board game culture

My Broken Evolution Chains in the Pokemon Trading Card Game

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Evolving Pokemon is a big part of the Pokemon TCG experience. Before you can unleash the fury of Charizard, you must first play a Charmander card and evolve it up to the fiery dragon over the course of multiple turns. Even in the Sword & Shield era of the card game where one can play a powerful Charizard V right away, it too can evolve into a monolithic Charizard VMax that has the potential to strike for a whopping 300 damage with a single blow!

But in order to complete these evolutions, one must have the cards to complete the chain. Based on my collection, here are some awkward scenarios that arise when I don’t have all of the cards required to complete an evolution.

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What You Need to Know About Pokemon Trading Card Game Theme Decks, V Battle Decks, League Battle Decks, and More

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One of the best ways to start playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game right away is to buy a pre-made deck. They have everything you need to play right away without having to worry about the deck-building part, which can be overwhelming for new players.

Odds are, when you go to the store, you will see pre-made decks in many different formats. What’s the difference between each one? Let’s run through the major formats to help you decide which to pick up!

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Pulling One of the Most Sought-After Pokemon Cards

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It doesn’t matter how bad the odds actually are, but every time someone opens a pack of Pokemon cards, the dream of landing the big one persists.

Steff and I have opened a few dozen at this point. We’ve landed a few V and VMax cards, along with a weirdly-valuable full-art Pokemon Center Lady card. But landing a big one? We never thought we’d ever be that lucky.

Well…

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Setting Boundaries For My New Pokemon Trading Card Game Addict…Hobby.

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My Pokemon Trading Card Game collection went from 0-to-100 real quick.

In just over a week, I went from nothing to a coffee table full of pre-made decks, promo cards, boosters, tins, and more. Don’t worry, as I can continue to pay my mortgage and put food on the table…for now.

That said, I have discovered in short order that this hobby can drain my attention and bank account very quickly. It’s time to set boundaries on what I currently want out of this. They may change over time and that’s okay. But it’s important for me to understand my limits before I really get carried away.

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My Rapid Descent into Pokemon Trading Card Game Madness

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I remember the start of my Pokemon Trading Card Game journey like it was yesterday. Because it was basically yesterday. Starting with just a set of two pre-made decks, we discovered that we really enjoyed the game and wanted to explore the scene further.

In a matter of days, I may have floored the gas pedal.

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What I Learned From Playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game for the First Time

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More than 20 years after its original release, I finally tried my at the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Together with my wife, we bought a starter set and engaged in battle. Here’s what I’ve learned after finally crossing this experience off of my bucket list!

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10 Years of In Third Person: Board Games Are Fun!

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Between my adolescence and some point in my late 20s, I held a very negative perception of board games. Scarred by the old mainstays that relied heavily on randomness and player elimination, I wrote them off as a kids activity. Then one fateful night, Steff tricked me into joining her friends for a game of Dominion and my life was changed forever.  For years after that, board games consumed almost all of my hobby time to the point where board game content became the majority of my output for this site.

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Pressing The Issue of Board Games Onto Others

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Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how awesome it was that friends introduced me to the board gaming hobby. Since then, I’ve made it a point to pay it forward and introduce others to the wonders of the medium ever since. I even made a guide on how to do just that.

However, a post I found on Reddit made me realize that my guide was missing a very important aspect of that process. What if they’re not interested?

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Collection Shaming

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A while back, The Dice Tower put out a video of Jason Levine’s board game collection. Featuring thousands of board games, it might actually prove to be the largest personal board game collection in the world. While the video received a lot of praise, it also received criticism from those who took offense to him having a large stash of board games. It reminded me of a similar backlash that video game YouTuber 8-Bit Eric received for posting a video of his Nintendo Switch game collection. I get the sense that if I were to seek out people showing off their collections of anything, there’s going to be hate.

My big question is, “Why?”

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Childhood Memories of Board Gaming Fun

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My current obsession with board games started in the early 2010s when my now-wife tricked me into joining her and her friends for a few games of Dominion. However, my history with the medium starts well before then.

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