Memories of a Card Collector

I spent about six days reorganizing my Pokémon cards, separating each artwork and putting them in different binders. Reorganizing my cards gave me a better scope of my Pokémon card collection. I can proudly say that after over ten years of collecting, I have 1,492 different kinds of Pokémon cards (not including duplicates). It's quite an extensive collection and each card has its own story.

The first card in the binder is this Venusaur I got during my friend, Michael's, birthday. When he first pulled this card out of the pack, I knew that I wanted this card more than anything. So I begged and pleaded with him to trade me during the rest of his party. At the end he finally agreed to trade it for my Rhydon. Looking back, it was a terrible trade and my friend got ripped off pretty bad. But, our friendship survived and I still consider this my favorite card of all. This card symbolized the first true friendship I had.



If you have this card you too went to Pokémon: The First Movie when it first hit theaters. As this was the time when Pokémon was in the "fad" state, everyone and their moms, dads, and distant relatives were at the movies. My sister's tenth birthday was at the local movie theater (which is odd considering I am the bigger Pokémon fan). We took a tour of the projection area, went to a room to eat cake and took pictures with a guy in a  Pikachu costume. Michael, the same guy who traded me his Venusaur, put his hand in front of a projector for a split second. We had a good laugh, but seriously sorry if you missed part of your movie because of him. While I'm still nostalgic about the good old days when everyone played, I personally like Pokémon more now then I did back then. It doesn't matter if everyone else plays; it only matters if you enjoy playing the game.

During VGC Worlds, me and my brother took a break from all the battling and sight-seeing at the casual battler's room. I don't remember the exact name of the place, but it was a ballroom in the hotel where people were at tables trading cards. Me and my brother were conducting business as usual until we met a crazy guy I'd like to dub "Patrat Kid." All Patrat Kid wanted were more Patrat cards. Of course, I traded him all my Patrats. I got a couple of cool cards, including this sweet Japanese Promo Ducklett from him. Maybe I'll see him again next year. Hopefully I'll have enough Patrats to trade for a Mewtwo EX! ;)

While I was at school, one of my brother's friends decided to give his entire collection to us. It was quite a hefty donation and we received a lot of third gen cards. In fact, this is the biggest amount of cards we received at once. Some of the cards were fakes and others were in terrible condition, but we sorted through them and got quite a haul. One of them included this Salamence ex, which was in near-mint condition.


This Pikachu is possibly the rarest card in our collection. It was the unlisted card in the initial Black and White series. I don't remember exactly when we purchased the booster pack, but I remember it came inside a tin. The card is smooth all over, and Pikachu has a special foil treatment over it. Plus he looks so happy skipping merrily in the meadow! I might not have the best luck in pulling out rare cards, but I'm at least lucky to own this one.

My college friends go to Dave N Buster's on Wednesdays during their half-price days (we're poor college students). Me, Duc, UyenAnh and sometimes Sparks cash in our tickets for Pokémon cards and then open them up together. It's no mystery that I have terrible luck at getting good cards, but Duc and UyenAnh always get crazy good pulls! When I get a Starmie, UyenAnh pulls out a Kyurem EX. Duc is always complaining about how he keeps on getting a holographic Zapdos in his pack. For my 21st birthday, Duc and UyenAnh bought me a pack and I pulled out this Shaymin! I guess some of their luck rubbed off on me. This is the only EX card I got from a booster pack, so I might need to take Duc and UyenAnh to the store next time I buy cards. Like Venusaur, Shaymin symbolizes true friendship. 

So where do I go from here? My collection is definitely nothing to sneeze at, but I'm far from finished. I plan on collecting at least one of every species before I'm done. I'll be done buying packs afterwards, but my brother wants to continue collecting. Maybe this time again next year, I'll reach my goal. Regardless, it'll be a story to tell.