Can You Play the Gundam Card Game Online?

Bandai has had an official Gundam Card Game app on the App Store since 11 June 2025, a month before the first starter decks reached shelves on 11 July. Google Play counts more than 50,000 downloads of it. Read its store description and the notes for every update since, though, and none of them describes playing another person.

So "can you play the Gundam Card Game online?" gets two answers. On a phone or in a browser, yes: Bandai's free Teaching App runs a guided tutorial and a Free Battle mode against an enemy deck. Against a real opponent, Bandai's official route is the way you would play any paper card game at a distance - your own cards, a webcam and a voice call - and Bandai has already written the rules for that into its Tournament Rules Manual. Here is what each option does, what the app has and has not been updated with, and what Bandai's webcam rules ask of you.

How I checked

On 14 October 2026 I read Bandai's Teaching App page on its English (US) site, with the Japanese and English (Asia) versions for comparison; the App Store (US) and Google Play listings, including the App Store's dated version history; and Bandai's two April 2025 news posts announcing the app. For remote play I read sections 1.2, 1.5, 3.5 and 8 of the Bandai Organized Play Tournament Rules Manual (last updated 10 July 2025), Bandai's BANDAI TCG+ guide, its Judge Program page, every event on its English (US) events index, and all 159 entries in its English news archive back to October 2024.

I also loaded the browser version of the app on a desktop. It downloaded its game files but drew nothing on screen in the browser I tested with, so the app screens in this post are Bandai's own store screenshots, not my captures.

The short answer, option by option

BANDAI TCG+ is in that table because it is the app you will meet first if you play in stores. Bandai's guide to it covers searching and applying for events, creating and registering a deck, checking in, confirming matchups and recording results. It does not play the game.

The Teaching App has two modes

Bandai's own description lists two modes and no third. Tutorial Mode walks you through a battle and explains the basic rules as it goes. Free Battle is where you play, and Bandai describes its deck building in one line: "Experience easy deck building by selecting a deck color." The report on the April 2025 stream where Bandai announced the app described it the same way: the app would teach the basics, let players put together simple decks and play with cards they like.

Bandai recommends the app rather than the browser version on a smartphone. Its Windows spec asks for a Core i7-3770 and a GeForce GTX 750 Ti or better, and its Mac spec an Apple M1 or an Intel Core i5-8257U. Neither store listing shows in-app purchases. Both carry Bandai's note that the app's age rating may differ from the physical game's, and that younger players should use it with a guardian.

The screenshot at the top of this page is Bandai's, from the App Store listing: a Turn 8 main phase with both players on six Shields at Lv. 5. The hand counter reads 4/10, and the 10 is the real rule - the hand limit is ten cards, enforced in your end phase, when you discard down to ten (Comprehensive Rules 4-8-4 and 7-6-5-1). The rules walkthrough covers the same game on paper.

Free Battle has an enemy deck, not a person

Bandai's store screenshot of Free Battle, above, sets YOUR DECK against ENEMY DECK, with a START THE BATTLE button and a choice of NORMAL or EXPERT. The caption Bandai printed under it promises deck building with Starter Deck cards. A difficulty setting is a setting for a computer opponent, and nothing in the store description, the Teaching App page or the release notes mentions a second player, a lobby or matchmaking.

What the app does add is packs. Update 1.2.0 (22 July 2025) brought pack opening into the app, and each content update since has added a new set of cards with a chance at alt-art versions. Bandai's notes describe those cards as usable in the app, and neither store lists anything for sale.

Bandai runs the same kind of app for other card games: its App Store developer listing includes a ONE PIECE CARDGAME Teaching app, a Digimon Card Game Tutorial App and a UNION ARENA Tutorial App. Ravensburger, by contrast, announced on 14 August 2026 that a digital version of Disney Lorcana for desktop and mobile is in the works; our Lorcana digital game tracker follows that one.

Eight updates, five of them ahead of a product

The App Store keeps a dated history of every version (the dates below are its UTC timestamps). Bandai's notes mostly name a series rather than a product (1.7.1 is the exception, naming Freedom Ascension [GD05]), so the product column is my match by series and date, checked against Bandai's product pages:

Five of the eight updates added a new set of cards, and all five arrived between 4 and 14 days before the product they match went on sale. So far, the app has had its new cards on the way into a release rather than after it. The starter deck guide covers those products in more detail.

What the app has not caught up with

As of 14 October 2026 the newest version is still 1.7.2 from 17 July. The four September starters - Aquatic Assault [ST11], Raging Onslaught [ST12], Silent Barrage [ST13] and Heavy Dominion [ST14] - went on sale on 25 September, and 19 days later no update mentions them. The browser version's public asset catalogue, which lists the card files the game loads, includes none named for ST11 to ST14 on the same date.

That breaks the pattern in the table above. For now the September decks are a real-cards-only affair, and the ST11-ST14 card lists cover what is in them. Stardust Trails [GD06] releases on 30 October 2026, and Bandai has not said whether either product is coming to the app.

Playing a person means a webcam and real cards

Bandai's Tournament Rules Manual already covers online play. Section 1.5 says official events can run online as well as in approved stores and at venues chosen by approved organisers, and section 8, the Online Event Supplement, sets out how. There is no game client in it. Bandai recommends three tools:

• Discord, for the webcam feed and voice, with physical cards on a real table.
• BANDAI TCG+, so players can review card text during play.
• Screen recording software, to help judges settle disputes.

The match clock changes too. Section 3.5 lists an online standard match as best-of-one, 35 minutes plus 5 minutes of extra time, against 30 plus 5 for an in-person qualifying round, and section 8.2 explains the extra five minutes by the technical and communication problems online play adds. The tournament rules guide covers the in-person clocks and what happens when time is called.

Three more rules are online-only:

• Private looks become public reveals. When a card tells you to look at a card in your opponent's private area, online it is revealed to both players instead (8.2).
• Your deck is registered electronically. The organiser collects a digital deck list, may ask for a photo of your physical deck with your name and the date on it, and judges spot-check that the deck on camera matches the list (8.3).
• You play in your own region. Section 1.2 bars players from online events in a region other than the one they live in.

Bandai's own setup rules for webcam play

Section 8.4 is a checklist:

Section 8.5 then shows right and wrong with photos of a real table. The correct example above keeps the hand in shot but turned away from the camera, fans the Shields so they can be counted, and sets the EX Base at the front of the shield area with a die on it. Bandai's second correct example adds dice to track hand size and Shield count, which it suggests for online play without requiring it.

The wrong examples are just as specific: Shields and Base not clearly shown with Pilots hidden under their Units, a hand held so the camera sees its faces, a hand out of frame entirely, and, in the photo above, Shields piled so their number is hidden and there is no clear top or bottom card. Over a webcam your opponent can only check what the camera shows them: three of those faults hide something they need to see, and the fourth shows them a hand they should not.

Is there an online event to enter?

Not on Bandai's English (US) events page on 14 October 2026. Every event listed there runs in a store or at a venue: Store Championships Season 2 from 1 to 30 November, the 1st Anniversary Event in stores until 31 October, the remaining Season 2 Regionals, BANDAI CARD GAMES Fest in Orlando and London, and two convention booths. The World Championships guide has the full qualifying route.

So for now webcam play is something you set up with a friend, and section 8 is a sound template for doing it fairly. The manual is written for Bandai Organized Play events, but its camera checklist works just as well between two people on a call.

Bandai does point to one official online space: the Bandai Organized Play Discord server. Its Judge Program page, current as of 16 May 2025, says you can use the server to apply to be a judge, find judges for an event and ask judges ruling questions, and that the program is run by Play!TCG rather than Bandai. For a ruling you can look up yourself first, the rulings guide covers Bandai's FAQ.

Learning without a screen

If the point is learning the game rather than playing it at a distance, the two convention stops on Bandai's English (US) events page are both in Europe. At SPIEL Essen (22-25 October 2026, Hall 1, booth 1E315, the BlackFire booth) and Lucca Comics & Games (28 October to 1 November, the Gametrade booth in the Carducci Pavilion), Learn to Play participants receive a demo deck, and those who fill in a survey afterwards receive an RP-010 Resource card that Bandai labels Machu & GQuuuuuuX, both while supplies last. Our SPIEL Essen guide has tickets and opening hours.

Bandai's rules page also hosts a rules video and a printable playsheet you can download in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German or Portuguese, and a starter deck is a complete game for one player in a single box.

What this does not settle

• Whether ST11-ST14 or Stardust Trails will reach the app. Bandai has said nothing about either.
• Whether a full online client is coming. None of the 159 entries in Bandai's English news archive announces one, and its January 2026 roadmap report does not mention one.
• How the app handles errata and bans. The release notes do not say whether Free Battle plays corrected cards by their errata text.
• The browser version's screens. It would not draw in my test browser, so I have not compared it with the phone app.
• Anything after 14 October 2026. A new app version, a new online event or a new Bandai announcement would move this page.