Digimon playmats for the card game

These Digimon playmats are part of our TCG Playmats collection and are made for Bandai's Digimon Card Game. Each one has a micro-woven cloth play surface, a neoprene top layer and a natural rubber base that keeps it from slipping, 3 mm thick in total, with double-stitched edges all the way around. The artwork is printed in high resolution from edge to edge, the print is fade-resistant, and nothing goes to the printer until you place an order.

A single-player mat measures 24″ × 14″ (61.5 × 35.5 cm), enough for one player's whole side of a Digimon game. The two-player mat, 24″ × 28″ (60 × 70 cm), gives two players one continuous surface, which suits a game whose memory gauge is shared between both sides. Designs come with printed zones, without them or both, and the product page of each design lists its layouts and sizes.

Why the Digimon Card Game needs a mat

Few card games spread across as many separate areas as this one. Each player's side holds a security stack, a Digi-Egg deck, a breeding area, a battle area, a main deck and a trash, and a memory gauge runs between the two players. Cards change orientation as Digimon are suspended, stacks grow taller with every digivolution, and the security stack shrinks, and sometimes grows back, as the game swings.

On a bare table, all of that drifts. Stacks slide into each other, a nudged security card ends up half under the deck, and nobody is sure where the memory marker was before someone bumped the table. On a mat, every pile has a home, the rubber base keeps the whole layout still, and sleeved cards glide between areas on the cloth instead of sticking to a varnished surface.

The memory gauge

Memory is the game's resource, and it lives on a gauge numbered from 10 on one player's side through 0 in the middle to 10 on the other. The game starts with the marker on 0. Playing cards, digivolving and using Option cards all cost memory, and you pay by moving the marker toward your opponent's side. Once it ends up on 1 or more on their side, your turn is over, and they begin their turn with that much memory to spend. One marker on one gauge serves both players for the whole game.

That shapes how you set up. With two single-player mats, both may have a gauge printed, but the game only uses one, so agree before the first turn which gauge carries the marker. Zoned layouts often place the gauge along the top edge, where two mats meet back to back, and the sequence reads the same from either seat because it runs symmetrically around 0. Any small token, die or bead works as the marker, as long as it sits squarely on one number.

The security stack

At the start of a game, each player places the top five cards of their deck face down as their security stack. When a Digimon attacks a player, it checks the top security card: the card is turned face up, a Digimon revealed there battles the attacker, and some cards carry security effects that activate on the spot. A player who is attacked with no security cards left loses the game, so every player keeps a close eye on that pile.

Because both the security stack and the deck are face-down piles of the same cards, keep them well apart. A layout with zones usually puts security at the outer edge of your side and the deck at the other end, and a full-art design works the same way as long as you set the two piles up in the same places every game. Leave room beside the stack, too, so a revealed card can be flipped and set down without knocking the cards below.

Digi-Eggs and the breeding area

Next to the main deck, each player has a Digi-Egg deck of up to five Digi-Egg cards, all Lv.2. Once per turn, you can hatch the top Digi-Egg into your empty breeding area or move a grown Digimon from the breeding area out into the battle area. A Digimon raised in the breeding area is out of reach of attacks, so players often digivolve it there for a turn or two before it steps out to fight.

For a mat, that means two slots most games don't have, and they work as a pair: the egg deck feeds the breeding area, so zoned layouts generally set them side by side. If your mat has no zones, put the egg deck and breeding area in the same corner every game, away from the main deck, and the routine soon becomes automatic.

Digivolution stacks in the battle area

Digivolving puts the new Digimon on top of the old one, and the cards underneath stay in play as its digivolution cards. Many of them carry an inherited effect, printed in a box at the bottom of the card, which the Digimon on top gains. To keep those effects readable, players offset the stack so each lower card peeks out below the one above it, and a Digimon that has climbed from Lv.3 all the way to Lv.6 takes up much more height than a single card.

The battle area has to absorb those stacks, plus Tamers, which stay in play beside your Digimon, and suspended cards, which turn sideways after they attack or use an effect. About six suspended sleeved cards fit side by side across a 24″ mat. Zoned layouts usually leave the battle area as one open space rather than fixed slots, because the number and height of stacks changes every turn. Keep the stacks toward your edge so the inherited effects face you and the top of the mat stays clear.

Decks, trash and card handling

A main deck holds exactly 50 cards, with no more than four copies of any card number. Option cards go to the trash once they are used, and a deleted Digimon takes its whole digivolution stack to the trash with it, so the pile builds quickly in a long game. Some decks pull cards back out of the trash, which is one more reason to keep it neat and in reach.

Digimon cards are the standard 63 × 88 mm size and take standard sleeves, which glide on cloth whether you single- or double-sleeve. A game involves a lot of lifting and restacking, from digivolving onto a Digimon to pulling a card out from under a stack, and the 3 mm cushion makes that easier: your fingers press into the surface slightly, so you can slide a fingertip under a sleeve without scraping the card across the table.

Colors and palettes

Digimon cards are sorted into colors, such as red, blue, yellow, green, black and purple, and most decks are built around one or two. That gives you a simple way to pick a mat. A red deck built on Agumon and its digivolutions looks right on fire and orange skies; a blue deck built on Gabumon's line suits ice and deep water; green suits forests and jungle light; purple and black suit night skies and data static.

Digimon card frames are vivid, so a mat drenched in the same color can swallow them. A design that is calmer behind the battle area, with its strongest color around the edges and the gauge, keeps each card easy to read while still carrying your deck's palette.

Art from the Digital World

Digimon began as a virtual pet in 1997, and Digimon Adventure brought its DigiDestined and their partners to television in 1999. Decades of anime, games and cards have followed, which leaves a deep pool of art to draw on. Digivolution lines suit a long playmat well, because a line reads left to right much like the game itself: a Rookie, its Champion, its Ultimate and a Mega at the end. Crests and Digivices, with their simple symbols, suit players who want a quieter design.

On a zoned layout, the gauge band, the side columns and the battle area take up most of the surface, so look for art whose subject is large and bold enough to read between cards. Fine detail disappears under a stack, while a strong silhouette or a wide sky stays recognizable all game.

One gauge, two players

The two-player size, 24″ × 28″ (60 × 70 cm), fits this game particularly well. The memory gauge is shared, and on one continuous surface the marker can sit along the line between the two halves, where both players reach it equally and nobody's elbow drags it off a separate mat. Both fields stay exactly where they were left, turn after turn.

It also helps with teaching. A parent introducing a child to the game, or a friend walking a newcomer through a first match, can lay both sides out on one mat and point to each area as it comes up: here is where the eggs hatch, here is where security gets checked, and this is how far the marker can move before the turn passes. For a household that plays at a dining table, one mat is also quicker to set out and pack away than two.

Store events and travel

Most Digimon players start at a local game store, with weekly tournaments and casual nights, and some go on to bigger events further from home. Most events allow artwork playmats, but organizers set their own rules on art and printed zones, so check the rules of the event you are going to before you pick a mat to bring.

The mat rolls easily: art side out, around itself, into a tube or a bag along with your deck box, sleeves and memory marker. Don't fold it. If it comes out of the tube with a curl, lay it on the table while you sleeve up, and it settles flat by the first round.

Sizes and layouts for Digimon

Each design's product page shows the layouts and sizes it is made in. As a rough guide:

Layout or size	Good for
Single-player, 24″ × 14″ (61.5 × 35.5 cm)	Store events, travel and your own side of the table
Two-player, 24″ × 28″ (60 × 70 cm)	One shared gauge and both fields at home
With zones	Learning the areas and keeping security apart from the deck
Without zones	Full artwork and setting the field out your own way

Padrift also makes custom playmats from art you send in, printed with zones or left as full art.

Gifts for a Digimon player

For someone who plays the Digimon Card Game, a mat is a gift that comes out at every match. If you know their deck colors, choose a palette to match; if they are just starting, a layout with zones helps them learn where each area goes. For two siblings or a couple who play together, the two-player size gives them one shared table. Production takes 1–3 business days, after which the mat ships from Turkey, and delivery to the US usually takes 2–5 business days more.

Caring for the mat

Between games, a quick brush keeps dust and crumbs off the cloth. For a full wash, clean the mat by hand, or use the washing machine on a gentle cycle with cold water. Air dry it flat. Never use bleach, and never iron the print. Store the mat rolled instead of folded, and if it ever comes out with a curl, lay it flat for a while and it settles back down.

A note on names

Padrift is an independent studio. Digimon, the Digimon Card Game and the names of Digimon and game areas are used on this page only to describe what our playmats are made for; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Bandai, Toei Animation or Akiyoshi Hongo.