pokemon cards?

[flyweightnate]

Never thought this would be me, but my son and niece (6 and 8) are very interested in Pokemon cards right now. Thankfully, they're uninformed, so it's currently available, mostly looking at how cool the pictures are, not any sense of "value".

What I'm wondering... is the game worth learning to play? I figure for $30 I can get enough cards to make two decks, and teach them the rules so it's not just mindlessly stuffing pictures in binders, but maybe a bit of strategy, etc. Or is it more of a commercial thing, where the most expensive hand wins, and I'd just be willingly getting them in a rat race?

I went out with my son tonight and we found a pack of ten cards at Target, and it made his night... now just deciding if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Cdn_Cuda]

My daughter got some packs and was very excited and I wondered the same thing. Most kids don’t play the game, just collect the cards, at least around here.

[Shrimp266]

I went throught this with my kids, same ages.

There are decks ready made to "teach" the game. Come with mats that have instructions, a deck already sorted to play a certain way the first time, and all extras you would need.

My oldest read the rules, explained it back to me, and we played. Then she taught her little brother.

Bottom line, no need for fancy cards if you're playing at home and having fun. And once they know the rules, the kids love special cards when I gift them to them. We have a great time just playing against each other every other weekend or so, and it gives me something to do with my kids they want to do too.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Good to know! We play Munchkin Sunday nights as a family so this gives us an option to switch it up.

[flyweightnate]

Ooh, I love Munchkin but it's been ages since I played... I like where this is going

[kevin qmto]

as a child I had a whole cardboard box full of em, and NEVER learned how to play the game lol. I gave most of them away, and at the time, sold a charizard for what I thought was a huge amount, 50 bucks. (This was 2002 probably).

[pghp8ntballer]

My wife and I both learned how to play when our oldest was in kindergarten or first grade. I can’t remember exactly. So like 3 or 4 years ago. Neither my wife and I played as kids or even had the cards. We love playing the game. There is definitely strategy to it which I enjoy, There is strategy in deck building which doesn’t require the newest and fanciest super powerful card. Type strengths and weaknesses, abilities, certain attacks, special cards, etc can undermine even super strong attacks. Now our oldest kids are 8 and 10. They can play without help from either my wife or myself.

I grew up collecting hockey cards. I learned from that experience that they are just pretty pieces of paper that some people find value in. Pokémon and Magic cards are the same except you can play a strategy game with them.

Find training decks to learn how to play easily. Then buy one of the battle decks for each of you. Then simply have fun.

[nak81783]

Learn to play. It’s fun. I’d usually let my older son build his deck, and then I’d build mine less “powerful”, if that’s the right term. That way, if he didn’t execute strategy perfectly, he could still win.

There’s also a computer Pokémon TCG game that you can download, I think for free. We used this solely to help learn to play. Then we went back to the cards.

We haven’t played in a while. Other board and card games have taken over. But I would certainly play again if either of my boys wanted to. My younger son enjoys the cards, but he never really got into playing.

[flyweightnate]

Cool. Glad to hear the game can stand on its own legs. Gonna buy some cards now....