Since its release in 1996, Pokemon Trading Cards have become the new baseball card. Millions of kids all over the world trade and play with them. With every new generation picking up the game, it doesn’t look like it’ll slow down either. Releasing tons of new packs and sets of Pokemon cards every year, there’s no shortage of them in the stores. So, what makes Pokemon cards so irresistible to kids? Here are 25 Fun Facts About Pokemon Cards You Might Not Know.
Many have said the game is simple and addictive to play.
Using three different types of cards, including Pokemon, trainer, and energy cards, two players pit their Pokemon against each other. If they win battles, they can take home prize cards set on the table.
Not many kids play the actual game though.
Even though the game can be fun, a lot of kids just treat them like trading cards only, swapping out cards with each other in hopes of getting a more powerful card to show off to their friends.
There's a Pokemon trading card league.
If you do play the game and have gotten pretty good at it, you can actually join a Pokemon trading card league. Many hobby stores or game sellers have them available to join up and play against others.
If you become really, really good, you might get invited to play at the annual Pokemon World Championship.
In 2016, the championship was held in San Francisco.
It was first published by the company that made Magic: The Gathering
The first publisher of the game was Wizards of the Coast, the same company that published Magic: The Gathering. They inevitably lost the licensing in 2003.
There's a giant Pikachu mosaic card.
The makers of Pokemon cards did something special and made the world’s largest Pikachu trading card out of a mosaic of Pokemon trading cards. They say it’s the largest in the world, but there’s no official word from the Guinness Book of World Records.
It's 20 years old and still going strong.
Pokemon Trading Cards recently celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2016 and show little signs of slowing down. Video games aside, the trading cards continue to gain momentum and popularity with kids.
In 1998, Nintendo released a video game version.
Everyone knows about the Nintendo Game Boy version of Pokemon, but in 1998, they also released a “Pokemon Trading Card” version of the video game. Instead of monsters, players solely collected digital trading cards.
The Pokémon trading card game has shipped tons of cards.
If you really want to know how huge Pokemon Trading Cards are, then get a load of this fact: More than 21.5 billion cards have been shipped to 74 countries in 10 languages.
There are four ways to win the game.
While playing the game versus an opponent, there are four ways to consider defeating them. They are:
- If your opponent is required to draw a card from their deck but has no more cards in their deck.
- If you win all of your six prize cards.
- If you knock out your opponent’s active Pokémon, and your opponent has no bench Pokémon with which to replace it.
- Using the “Lost World” card.
Sneasel and Slowking are banned cards.
When released, Sneasel and Slowking were proving too powerful during gameplay. Players with these cards were winning almost every tournament; their advantages were too great. As such, they decided to ban the cards from play.
For the 20th anniversary, the original pack got a re-release.
Up to this point, the Pokemon Trading Card game has released tons of new and flashy packs for collectors. However, to celebrate the 20th anniversary and go back to their roots, they re-released the original packs.
A huge lawsuit ensued over the trading card game.
As we said before, Wizards of the Coast originally held the licensing for the Pokemon Trading Cards. However, in 2003, a huge lawsuit ensued between them and Nintendo over the licensing. The issues never went to court and everything was settled with Nintendo gaining all the rights. While the details were never released, it’s likely Wizards of the Coast was paid out.
The weirdest Pokemon card award goes to...
Pokemon cards have all kinds of awesome graphics for each card. However, one Redditor claims he has the weirdest card. We’ll let you decide for yourself.
Symbols tell you the rarity of the card.
If you ever wondered if your card is rare or not, you can look on the card to find out. On the bottom right corner, you should see one of three symbols: Circle (Common), Diamond (Uncommon), and Star (Rare).
Pokemon Cards help kids learn 5 important skills.
If you teach your kids how to play the actual game, it’s said to help your kids with the five following skills: Literacy, Numeracy, Strategy, Social Skills, and Problem Solving/Critical Thinking.
The Pre-release Raichu card is called "The Holy Grail of Pokemon."
Wizards of the Coast accidentally released 8 “Pre-release Raichu” cards. It’s essentially the same as the original Raichu card except it says “Pre-release” on the picture. Wizards of the Coast denied this card existed for years until an employee leaked an image of the card. Good luck finding it.
It encourages kids to learn math.
If the kids play the game, it’ll encourage them to learn basic subtraction. While fighting, the Pokemon can create health damage against another card, lowering their “HP.” In order to know how low the HP is, they need to do the math.
Saudi Arabia banned Pokemon cards.
Saying they show symbols associated with Israel and are harmful to children, Saudi Arabia banned Pokemon Cards from their country.
Schools also banned the game.
With kids bringing large sums of money and their Pokemon cards, schools learned many were gambling their cards away rather than just trading them. They also were becoming a distraction for the teachers. So, some schools put a ban on the game.
What else have schools banned? Check it out here: 25 Most Ridiculous Things You Won’t Believe Are Banned In Schools.
Pokemon Snap cards go for $8,000.
To promote the Nintendo 64 video game “Pokemon Snap,” they created Pokemon Snap cards but in low quantities. Due to the rare nature of the cards, they can go for as high as $8,000.
Charizard G Lv. X is one powerful card.
Everyone loves Charizard. We’ll get more to that later. However, one card that is one of the best in the game and super powerful, is Charizard G Lv. X. It has the Malevolent Fire ability, allowing for an impressive 150 damage.
The original Charizard goes for $18,000 on eBay.
Who usually picks Charizard? Turns out, everyone. He’s a lizard. He breathes fire like a dragon. He has wings. What’s not to love? However, if you want the original Charizard trading card, you’ll have to pay a whopping $18,000 on eBay.
Shadow Lugia is the one of the best cards.
Shadow Lugia is by the far one of the best and most powerful cards in the trading card series. However, it was released as a jumbo card, which means it can’t be played in the game; it’s mostly for collectors and promotion.
Pokemon Illustrator is one of the rarest cards around.
The lucky winners of the illustrator contest got the Pokemon Illustrator card. 39 were originally released, but it’s unknown how many are currently in circulation. It’s incredibly rare and sells from $20,000 to $50,000 at auctions.
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