Pokemon card game - HELP

E

E

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My son is 9 and is interested in the Pokemon card game. He has played a little of the video games and likes them. Usually when he shows an interest in something I'm able to find out a little about it and help him out, but Pokemon is a little after my time and I have no idea how this stuff works. I've never played a Pokemon video game either. My only exposure to turn-based games has been the first couple of Final Fantasy games; I never really got into it.

So I want to get him some cards and whatnot. I haven't got the foggiest idea what to get or even what I'm looking for. I haven't really seen anything that looks like it could be a starter kit; just packs of cards. Mostly its Black & White that I'm seeing - is this all that's out? Are all of the different versions compatible (like can you play Black & White cards with older ones)? How do you learn how to play? Do I need anything other than the cards? How can I get a large number of cards for pretty cheap? WHAT AM I DOING HERE, PEOPLE?
 
E said:
My son is 9 and is interested in the Pokemon card game. He has played a little of the video games and likes them. Usually when he shows an interest in something I'm able to find out a little about it and help him out, but Pokemon is a little after my time and I have no idea how this stuff works. I've never played a Pokemon video game either. My only exposure to turn-based games has been the first couple of Final Fantasy games; I never really got into it.

So I want to get him some cards and whatnot. I haven't got the foggiest idea what to get or even what I'm looking for. I haven't really seen anything that looks like it could be a starter kit; just packs of cards. Mostly its Black & White that I'm seeing - is this all that's out? Are all of the different versions compatible (like can you play Black & White cards with older ones)? How do you learn how to play? Do I need anything other than the cards? How can I get a large number of cards for pretty cheap? WHAT AM I DOING HERE, PEOPLE?
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Give up. Drop your son off at an orphanage.

It's really the only solution.
 
You definitely need a starter deck. This gives you a basic range of cards you need to play with and should come with a rule book and all the little accessories you use while playing. From there you should be able to get any additional desk or expansion set. I'm not sure how the current game is played as I only played during the first generation but I think the new cards should mostly be compatible with any older cards.

This Wikipedia article seems helpful. I'm guessing the Black and White Base Set is the starter deck for this generation. I presume most stores would only sell this current generation now as it ties in with the new games.

I used to have hundreds of cards I could have sent you but I have no idea where they are now. Most of my friends and I really only collected them instead of played the game (it's not actually very fun) but they were good times (until the fake cards were introduced and people swapped you them for your really good cards). Those were bad times.
 
ProjectX2 said:
You definitely need a starter deck.
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Where do I need to go to get this and how much do they cost? Can I get them at a regular store like Walmart or do I have to go somewhere like a comic shop (I know your stores a probably a little different over there but hopefully you know what I mean).
 
E said:
Where do I need to go to get this and how much do they cost? Can I get them at a regular store like Walmart or do I have to go somewhere like a comic shop (I know your stores a probably a little different over there but hopefully you know what I mean).
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It is very possible Walmart could have them, but you can check any gaming/toy stores, like Toys R Us. There are comic shops that carry them, but you'd only know by going and asking whichever one you see as not everyone carries them.

Also, Amazon sells them as well.
 
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I found something like that called a learner's kit or something like that. It came with two sets of 30 cards, some damage markers, and some instructions and stuff. We played a game...it seemed kind of complicated for little kids.
 
Yeah, it is. I really only collected Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z (which was about 100 times harder than Pokemon) because no one else bothered to play them because they were so unnecessarily complicated.

However, Yu-Gi-Oh was surprisingly easy to play, which was obviously the one I didn't bother collecting because I was sick of wasting whatever pocket money I had on stupid cards.
 
I collected baseball cards when I was younger so I might already know the answer to this...but what is the point of collecting them if you don't play the game? I don't mean that in a snarky way...I guess to phrase it better - why did you guys collect the cards?
 
E said:
I collected baseball cards when I was younger so I might already know the answer to this...but what is the point of collecting them if you don't play the game? I don't mean that in a snarky way...I guess to phrase it better - why did you guys collect the cards?
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I can't remember much why, really. I remember I loved the cards and just wanted to have them, even if it was to just look at them from time to time. I never played much, maybe once or twice, with any extras that I had.
 
E said:
I collected baseball cards when I was younger so I might already know the answer to this...but what is the point of collecting them if you don't play the game? I don't mean that in a snarky way...I guess to phrase it better - why did you guys collect the cards?
Click to expand...

I don't know. Everyone else did it and it was fun to trade each other to try and get your favourite Pokemon.
 
Is it hard to get or find cards from the original series?
 
My girls and I decided to give this another shot. We figured it out. It's a lot less complicated than it seems.

We have the Pikachu Libre & Suicune Trainer Kit, Fates Collide Sky Guardian and Fates Collide Battle Ruler theme decks.

We also picked up the Steam Siege prerelease but we don't really know enough to build our own decks so we'll probably pick up the theme deck releases for that.
 
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