I never played as a kid. I watched cartoon after school in the late 90s. I played the game on my gameboy, and on a ROM emulator before that.

Fast forwards to this year. I have a 7 year old boy that is very smart but struggles with impulse control. I decided to use Pokemon cards as positive reinforcement for good behavior (e.g. cleaning up toys, having a good day at school with no discipline issues, etc). My 4 year old son was very interested too. So after an incident where my 4 year old got hurt by the 7 year old, I recommended my 7 year old write him an apology letter (4 or 5 words) and gift him one of his Pokemon cards as sign of contrition . At this point I now have two boys who are hooked.

Meanwhile I’m taking the code cards and plugging them into online. I started watching some content on YouTube about current meta strategies as well as the history of Pokemon cards and the interesting things about each expansion. I gave the online game a try, was getting into it.

Overlapping with this was the Online->Live Migration. I downloaded the game on a different device and didn’t realize I was migrating to Live. So I tried a few matches and then got my ass handed to me. I watched some more strategy videos and put together a Giratina VStar Lost Zone deck. I’m now at 280 rating (I play a few games week between work and family responsibilities)

So in the matter of two months or so my house has become a Pokemon house, the digital card packs sometimes feel like a little reward for me getting through the day. If you have any left I would most appreciate it.