There once was a place called Ciao, where life was so funny and how, but there soon will be none, 'c...
There once was a place called Ciao, where life was so funny and how, but there soon will be none, 'cos the Deanster is gone, well that's what Ciao thinks .... for now :o)
Member since:02.10.2001
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Well is he? Chances are if he was an avid Pokemon Trading Card collector he could well have a fortune in the darkened recesses of his bedroom.
Pokemon cards have been around for quite some time now, there are a multitude of sets to collect, and if your children are anything like mine there is no way you can avoid buying the odd card or two. What a waste of money, or is it...
Lee and Ben started collecting cards a couple of years ago. They started buying the odd pack with their pocket money, but soon the call came for me to top them up with my hard earned cash because 'so and so' had more cards etc.
To start with this was a phase like any other. They bought a few, traded a few, got completely stitched up by 'Those in the the know' and generally made a mess of it. I decided to step in when Lee swapped a 'holographic' card for a more common one, he thought he had done a good deal because his so called friend had told him so. At this point I could see they were a little bit more collectable than I had first thought.
And so 'Poke-mum' was born. Every card we bought was kept inside a plastic sleeve, inside a hardbacked folder. These were not to be played with and bent up like all the other kid's cards, NO, this was no longer a game.
As we began to complete the sets, I scoured the internet auctions for the missing ones, much easier and cheaper than buying pack after pack. We soon had half a dozen complete sets.
For those of you who have read this far and are thinking "what is she going on about?", a quick review.
Pokemon Trading Crads are collectable cards that come in various sets, some of these are Base Set 1, Base 2, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket, Neo, and Neo 2. All of these cards have a number and a symbol on them denoting which set they come from and the number of cards per set. Every set is made up of three groups of cards, Common, Uncommon and Rare. There are also Rare-Holographic cards in each set. The cards come in mixed packets which are usually made up of mainly common, a few Uncommon, and maybe 2 or 3 rare cards, one of which may also be Holograpic.
There are also various other 'special' cards you can collect, for example, the Blackstar Promo cards. These do not come as a set, they are released now and again and you could (in theory) collect these forever. They don't come in packets, you will find them in various places, such as being handed out at the movies or in gameboy and Nintendo packages. Obviously this makes them far harder to get hold of.
You can also buy limited edition sets, such as the 'Pikachu World Collection' set. These were made and distibuted throughout the Sydney Olympics, again these sets are harder to get hold of.
Then there are the real collectors cards, 'Happy Birthday Pikachu' and 'Ancient Mew' are just 2 of them, these are Ultra rare and can cost hundreds of pounds. And before you all start jumping up and down because your son/daughter has these cards, there are promo cards for both of these which are worth next to nothing!
If you decide to collect or are collecting these cards (or any other card) please keep them in plastic sleeves. The tiniest scratch will completely de-value the cards and they will be worth nothing.
So, back to 'our' collection. Over the last couple of years we have managed to accumulate all of the sets mentioned above, plus a few more. We recently had them valued and they are worth around £1000.00, which is probably double what we paid for them. This is because a few of the sets have now gone out of print and so are worth twice as much money.The kids don't want to sell them though, they want to hang on to them for 20 years or so, they're hoping they will be worth more and maybe they will be.
So, if your child has some of these knocking around, don't throw them out, even if they are not in sets, single cards are sold on the internet auction site all the time, and you never know there may just be a rare one in there.
Advantages: Good strategy game for all the family & a good collection hobby Disadvantages: Cost; exploitation in card swaps; and value of the the cards
fluffy-bubblegum 01.04.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pokemon
Advantages: Highly customisable, promotes social interaction,, popular (for the moment) with the children Disadvantages: Prices in the West are ridiculous. Some cards no longer available. Odds of getting premium cards too high.
GoldOpinion 12.09.2000 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pokemon
Nov 16th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
