Where to Start with Pokémon Cards?

Nikovegna on 20/05/2021 - 11:55
Last edited 20/05/2021 - 13:17 by 1 other user

So my son (6) comes home from school with 9 Pokémon cards he bought off a classmate for $2.50. Being an ozbargainer I feel like he’s been ripped off and putting this one down to experience. Where would you suggest I look to get a half decent stable of cards for the little fella to have a go. Max spend $10-$20. And also how much for how much should I be looking for? I understand that there are flashy shiny cards that’ll be worth more than others. Just after a basic bunch of cards so he can play with a bit of variety.

Cheers in advance.

Toys & Kids Card Game Pokémon Trading Card Game

Comments

  • ModdySwag on 20/05/2021 - 11:59

    I have a mint Base set 2. I am happy to negotiate a start into the scene with these ! 👍🤔😳

    • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 13:06
      +2

      For $20? How generous!

  • Hybroid on 20/05/2021 - 12:02

    You're opening a big can of worms with this that could run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. It's a pretty big industry for collectors more so than players nowadays.

    There's constant releases of new series of cards (every 3 months I think) and they come in lucky dip booster packs (approx $5-6 each) for 10 cards or much more expensive larger packs. Shiny and rares are chances within these.

    You could buy cards individually (off eBay etc) but won't get much for a tenner. Alternatively getting assorted job lot bunches off used market which will invariably be low value cards and may not be enough to build a suitable team to play with.

  • HolyFosh on 20/05/2021 - 12:08
    +1

    So in most cases shiny V cards will be at minimum $3+ for the cheapest ones. And more like 5-6 each if buying in a card store or online.

    And if you buy packs they'll be $5-7 for 9 cards with 1 in about 4-6 packs having a Ultra Rare card or better. So if looking for value for money I would avoid buying actual packs.

    If you want bulk of common Pokemon cards that are worth 5-20 cents each I would suggest either joining one of the Facebook pages and asking around and letting them know your budget or looking up any local card stores and seeing if they sell bulk which tends to average about 20c each.

    I don't know if your son is interested in actually playing the game or just looking at the cards. If the second go with what I said above.

    If the former then something like this might be best. It comes with 3 very simple decks he could use to play with you or any siblings.

    https://www.bigw.com.au/product/pokemon-tcg-battle-academy-b…

    It is 35 dollars though, so maybe above your budget.

    • Seraphin7 on 20/05/2021 - 14:42

      I bought this for my lad a while ago. He seems to have enough fun with it, but frankly the game itself is very strange. There seems to be very little in the way of skill attached to it, but yet also seems to have quite arcane rules attached to it.

      • HolyFosh on 20/05/2021 - 14:52

        Yeah unfortunately most kid friendly decks are pretty basic in terms of skill and tend to have more luck based components. Which most meta decks don't use.

        If you're playing more meta decks the game tends to be a lot faster paced with a lot more decisions needibg to be made. But for those kind of decks you'll either need to buy something like the world championship decks or build a proper deck.

        • Seraphin7 on 20/05/2021 - 15:20

          Fair enough … I've played a handful of games with this pack (and a few other random cards) and really don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.

  • trustnoone on 20/05/2021 - 12:09
    +1

    Its depends, personally if you want to learn to play I recommend getting the free online game, you get free packs as you play, you learn the mechanics for real life and when you buy packs in real life you get a code to add them into the game.

    More importantly though it teaches you how to build a deck, which you can use as a basis to buy specific cards in real life at better prices. I forget the site now but I used this US one and got the deck I wanted for like $50 to $60 instead of putting all my cash into boosters "hoping" to get a card I want.

    IMO the point of booster packs are expensive because they're like a surprise/lotto/lootbox 90 percent of the time its not worth the cash, its just more for the feeling of opening the unknown.

    Some people might even give you free cards online for older ones though likely they're out of the current "standard" rotation, I might even have a few I could just give.

  • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 12:22
    +4

    Unless your son came home with all energy cards I assure you he didn't get ripped off.

  • djones145 on 20/05/2021 - 12:23
    +6

    your son is 6, i know my son who is about 6 wouldn't understand the mechanics of playing and just wants to look at the pictures
    so i would recommend looking for any cheap sets (like from kmart or eb games)
    or ebay
    spend as little as possible
    have a look at what cards he has, make sure they aint worth anything
    and dont give him too much money to buy at school
    and let him be

    if he wants to learn how to play follow the guidance above

    • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 12:37
      +3

      In primary school until Yr 6 nobody actually knows how to play Pokemon. This is good advice.
      Getting used 200+ bulk cards for ~$20 from ebay and letting your son trade up is the way to go.

    • cloudy on 20/05/2021 - 15:36
      +1

      your son is 6, i know my son who is about 6 wouldn't understand the mechanics of playing and just wants to look at the pictures

      This is my son at 3, he is doing exactly what your 6 yr old is doing, in front of me as I type.

    • jacross on 25/05/2021 - 06:02

      Yep this is exactly where my almost 6 year old is at with them. He looks at them, sorts them into piles, and we play games that are more imagination than anything actually written on the cards.

      Frankly OP needs to provide more information. What did his son say about them? Why is his son interested? Picture/description of the cards even.

      But basically, a bulk lot of old cards from ebay is fantastic at this age range.

  • RandomNinja on 20/05/2021 - 12:45

    As others have said, it depends if your son's interested in playing or just collecting.

    When my son initially dabbled with Pokemon cards at school it was just about having something cool to show and trade with. I bought him bootleg cards so it wouldn't matter if they got damaged or lost and no one could rip him off.

    As he got older and actually wanted to learn the game, that's when I started picking up Theme decks and boosters.

    • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 12:58
      +1

      Haha if he had bootleg cards and was trading, he was ripping other kids off LOL

      • RandomNinja on 20/05/2021 - 13:08

        Heh, perhaps - I guess it depends on how value is perceived. To parents, value might be the rarity or secondary market value of the card. To kids, my observation is they value whether they get their fave character or a shiny/foil card.

  • kerfuffle on 20/05/2021 - 12:47
    +1

    Hopefully they were genuine cards and not fakes

    • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 13:01
      +2

      My brother's friend in Yr 1 was selling counterfeit rocks. He claimed landscaping quartz from his yard was super rare from his recent trip to Mexico. He sold them for $1 each and when the teacher found out she made all the kids return the rocks as he "wasn't supposed to be selling stuff at school" but he never had to return the money.

      • Cluster on 20/05/2021 - 17:13
        +2

        This kid has a bright future ahead of him on eBay

  • Hithere on 20/05/2021 - 13:40

    selling counterfeit rocks

    A potential on-line seller. j/k

  • Fergy1987 on 20/05/2021 - 13:42

    cardboard and some pens

    Step 1:
    Draw gridlines on cardboard to same size as pokemon card

    Step 2:
    Draw random creatures on the card with made up powers

    Step 3:
    Cut the cards out

    Enjoy your pokemon cards

    As an added tip, buy some glittery contact from the newsagent to make some rare ones.

    • Archi on 20/05/2021 - 13:53
      +3

      you want the kid to learn how to play, and not get laughed at in the playground.

      having said that… we do have a quite a few cards at home that my son traces.. and then colours them in. sort of arts and craft for him..but he know they aren't the proper cards.. those ones daddy keeps on a high shelf

    • djones145 on 20/05/2021 - 18:54

      Google pokemon cards
      print
      stick on card board
      boom

      or save time head to those doscint shops, buy some fakes sets boom

  • dasher86 on 20/05/2021 - 14:16
    +1

    Back in my day we learnt to play by buying a starter deck
    https://www.amazon.com.au/Pokemon-TCG-Lets-Play-Box/dp/B07ZJ… (something like this)
    Then expanded into single booster - $6-$10

    These days you can buy bulk set of cards which consists mainly of easy to find cards normally duplicates for really cheap.
    Basically people offload these after they take their pick from opening a booster.

  • onetwothreefour on 20/05/2021 - 16:05

    I didn't realise kids these days played with Pokemon cards? I thought it was only adults.

    • Cluster on 20/05/2021 - 17:12
      +1

      The adults are busy flipping cards to each other at $1000+ each

  • Cluster on 20/05/2021 - 17:15
    +1

    I'd just like to note the OP is one of those rare people who used an 'é' to spell Pokémon correctly.

    • Nikovegna on 20/05/2021 - 17:32

      Haha! Predictive text.

  • burtie on 20/05/2021 - 20:14

    I bought this bulk lot of cards off Amazon for my six year old son last year. I'm not convinced they are genuine but he was delighted and they were cheap so I'm not stressed about him trading them in the playground. The price seems to regularly fluctuate. I only paid $14 when I bought them.

    https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B000WD3XBI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_g…

  • CrispyChrispy on 21/05/2021 - 08:52

    Depends, does your son want to just collect and look at the cards or actually play the game?

  • Nikovegna on 21/05/2021 - 09:49

    He’s just after cards to play with kids at school with.

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