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[Polygonal_Sprite]

I was born in ‘83 so by the time Pokémon hit in the UK around ‘98 I was 15 and outside of games my plate was full with the Attitude Era of WWF.

Recently I started being recommended people opening the original base set Pokémon cards and found it very entertaining. After that I found that they released a set of the classic line up called “151”. £200 later I have 124/207 of the set but I’m starting to get doubles in almost every pack lol.

So have you ever collected them either as a kid or an adult. How much did you spend. If you still have some what’s the most valuable card you own?

Also did you ever feel it was becoming a problem because let’s face the hobby shares a lot of similarities to gambling especially once you get 2/3 of a set. I’m lucky enough that I have the disposable income to drop a few hundred quid on it but I’m also not into wasting money so I may not spend another penny on it.*

*I'm just off to drop another £60 on a 151 booster pack…

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

I did, still have most of the cards, including a charizard.
I was a kid back then though, so I never bothered keeping them in good condition.

Recently more into collecting certain mtg releases.

 

[IAmRei]

I did once, but lost, about soon after i got bored because nobody play it back in the end of 90s here.
back when i have no internet. I forgot, i think i spent about $50? it was so long ago

funny thing is, now it's quite viral in my place, even got official (distribution license) release in my place
even there is one big store dedicated in my city.

 

[Mr1999]

Honestly I don't understand what people see in Pokemon other than maybe nostalgia. I don't even find the art interesting, but to each their own I guess. I was more involved with MTG back in the 90s but it was a game we played during lunch break at school and money was never talked about.

Just last week I got into the rabbit hole of watching people get scammed on whatnot and other platforms and it all involved pokemon, reseals, switcheroos, fake cards and now the option of having your cases CT scanned so you know exactly whats inside the box, just seems like a huge cluster fuck at this point.

I guess you can say its the same with MTG now but it's no where near Pokemon levels. What I don't understand is how some of these new cards can be worth so much, this goes for all trading cards, all these new flashy 24/24 or 1/1 which are just cutouts of jerseys or autos that go for tens of thousands when the complete jersey doesn't even cost as much.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

Honestly I don't understand what people see in Pokemon other than maybe nostalgia. I don't even find the art interesting, but to each their own I guess. I was more involved with MTG back in the 90s but it was a game we played during lunch break at school and money was never talked about.

Just last week I got into the rabbit hole of watching people get scammed on whatnot and other platforms and it all involved pokemon, reseals, switcheroos, fake cards and now the option of having your cases CT scanned so you know exactly whats inside the box, just seems like a huge cluster fuck at this point.

I guess you can say its the same with MTG now but it's no where near Pokemon levels. What I don't understand is how some of these new cards can be worth so much, this goes for all trading cards, all these new flashy 24/24 or 1/1 which are just cutouts of jerseys or autos that go for tens of thousands when the complete jersey doesn't even cost as much.

Yeah I don’t go near eBay or resellers for my cards. I’m probably done at this point but it was a nice (but expensive for what it is) bit of fun for a couple of weeks. The original 151 are still unmatched in terms of art design imo which is the only reason I started with the 151 collection. I have no interest in a set from the modern games for instance.

 

[Hookshot]

I downloaded that app the other day so technically I did, but I've only ever spent money on them for younger relatives.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I used to play the TCG but stopped and glad I did. Started mid X/Y and left mid Sun/Moon. Collecting full sets of modern cards is an extreme waste of time and/or money.

 

[Ecotic]

I have about 500 base set 1st edition shadowless and 1st edition Jungle cards that I sleeved immediately and stored in a dresser drawer for over 20 years until the pandemic hit and I learned they were valuable. They're all mint. I didn't get any of the big three (Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur) holos, but I do have some really cool ones like Mewtwo, Zapdos, Raichu, Gyarados, Ninetales, Hitmonchan, Nidoking, Machamp, and Jolteon. I do need to get them graded by PSA, they're worth maybe between $5,000 to $15,000, it really just depends on how lucky I get in scoring gem mint 10's with any of the holos and other valuable cards like the starter Pokemon. I don't know if I could ever sell them, these were cards my younger self bought and had the good sense to sleeve them immediately. They should be like a family heirloom I pass on or something.

Pokemon cards are very cool to me. When I go to a trading shop and ask to look at a vintage gem mint 10 card and hold it in that plastic shell, it does trigger something euphoric in my brain. I just think it's so pretty and awesome.

 

[Roufianos]

I did as a child, until some cunt stole all my holos from my room.

Recently, my uncle dug up a sealed box of the base set he had stored away when I was young.

Really got me back into it. I got some display frames and purchased some of the cards of lost, plus quite a few more.

Like you, dabbled into opening packs. It's not a cheap hobby but at least the cards will appreciate in value, well the rare ones anyway.

 

[INC]

No, I lost my virginity early

 

[bender]

I missed the Pokémon craze due to age and I've never really gotten into any of these types of card games though I did dabble in Hearthstone. It seems like the Pokémon TCG is at an all time high as I see more advertisements for it than ever before. I did download the Pokémon TCG Pocket that released recently on IOS and I can see the collection appeal as some of the cards are very beautiful. The battling aspect bores me to tears though.

 

[thefool]

I traded cards but surprisingly I was never into Pokemon, so i never really did anything poke-related.

 

[GateofD]

as a kid, I spent so much of my parents money on it when the very first set came out, never pulled a charizard.
But stopped soon after.

But attended a small card convention like last year, and got into it because of the 151 set. So I was like "I'm just gonna collect that set for nostalgia and I'm done." And ended up getting pulled into it.
I did manage to complete the 151 set. Now just picking up what catches my eye. And honestly spending way more of my money than I should now.

Next year is gonna be tough, cause a Team Rocket set is coming out which is going to hit the nostalgia feels hard.

As with many of these kind of hobbies, scalpers ruin it for many people.

 

[Neolombax]

I was more of a Magic guy rather than Pokemon. Back then, the art and design for the Pokemon cards were not to my liking. I think these days they have way better designs.

 

[Impotaku]

I used to collect them back when they first came out i had net access at home back then so i also had the ability to buy from a lovely japanese lady who ran an online store called wakaba.net she used to sell some amazingly rare promo cards as well as regular pokemon stuff. My collection was a mix of western & japanese cards i got the western base set all the way to team rocket as full sets before i gave up collecting as it was a huge money sink, around neo & card-e i totally gave up. Still have the entire lot i just put it all away and kept them had stuff from everywhere, corocoro promos, stuff from the official japanese pokemon fanclub mag, vending peel cards, pokemon managa, stuff from cds ect..

Last year i finally found my japanese binder while i was preparing on boxing everything up for a move, at some point i'll do the huge pain in the ass task of one by one looking up the values so i can finally sell it all off. Some of the stuff in the binder i know was valuable even back in the day when i got them like the original birthday pikachu and the grand party tournament prize card. The best part is i kept all the stuff the cards came from so i can put it all back together to make them complete again like the magazines & manga. Even have the cinema program the ancient mew came from.

Here's the pics i took when i found my jpn promo binder

Also the binder that contained my original complete base set

Some of the stuff the cards came from was in the same box as my cards

Pokemon cards appeared in the weirdest places like in this spaceworld program where the gamecube was been shown for the first time.

 

[V1LÆM]

I did as a kid. Only just got back into it. Bought about 150 booster packs and about £1,000 in singles.

99% of these cards I bought only in the last month. Until October I only had about 105 cards. Cards are below the red lines. everything above is just spare toploaders/sleeves.

cards on the bottom left are energy cards. to the right of them are my most valuable cards in top loaders. the next is spares/doubles. and the last are just my favourites

and some photos of my most valuable cards

and I just bought this card which I'm waiting on being delivered

 

[BlackTron]

I was huge on both collecting and playing the cards 25 years ago. My height was having the entire Base, Jungle and TR sets (I think I was missing some fossil). After collecting all of TR, they announced a new set and I just said, enough already, it's an unsustainable sink.

I got back into it when TCG Pocket dropped, but that tipped me off to TCG Live and the GBC sequel, I been mostly playing those instead. I also dug out all my old cards (which were rummaged through and eviscerated out of a box in my garage by someone at some point) and made two identical decks using all old cards, and had a casual game of real TCG last night when my buddy came by, first game in 25 years, we actually had a lot of fun lol.

I enjoy the new cards, decks and meta in the digital version but I'm not interested in buying them, the app is good enough for me along with old cards for a little casual old school fun.

 

[Mitsurux]

I did not, but i still managed get a few at the time, I have the cards they gave out when you went to see the first 2 (or 3) movies when they were in the Theaters, and also have a few Pokemon Cards that are compatible with the E-reader.

 

[Tams]

I was, with many others, part of the intial craze. I traded a movie Dragonite for a load of useless cards, which I regret now.

It was when they introduced gym leader boosters that I gave up. I understood just how they were milking us all for money then.

That said, I do play Pocket now. I did buy a few boosters and a booster 'set' (with a guaranteed 'show' card) a few months ago, but that was really only to support a local card/board game shop.

 

[RomanceDawn]

I have every card from the 1st 9 sets aside from one super expensive card. Shining Charizard from Neo Revelations I think. The last Neo set whatever it’s called.

Now I just collect a little here and there from each new set. I love organizing them, its one of my favorite pass times.

I was, with many others, part of the intial craze. I traded a movie Dragonite for a load of useless cards, which I regret now.

It was when they introduced gym leader boosters that I gave up. I understood just how they were milking us all for money then.

That said, I do play Pocket now. I did buy a few boosters and a booster 'set' (with a guaranteed 'show' card) a few months ago, but that was really only to support a local card/board game shop.

I’ve got a few of those Dragonite. Want one? Special Delivery right? From Pokemon the 1st movie?

 

[BlackTron]

I organized my surviving cards yesterday trying to arrange the OG 151 by monster number (not card number). I was hoping for at least 2/3 but I only have 80/151. NGL that's pretty pathetic, I'm mad. Some of the holes are really dumb, like I have a bunch of Pidgeotto and Pidgeot but not a single Pidgey survived the purges of time. 2 foil Venusaur, but I can't find one lowly Bulbasaur. I used to have like 20 and it's firing my OCD that I can't complete evo lines.

Very asymmetric collection.

 

[AJUMP23]

Never. I was too old. I had friends that had Garbage Pail kids cards. My mom hated those. And I would get a pack of baseball cards every now and again with the Gum in them.