Catch ‘Em All with Pokémon Card Collecting!
Just this past February, Nintendo’s popular Pokémon franchise celebrated 20 years since the original Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Green (released in North America two years later as the more familiar Pokemon Red and Blue). The past 20 years have been filled with hundreds more ‘mon and an impressive catalog of RPGs, with the latest paired release not even a month old (and selling wonderfully).
Of course, the video games are only one facet the award-winning Nintendo creation. Also of vast popularity and global spread – the Pokémon Trading Card Game, a haven for collectors and gamers alike. Pokémon TGC is a tabletop game, based all around collecting and playing with themed cards with a fair amount of trading thrown in as well. While there are a good deal of fairly common cards, there are rarity thrown in as well – many of them worth several hundred dollars, if you know what you’re looking at.
Pokémon TCG History
The card game launched in 1996 in Japan, the same year as the original games. It drew heavily from Pokémon Blue, Red, and Green, with a variety of artists designing the cards. In 1999, the game debuted in North America, featuring the original Base Set and related booster packs. The 1st edition print of the Base Set sold quickly, making cards from this set extremely rare and valuable. Subsequent decks and booster packs added more cards and more variety, and later generations of Pokémon were added as they came.
Each round of the game is called a “match,” with the order of turns being decided with a coin toss or a six-sided die (with even numbers being heads and the odd numbers tails). The game officially requires a deck of 60 cards, but half matches are frequently held with 30 card decks. To win, a player needs to meet the criteria as described in the rules, and most matches are about 10 to 15 minutes long – though it’s common for them to be much shorter or much longer.
Anyone ready to go take a look at what we’ve got on our Pokémon team? Take a look, and try a bid or two!
Are there any among us who played the Pokémon Trading Card Game, or are interested in getting involved? How about people familiar with the video games? Are there other card games that tickle your fancy? Let us know in the comments! Until next time, good luck, and happy bidding!
