Bids is a live auction for Pokémon characters. Two trainers sit down with twenty each, eight lots come under the hammer one at a time, and whoever assembles the higher total power wins. It is Pokémon Minigames's most competitive game and its shortest: a full match takes a couple of minutes.

The lots are drawn in fixed power bands — two genuine monsters above ninety power, two strong, two middling and two cheap — so every auction contains exactly the same shape of temptation. You never know what is coming next, but you always know two more heavyweights exist somewhere in the deck.

A lot is revealed as a card showing the character, their class and region, and their power. Players alternate: you can raise the current bid by at least one, jump straight to a quick amount, go all in, or withdraw. Each turn has twenty seconds.

Withdrawing does not pass the lot along — it sells it, at the standing price, to whoever bid last. If both players withdraw without bidding, nobody gets the character. Money spent comes out of your twenty for good, and both purses are visible throughout.

After the eighth lot the totals are compared. The higher power wins; if they are level, the player with more money left over takes it; if that is level too, it is a draw. Wins move you along a rank ladder that runs Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Elite and Master, with a Legend seat reserved for the top five players.

Count the deck, not the card. Two lots above ninety power exist in every auction, so paying most of your budget for the first strong character you see usually hands the second one to your opponent uncontested. Knowing what is still to come is worth more than winning the lot in front of you.

Watch your rival's purse, because you can see it. Once they cannot outbid you, every remaining lot is yours at the minimum, so late in an auction the cheapest way to win a good character is to have money left when they do not.

Use withdrawal as a weapon. Pushing a bid one higher on a lot you do not want costs nothing if they take it, and costs them budget they will miss two lots later — but misjudge their willingness and you own a character you did not want at a price you cannot afford.