Trading Card Game (TCG) Thoughts

The two biggest trading card games are Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering. These took off in the early 1990s and have only increased in popularity. Other games have entered the market, but nothing is as large as these two games. I have collected cards from numerous games, and these are some thoughts I have:

• Opening booster packs and gambling on what you might get is a core aspect of TCGs. Despite all criticisms against booster packs, they are more popular than ever. Even when people say they’re a waste of money and a scam, people keep buying them
• Buying and selling cards on the secondary market is a second core aspect of TCGs. Just like opening booster packs, the secondary market is larger than ever
• Constant new updates are required. A game is pointless if they stop releasing new product. People want constant change, so numerous new products are released each year.
• The unique artwork is a big appeal. Pokemon & Wizards of the Coast spend huge efforts on original artwork, so hundreds of artists are regularly contracted to make artwork
• While anyone can buy inexpensive booster packs and cards, actually putting together a competitive deck is expensive. Playing the game is for people who have dedicated more of their life to the game, through time & money.
• There is still an appeal for officially licensed cards, despite the existence of a huge and easily accessible counterfeit market. The counterfeits look very similar, but people still want the real cards and not just fakes to play the game.

I think the game is appealing because it mirrors life outside of trading card games. All these gaming aspects are really appealing for other reasons. There are the aspects of gambling, trading, collecting, and having something nobody else can have. This is why TCGs are more appealing than just board games. If anyone could just buy the cards directly, nobody would be interested in this. If TCGs were to get rid of booster packs & the secondary market, the game would collapse entirely.

• People love gambling and chance. This mirrors our lives, where chance plays a part
• The secondary market allows you to tweak chance, so even though it’s more expensive, you can get what you need. This is like in life where you can modify the life you were handed through training and making difficult choices.
• The regular updates and change are very appealing. Old things get stale, so we want to try out something new.
• Trying out new strategies to compete is exactly the world we live in. You can’t stay the same, change is always happening, and competition of ideas has an appeal. The problem here is that life doesn’t exactly have winners & losers in such a black & white way, typically multiple competing ideas can happen at the same time. Often there does become a clear winner, but humanity doesn’t like the winner-take-all approach, so rules always stop this from continuing.

Overall I do like TCGs. People who complain about the money or time should find something else to do. Obviously there is a huge appeal for people. There are different outlets for different people, so not everyone needs to do the same things with the game. Some people just want to open booster packs, some just want to collect cards, and some want to buy decks to play. The appeal works for everyone.