How to Collect, How to Organize?

[ryanschmoll]

Hi all - I'm a long-time sports card collector that is new to the Pokémon TCG, and I'm really struggling to find a way to sort and organize. In sports, it's so easy. You organize first by sport, then by year, then by brand. For example, 2001 Upper Deck Baseball. What is the best way to do this for Pokémon? Is it one company that makes all Pokémon cards? Are the years even relevant (e.g. a 2013 card vs. a 2015 card)?

Right now my son and I pretty much have an overwhelming number of cards that I don't know how to value, because I first need to learn how to categorize!

 

[AdamN]

I'd recommend first sorting by Set, then by card number for each set.
You can determine what set each card is from by the symbol in the bottom right corner, you can compare the symbols to this chart if you want to know when each set was released and their names.

 

[donavannj]

It's worth noting that for the official game, there's only one official company behind the cards, though that company contracted out the rights to the game to another company back when the game first started. Current company behind the non-Japanese cards is The Pokemon Company, while the company they contracted out to for non-Japanese cards when the game was starting up is Wizards of the Coast (the company behind Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, among other games). IIRC, there's only ever been one Japanese printer for the cards, and I'm pretty sure that's Media Factory.

There are other Pokemon cards that are officially licensed merchandise but are not a part of the game, though, and several of the major card manufacturers have been involved in making some of these less successful card collections, Topps being one of them.

I agree with AdamN for how to sort the cards from the main game, though.