Pokémon defined my elementary school experience. I would watch every new episode as it aired live on Cartoon Network, re-watch the few movies they had, and even draw sketches of Pokémon such as Pikachu and Piplup. But during my “phase” I was most obsessed with the trading cards. Although there is a game to these cards, I mainly enjoyed the trading aspect of these cards. I wanted as many high leveled cards as I possibly could get my hands on, and my school was the perfect environment to achieve this goal. I had one main goal before I graduated from elementary school: trade up from a few cards that I bought at Walmart to a Zoroark–a jumbo promo card that was only sold during the premiere of Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions–that one of my classmates possessed.
I brought my Pokémon trading cards to school every day to trade with the other kids. Almost a third of the student body had Pokémon cards, and because of this, everyone was constantly focused on all the deals and trades they could make. This led to a big distraction to schoolwork, and the administration thought it would be necessary to impose some rules: If anyone was caught trading Pokémon cards during class their cards would be taken away from them. Recess changed from that day on. Instead of running around and playing on the monkey bars, we’d all huddle around with our trading cards offering cards we wished to trade. Accordingly, the administration made a slight adjustment to their previous rule: If anyone was caught trading Pokémon cards on school grounds, they would have a special disciplinary meeting with the principle in addition to their previous rule.
Trading Pokémon cards at school almost became like dealing drugs. But this didn’t stop me. We took this seriously. We could not get caught. Desperate circumstances called for extreme measures. I would talk with others about potential deals as we pretended to play during recess like the school administration wanted us to, and when the time came, we’d make the trade at our “secret base”: a rock-climbing wall that caved in with just enough room for two people to be completely hidden.
I remember doing very scummy things (which I do not endorse) to get the Pokémon cards that I wanted, such as forging Pokémon cards by printing the image of a rare card onto one of my cards that no-one wanted. In the height of my trading career, I was stacked with multiple high leveled cards and finally struck a deal for a Zoroark. It was quite the deal; I had to deal a majority of my rare cards to set the trade. When I have finally achieved my goal of having a Zoroark for myself, I began to lose my high for trading. I traded my cards outside of Pokémon cards, with the most notable being an iPod touch, Nintendo DS, or just cold hard cash. Although I have certainly outgrown trading Pokémon cards in its entirety, I still keep my most prized possession with me; a symbol of my elementary school days:
Currently being sold on eBay at a price ranging from 50 to 150 dollars.
Wow! Haha, I remember my own collection of Pokemon cards. Thanks for taking me on a trip down memory lane, Adam!
ReplyDeletenoah* sry my bad
DeleteThis is really cool! I definitely remember the Pokemon card collecting craze that happened in Elementary/middle school. However my family collected more Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic the Gathering cards. Personally I don't know anything about Pokemon (except that some of the monsters look cute!). It's really cool that you're able to tie so much of your childhood on Pokemon stuff.
ReplyDeletePokemon cards were so hype! I never traded them as intensely as you did, but my friends and I would always show off our collections. Our school even had to ban us from taking out Pokemon cards on the bus because they would occasionally cause fights or be too distracting. Honestly, I still kind of like collecting the cards and I have a couple shiny, original Japanese ones wrapped in plastic somewhere in my house.
ReplyDeleteI have so many pokemon cards in boxes and binders and rubberbanded together. I rarely traded them except with my brother, but it's all one collection now. I do remember some really rare cards we got from our older cousins that we were really excited about.
ReplyDeleteEven though I mainly played the Pokémon video games, my brother and I collected some Pokémon cards and this reminded me of those stored in my basement somewhere. However, and more importantly, this reminded me of a very special Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon Yugioh card that I found on the sidewalk on a rainy day. It was in terrible condition but that made it even more special to me. I still have it in my desk to remind me of the days when I was addicted to Yugioh.
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