade) through to high school second grade (eleventh grade) were eligible for entry into Secret Super Battle tournaments. Participants eligible for both could only compete in one tournament. Third place winners of the Tropical Mega Battle qualifiers were awarded the print featuring and the event logo with artwork by Ken Sugimori and Hiromi Ito, whereas the Secret Super Battle third place winners were awarded the print featuring a  silhouette and the event logo with artwork by Hideki Kazama.

The next major iteration featured new artwork by Ken Sugimori and was first awarded to the third place winners of each regional Japanese World Challenge Summer event held between July and August 2000, which like the Challenge Road '99 SUMMER campaign was split into the Tropical Mega Battle and Secret Super Battle events. The winners of each tournament were awarded this card and granted entry into the finals held later in August. Unlike previously awarded trophy cards, these cards were personalised with the name and regional conference of the winner. It is unknown if there was a card awarded for those competing in the Tropical Mega Battle tournaments.

This card was reprinted in 2001 and awarded to the third place winners from both of each regional Neo Spring Road tournament, held between February and March 2001, and each Neo Summer Road tournament, held between July and August 2001. The top ranking players from both age divisions and each regional Neo Spring Road and Neo Summer Road tournament were eligible for entry into the "Best in Japan Deciding Match", held on March 31, 2001 and August 25, 2001 respectively. The senior third place winners of these tournaments were also awarded a No.3 Trainer card, but were made more unique by having their photographs printed on the card illustration. It is unknown if the junior third place winners were also awarded these cards.

This card was reprinted again in 2002 on e-Card stock and awarded to the third place winners of each regional Battle Road Spring 2002 tournament, held between March and April 2002, and each Battle Road Summer 2002 tournament, held between July and August 2002. The Battle Road 2002 series was also the first to introduce the Master age division (for those 18 and over) in addition to the Junior and Senior divisions, which has remained the standard in all official events. A new illustration by Ken Sugimori was also used for this print featuring a female Trainer, making the distribution method of this trophy card unique based on the gender of the winner. The ratio of male to female variants for this card is unknown. Much like the Neo Spring/Summer Road series, the Battle Road Summer 2002 tournaments culminated in a "Best in Japan" final, but a new card was printed for the top ranking players.

The latest iteration of this card was awarded to those who came third in each in the World Championships. It was first awarded in 2004 when Play! Pokémon hosted the first Pokémon TCG World Championships under Pokémon USA, and has been awarded at every Worlds tournament since. In 2007 this card was printed on DP stock, lacking the circle pattern prior prints featured. In 2010 this card was printed on HGSS stock, adopting the blue Trainer color scheme and gold illustration window. In 2011 this card was printed as an TCG Item card on BW stock as per all previously classed Trainer cards. For the first time in 2013, the card was awarded to the third place winners of both the Trading Card Game Championships and the Video Game Championships in each age division.

The artwork was updated for the card awarded at the 2014 World Championships, featuring an embossed TCG Full Art card (Full Art) Pikachu complete with trophy by 5ban Graphics. The card also features a bronze border.

Details of each tournament this card was awarded at are below.

Trivia

 * The prints awarded between 1997 and 1998 were well publicized during the Pokémon phenomenon at the turn of the century, and are popularly known collectively as the Pikachu Trophy No.3 card in reference to the illustration. There are misconceptions regarding the distribution of these particular cards, one of which is that the latter two prints were awarded in 1998 and 1999, whereas both were awarded across two tournament series in late 1997 and 1998. Similarly, the Tropical Mega Battle print was only awarded during the 1999 event. The other misconception is that they were awarded to the overall winners of the tournament finals, where in fact they were awarded to the qualifying event winners. The same also applies to the Tropical Mega Battle and Super Secret Battle prints.
 * The prints awarded between 2000 and 2002 were the only cards to feature printed personalisation until the release of, , and from a Lawson's campaign in 2011. It is debated that despite the larger quantity of cards in existence, these cards are rarer than the original trophy cards released between 1997 and 1998 as each one is unique.
 * For the non-"Best in Japan" 2000-2002 prints, the number of Pokémon present in the illustration increases as the rank increases; No.3 Trainer features two Pokémon; features four;  features six. The same pattern would later be used  promotional cards.
 * The cards awarded to the "Best in Japan" top ranking players have a photograph of the winner in the illustration superimposed on the logo of the tournament they competed in. The Neo Spring Road print features Lugia, while the Neo Summer Road print features Ho-Oh. These cards are amongst several to feature images of real life people.
 * The 2000 and 2001 prints have "No.3 Trainer" instead of "Trainer" at the top of the card. On the 2002 print this is present on the top right of the card, making it a unique Trainer card subclass. The double star rarity was also no longer used with the 2002 print.
 * The 2007-2009 prints do not have "Trainer" in the top right corner of the card as per all Trainer cards released during the DP era. The 2011 print onwards also features a ruling as per all Item cards, but is unique to the No.2 Trainer.
 * The number of the early Japanese prints in existence is a popular topic of discussion. Amongst the collector community, the general consensus is that there were two copies of the Pokémon Official Tournament print awarded; however, the numbers of the 1998-1999 prints are disputed. Based on the regional events at which the cards were awarded, there are likely a minimum of six of the Lizardon Mega Battle print, with a maximum of twelve, and a minimum of five of the Kamex Mega Battle print, with a maximum of ten. Based on how the age divisions were split and the regional events for the Challenge Road '99 SUMMER, there were an estimated seven of each of the Tropical Mega Battle and Super Secret Battle prints awarded. Not taking personalised elements into account, there were an estimated eight of the 2000 print awarded, 14 of the Neo Spring Road print, one of the Neo Spring Road "Best in Japan" print, 14 of the Neo Summer Road print, one of the Neo Summer Road "Best in Japan" print, 21 of the Battle Road Spring 2002 print, and 21 of the Battle Road Summer 2002 print. As stated above, the ratio of male to female variants for the Battle Road 2002 series prints are unknown. The cards awarded via the World Championships are only printed in English, making it one of the rarest English cards in existence. There were only three copies of each annual version produced between 2004 and 2012, but this increased to six from the 2013 World Championships with the inclusion of the Video Game third place winners. The text on the 2013 print of the card awarded to the Video Game champions still reads "Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships", however. This was corrected starting with the 2014 World Championships.
 * Value-wise, collectors can expect to pay significant sums of money for any of these cards; however, recent history has shown that the more recent releases do not command as much as the original trophy cards awarded between 1997 and 1999, which were well publicized during the Pokémon phenomenon at the turn of the century. Due to their limited numbers, these cards are often considered amongst the rarest in the world.

Origin
Nummer 3 Trainer (TCG) No.3トレーナー