Nuzlocke Rules — The 2 Core Rules & Common Clauses

A Nuzlocke is a fan-made, self-imposed challenge ruleset for Pokémon games — not an official game mode. The Pokémon Company publishes no Nuzlocke rules; everything below comes from the challenge’s creator and the community that has run these rules since 2010.

The short version: there are only two rules you must follow. Everything else — nicknames, clauses, level caps — is an optional layer you add on top.

The two core rules

These two rules come directly from creator Nick Franco’s original 2010 definition on nuzlocke.com, and every major community source (Bulbapedia, Nuzlocke University, r/nuzlocke) agrees they are the non-negotiable core:

Core Rule 1

Limited Encounters — first encounter only

You may only catch the first wild Pokémon you encounter in each new area, and no others. If that first encounter faints or flees, there are no second chances — you get nothing from that area.

Core Rule 2

Death — faint means dead

Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead and must be released or permanently boxed. Revival methods such as Revive or Revival Blessing are forbidden.

Bulbapedia’s wording is the community’s accepted test: “Regardless of the optional rules used, the run is considered a Nuzlocke Challenge so long as the two basic rules are in place.”

The nickname rule — a near-universal convention

Most players add a third rule: you must nickname every Pokémon you catch or obtain, to form a stronger emotional bond with the team (and make deaths hurt more).

Sources disagree on how to classify it. Nuzlocke University, the Prestigious Nuzlockers wiki and recent guides list it as a “third basic rule” — while noting it is “not technically necessary… but universally accepted.” Bulbapedia files it under near-universal rules rather than core rules, and creator Nick Franco’s original definition contains only the two rules above. Pro player pChal calls nicknames “not important at all… because it doesn’t change anything.”

The practical answer: treat nicknames as a strongly recommended convention, not a core rule. Your run is still a Nuzlocke without them — but most of the community plays with them.

The most common clauses

Clauses are optional rules that adjust difficulty. Two of them appear in almost every rules discussion:

Clause	Effect	Difficulty
Dupes Clause	If your first encounter in an area is a species you already own, you may keep battling until you find one you don’t own.	Easier
Species Clause	Variant of Dupes: the reroll applies per evolution line rather than exact species.	Easier
Shiny Clause	If you encounter a shiny wild Pokémon, you may catch it even if you already had an encounter in that area.	Easier

Optional difficulty rules

Once the core rules feel manageable, players stack on harder restrictions. Bulbapedia splits these into “near-universal” expectations and optional difficulty increases:

Near-universal expectations

No resets — no reloading a save to undo a death or a bad encounter.
No cheating — no external devices or save editing.
Full wipe = game over — if your whole party blacks out/whites out, the run is over (not just the boxed survivors continuing).

Optional difficulty increases

Set mode — battle style locked to Set, so you get no free switch when the opponent’s Pokémon faints.
Level caps — your Pokémon may not exceed the level of the next boss trainer’s highest-levelled Pokémon.
No items in battle — no Potions, X-items or healing mid-battle.

Level caps, Set mode and no-items-in-battle are the foundation of the Hardcore Nuzlocke format — see our Hardcore Nuzlocke rules guide for the full breakdown.

A rule the community disagrees on: gift and static encounters

Open question — no community consensus

Do gift Pokémon (like the starters handed to you, or a gifted Eevee) and static encounters count as your one encounter for that area?

pChal’s personal ruleset: “a gift Pokémon is considered a legitimate encounter” — you may not catch anything else in that area.

Nuzlocke 101: “gift Pokémon are excluded” — they don’t consume your encounter.

Bulbapedia notes only that “some players consider” them separate encounters. Decide before your run starts and stay consistent.

How strict do you need to be?

A common new-player question on r/pokemon is some version of “there are dozens of variations — which ruleset should I follow?” The community’s answer is consistent: follow the two core rules, then pick the clauses that sound fun. A run with just the two core rules is a Nuzlocke. A run with core rules + nicknames + Dupes Clause + Shiny Clause is also a Nuzlocke — and it’s the most common way to play.

If you want a predefined harder format instead of assembling your own, use the community-standard Hardcore ruleset, or browse structured twists on the formula in our Nuzlocke variants guide.