I’ll admit, it took me WAY too long to come up with a snazzy title for this new set of posts I want to attempt. My idea is once a month, I’ll feature something in my video game collection… whether it be a collectible card, a manual, a guide book, a game, blah blah blah. I thought this would be a fun and interesting way for me to showcase something of mine and give a little backstory if applicable. Problem is, I’m about as creative as a stick and had a lot of trouble thinking of a title that would describe what I was trying to do. I literally had “Thing of the Month” in the title because I was getting annoyed at myself. Then I remembered that when I get some new gaming related stuff, I put my posts under a category called “Gaming Goodies”… so DUH… I’ll call this GAMING GOODIES of the the Month!
How many months in a row can I keep this up? My guess is 2, maybe 3, but miracles can happen. I actually feel motivated to do this for some reason, so maybe I’ll stick to something for once! Anyway, I’ll try to do these posts on the first of every month, unless it’s a holiday or I’m busy or I just don’t wanna. Without further ado, here’s the very first post in this category…
Introducing… My First Pokémon Card!
Back in 1998 when Pokémon was first introduced in the states, I’ll admit I was a bit lukewarm on the whole thing. Some of my friends played Red and Blue but for whatever reason, I wasn’t really into it. That is, until I started realizing how cute some of the characters were. I’ve never been able to resist cute stuff! Anyway, in 1999 (as Dr. Google tells me) the trading cards came out, and one of my neighborhood friends, Jason, had plenty of them! He showed them to me and I was intrigued by them, but still unsure if I wanted to play the actual games or not.
One day, Jason stopped by my house with a little present for me: an ADORABLE Pokémon card featuring Squirtle! He said he wanted to give it to me because he knew how much I loved turtles. He even put it in a sleeve for me so it wouldn’t get dirty or bent. I was so overwhelmed by this small gift, I didn’t know what to say. It meant a lot to me that he would give me something from his own collection based on what animal I liked! Little did he know, this little Squirtle card started my love for Pokémon! Soon, I had a decent card collection of my own, mostly thanks to my grandmother, who would buy me a few packs of cards every time she went to the mall! Jason also gave me several more cards, including some Japanese cards that are highlights of my collection to this day.
And yes… I still have all of my Pokémon cards, save for some duplicates that I passed on to my cousin Matt years ago. I’m sure you’ll see more of them as the months go on 🙂 Thanks for reading!
P.S. To this day, I still have NO CLUE how to play the actual Pokémon Trading Card Game. I was only ever interested in collecting the cards! 😉
Walk Away From The Sun... 
This is an awesome idea for a series of posts and as you could have probably guessed, I love what you chose for your first gaming good! Sometimes the first of something is the best so I can totally understand why this card means a lot to you. Blastoise was a really good card in the TCG so my Squirtles got used a fair amount when I played back in the late 90’s 🙂 If you ever want to learn Pokemon cards, it is a very simple/straightforward game though playing card games does tend to get expensive quickly! I’m looking forward to seeing what you show off next! 😀
Thanks, I had a lot of fun writing this post! I have many other ideas for the coming months so I’m excited! Yeah, it’s funny how something so simple can end up meaning so much, you know? I’ve heard that playing the Pokemon TCG is pretty easy to learn…. I actually played the Game Boy version of the game and really enjoyed it. It was much better than messing up my real life cards, haha!
I’m excited too 🙂 It really is and cards that are may not valuable but that you got first are often ones you never forget! If you’ve played the Game Boy version then you know how to play. That was a really fun game that my brother and I really enjoyed way back when it came out. I never understood why Nintendo only made that one game. I think they could have made more and they would have sold well and helped promote the card game too. Playing a video game version is MUCH cheaper for us too 🙂
You’re right… it is a pretty cool game, so I’m surprised there weren’t any sequels! Haha that’s true, in the video game version it’s way easier to collect cards, versus buying packs of them in real life! 😉