How you got involved in playing/collecting Pokemon cards!

[opticalmask]

This board needs more activity! Hoping to get some people talking with this thread :)

Basically, just share how you got into playing or collecting Pokemon cards, maybe share some experiences!

I'll start with this: I started collecting cards when I was a kid, (I'm 18 now) when they first came out and all that. I stopped after a year or two then, but just recently picked it back up a few months ago. (Pretty long time gap!) It's fun! I learned the TCG from a friend of mine, and am now an avid new collector, and a bit of a TCG fanatic :D

Share your story!

 

[icycatelf]

I got into the Pokemon craze back in elementary school around the time Burger King was doing the Pokemon: The First Movie promotion. A friend of mine gave me a BK Butterfree card, then I started going to BK to get my own. It wasn't until the next year that I got my first actual Pokemon TCG card - a Jungle set Jigglypuff - at a school festival. It costed me over a dollar, but since I had no way of getting them otherwise at the time, I was fine with that. Next day I found another class selling Pokemon cards for $0.25 apiece, so I grabbed a Fossil set Kabuto, a Rocket set Oddish, and a couple others. It was the same year that I got my first Japanese Pokemon cards - Brock's Crobat, Erika's Exeggcute, Omanyte, and Eevee (this one basically being a parting gift from a friend I haven't seen in over 10 years). It was also around this time that I started buying cards on my own from Wal-Mart, Sears, etc. Also got the Mewtwo promo from Pokemon: The First Movie (VHS) and Ancient Mew from Pokemon: The Movie 2000.

My cousin tried to get me into playing when I was younger, but I didn't understand at all. He won some of my holographic Pokemon coins like this. It wasn't until later years, when I got in high school actually, that I learned how to play thanks to Pokemon: Play it! and Pokemon TCG GB. Got a few of my friends into it. Haven't played much at all recently. Last 3 games were probably with my mom. Her and that Wailord ex. XD

I haven't bought any cards since the LEGEND sets came out... Even though Johto is my favorite region...

 

[angel]

I believe that my big brother got me into them, he watched Pokemon when it fifst came out and then got my little brother and I into it.

 

[donavannj]

I read an article on them in Time For Kids magazine *wonders if they still print that* on them at school, and then went out and split a starter deck with a cousin of mine. I don't really remember how I kept interested, other than my parents just occasionally buying me more of them, until I started buying some with my own money and then got into Yu-Gi-Oh, which had my attention for a couple years before I got back into Pokemon. Been buying some every once in a while ever since.

 

[dragonite149]

My friend gave me some cards from the early sets, then my friends got some new cards. I got some new cards, and traded with my friends. Then I got a deck. That Gallade 4 deck. I learnt how to play, got more cards, and here I am now, avid player and collector of Pokemon cards. I get a lot of Pokemon cards at 'teh' Carboot.

I got into Pokemon when I watched a video with Pokemon music.

 

[Captain Hobo.]

My friends at camp told me about them and gave me a few and I was off.

 

[vava18]

well i collect cards about 7 months, i realy like this "game" i spend about 15$ for month and i get sometimes really good cards

 

[piecemeal]

I think I saw some somewhere and enjoyed the card art. Eventually my mind got to thinking and I snagged a few cards at Target for the heck of it. Pretty much instantly I was hooked! I get a lot of enjoyment out of collecting. I did finally learn to play but I haven't been very into it. I have a full life and I just can't do it all! So I have to prioritize. I've checked out the anime and the games as well, but just plain old collecting (and visiting PC) is where my joy comes from.

 

[Cyndaquil]

Heh, this sure brings back memories...
I must've been introduced to the game really early on, because I'm sure I had a Zap! theme deck. I got introduced to a league by a friend of mine and started to play there weekly, and I think I played until the beginning of the e-card era.

 

[femtrooper]

I first got into Pokémon cards when they first came out back in...oh was it '99 or '00? Anyway, I was ten then, and I'm 21 now.

I collected them and traded them with friends, but I think it was in 2000 or 2001 when I joined a Pokémon Trading Card Game League at a Toys R Us that I first learned how to actually play them. It was amazing! I actually could play the game properly now! I still use my mats from the TCGL back then too! I first learned how to make decks there and I can remember teaching other people how to play. So fun!

Up until about 2 months ago maybe, I forgot about them. I always played the video games still, but forgot about the cards. I took them out, re-read how to play to familiarize myself with the game, and now my boyfriend and I play all the time! I've also started to collect them again! Such fun!

I also just ordered the Pokémon Trading Card Game for Game Boy Color too!!! I can't wait to get it and play it! So awesome!

Anyway, I love the game so much, so it's good to see other people still enjoying it!

 

[PlatinumDude]

A long time ago, I was collecting Pokemon cards from booster packs just for the Pokemon themselves; I had no idea on how to play the game then. When I bought the original Pokemon TCG starter set (with a CD), and learned how to play, I got hooked, and started buying the theme decks of the actual game. Even though I don't play the game as much anymore, I still remember the rules.

 

[♠Dawn Rayne♠]

When they first came out, got a few from the kids at the bus stop... and never looked back :)

 

[pmarckoue]

I was about 7 or 8. I had the cards for a long time, but never really learned how to play until about 9 or 10 years later lol But by that time, I was able to drive myself to the local card shop and play in a league. I guess it was the pokemon craze, at grade school, that really got me into it though.

 

[PaxAmericana]

I think i saw ads on TV about them, and i started collecting them.

 

[dozo]

I was 7-8. It was Pokemon.
Therefore, I forced my father to buy them =D