When did you first get into the Pokemon TCG?

[Sheep]

It would be awesome to see more discussions around here.

When did you first start playing the TCG? Do you feel you're more into it now or were you a more dedicated player during your early days? Have you "achieved" anything during your time playing, like placing in a tournament?

 

[lilbluedemon]

Back in 1996, When my mother was having her 4th child.
One after me, she bought me the original starter kit, which came with 60 cards, and a shiny Machamp as the main card.
She bought it because she thought i thought that the new kid would make me feel left out. (Which was false, btw).

As a kid all i played through my child years, 1996 - 2005. I played it like hell.
I don't really play anymore, I collect them, just for a hobby.
These are the pride of my collection.

Spoiler:

I think I've showed you before...

 

[donavannj]

I got into it the second year the TCG was in the USA in 2000. I had been coveting cards most of the school year that year, and finally split a starter deck with my cousin, and despite not having a whole lot of cards as a kid, I was intensely interested in them.

I'm kind of in an interest lull in the TCG at the moment, just collecting at the moment, as the cards really haven't been doing much to make me say "Wow" over the last few sets.

I probably liked it more as a kid than I do currently, though I was never able to attend leagues as a kid because my parents would never bring me to them, so even though I liked it more, I wasn't as "into it" since no one else knew how to play properly. However, I can definitely say I had my highest all-time interest in it from 2009 to 2014 when I was actively trying to attend leagues and tournaments and consistently being wowed by the new cards.

Also, my sense of time must be off, because I could've sworn it had been less than a month since the last thread about this was posted in, but I didn't see it in the thread index.

 

[Gligar]

When I joined PC in 2013, a user was talking to me about the TCGO, and I admit I got interested after he mentioned it. I had played with the cards before, but I wasn't really into it.

 

[RandomHype]

Well after X and Y came out, I said to myself "I'm gonna be the pokemon Master!"
then I proceeded to pick up a Greninja theme deck and start playing

 

[Scotash!]

When I was at school we all collected, that's back maybe 2000-01. It was a case of my mum and dad bought me the decks from woolworths which I always remember, and my grandparents would buy me one pack a week. I would save up my pocket money to buy packs from the local newsagent and that was around Base set & Jungle.
We would take them to school and trade, I actually started collecting with my big cousin and we sort of had a joint collection and we'd trade in our separate schools for the best holos. I remember taking mine to school in an elastic band because I never had a deck box.


When I got back into Pokémon in 2012 and started watching the anime, I flirted with collecting cards and bought a few packs of Plasma Storm. I never really got into it in a way and was more interested in the Anime as there was so much I hadn't seen. I did buy a couple of XY Base packs when they came out and pulled a Blastoise EX which got me interested because I'd finished watching the whole Anime season. About Flashfire time I bought a couple Korean Boxes along with the Charizard Battle Deck bcause they were so cheap so I started collecting them. But I got bored of them so fast so I started collecting English cards. I haven't looked back since and I have built up a really good collection with almost 12 sets complete so far.
I've never played the TCG in person, only played TCGO. I'm a lover of the artwork more than the game so I haven't really attempted to play the game. But I love the cards and I love collecting.