Battle Memo

Battle Memos (often shortened to "Batt-Mem") are actually a DIY version of a common elementary and middle school battle game known in Japan as "Batoen," a portmanteau of "Battle" and "Enpitsu" ("pencil"). This game and variations thereof are also played in other countries, called "Pencil Cricket" in the UK and "Battle Pencils" in the US. Using a pencil as a 6-sided die (often with marked with damage scores or special effects on each side), 2+ players start with a set HP (usually 100). Taking turns rolling their pencils, the last one standing wins.

There are many pre-made battle pencils, with official art and stats and abilities, or players can make their own with homemade materials. In the middle are Battle Memos, a DIY set for a specific character or monster, with stickers to apply to a pencil, a 20-page small notepad to record battles (1 battle takes up 2 pages, so there's room for only 10 battles), and other accessories. And, since Battle Memos are character-specific, you need to buy more for any character you want to battle with, which you can keep safe in a Battle Memo Binder (courtesy of cec_sport)! Like Menko, these are a cheap, easy way to add merch to a growing franchise.

Pokémon has had Battle Pencil merch manufactured by Tomy since 1997. I've been unable to find much info on specific sets, though I have seen at least 3 distinct Battle Memo sets for Gen 1, all seemingly released in 1997: Pokémon Batt-Memo Part 1, Pokémon Batt-Memo Part 2, and Pokémon Batt-Memo DX. Booster packs contained 2 Battle Memos for 300 yen; special edition sets of 2 cost a bit more.

Instructions: 1) Apply the Attack and Defense stickers on the appropriate side! *Only use the stickers that came with this Battle Memo! Using another Pokémon's stickers will disqualify you!! 2) Prepare the pencil! These stickers can be used with any commercially-available pencil! 3) Check the HP! The inside of the cover has the HP and stats for this Pokémon, so be sure to check it out before playing!

Pokémon also got many sets of ready-made battle pencils, but that's a bit beyond my current purview... So that's pretty much it for this topic!