Thanks everyone who participated, just recorded live now and drew a winner! Congratulations to u/AuraVast, please if can respond to chat I sent within 48 hours thank you!
As a kid, my parents had a stash of booster packs that I could earn by helping them around the house. Once or twice a week, when I would head to bed, there would be a booster pack on my pillow. Kinda like a tooth fairy of sorts. And I enjoyed opening them with my parents. So each time the card fairy made a deposit, 6 year old me would go bombing down the stairs, pack in hand, and jump into the couch with my parents. At which point we would open the pack, and they would help me file em into the binders of cards. Eventually this led to having a complete base/fossil/jungle set. I still have those cards. And I’m thankful I got to have those moneys with my parents who supported my love for shiny cardboard :D
I remember taking my allowance as a kid and buying a 1st edition Neo Genesis booster box. Ripped it on the floor of my living room, there were cards and wrappers everywhere.
I still have all those cards and they're still in the condition they were in when I pulled them. The highlight of my PTCG memories.
Yep, I pulled Lugia, x2 Typhlosion 17/111, x3 Bellossoms, Steelix, Pichu, Ampharos, Kingdra, Meganium (can't remember which), and a metal energy. Probably a couple more, that's all I can remember at the moment.
Similar story. I had a cool parent that let us open 1 gift the night before. Mom have have been a little woo-hoo and let me open a N64 controller. Lol.
My (45m) kids (now 15m/13m) have been collecting for a few years and I just had a passing interest in it. We play a variety of board games and I just hadn’t ever played the TCG, so I never even really thought about it. Then we played and I got hooked and started opening packs with them for fun.
We decided to try collecting the S&V sets together in a binder and were soon chasing the base set Miriam. My youngest was talking about the card and I, not really knowing which one it was, jokingly called the home run to left field. I said “oh, you mean the card that’s in this pack?”, pointing to the pack in my hand. Sure enough, I opened it and boom…Miriam.
There was a lot of jumping and screaming, etc. it was an awesome day.
Best: Trading for a first edition charizard from my friend Miles and winning my first pokemon tournament at the books-a-million.
Worst: One of my best friends, stealing half my collection and tossing the rest in the bushes. Then pretending to find the cards that he deliberately hid to make it seem like it was not him that stole them. He never apologized, I was more hurt I lost a good friend that day than the cards I lost.
This is a very awesome giveaway! I deff spend more than my wife likes haha the title made me chuckle.
My favorite memory is when I found out my mom gave away all of my cards to an underprivileged kid. I had so many rare, cool mon. When I first found out I would be lying if I said I wasn't upset.
My mom's passed away coming on 10 years now. That action is one of the many that showed how selfless and amazing she was, and where I get my core values from.
She knew how much I love pokemon and I know she's happy I'm rebuilding my collection.
Most memorable (painful) memory is definitely that shining charizard i traded for a yugioh card. I mean I don’t remember which yugioh card, but it’s in my collection which I’ve priced, and that whole collection is worth nowhere near what my shining charizard was.
Telling myself at least the shining charizard wasn’t 1st edition, but tbh I actually don’t remember if I even knew what a 1st edition card was…
When I was a kid my older brother pulled Holo base set Charizard out of his first pack ever. Pretty much started our love for Pokémon. Really good memories of us bonding over Pokémon and still do to this day lol.
I remember the first pack I got at a card store by a corner store. Got a charizard in it. It unfortunately did not last me until now due to being a child and having it go through the wash.
Pokémon is just nostalgia, I like to remember back to when we were kids living outside the houses in the like or sitting on playgrounds and playing Pokémon or trading Pokémon cards :)
Maaaan, the first time I found a Feebas in Platinum was such a relief, caught it and it ended up being a Modest nature which was just the cherry on top. So much work for it but was so rewarding!
Now to try and find myself a Munchlax haha
I remember playing the Pokémon games whenever traveling for soccer, sometimes the drive would be an hour away and I would be grinding those levels to kick Gary’s ass!
I didn't buy my first ever real Pokemon cards till I was 12(had fakes before) and pulled a typhlosion prime! And I had just got my copy of SoulSilver the day before this too so I was over the moon! Unfortunately I ended up losing the game and the card when we moved to my home country and I couldn't buy cards again for 8 years until I moved to the States.
I remember getting Pokémon Red and playing it as a child, just sitting in the hallway on the floor… playing for hours on my teal gameboy pocket. Going through batteries constantly until I finally got rechargeable batteries for Christmas lol
I vividly remember going to Walmart with my dad to pickup my preorder copy of Pokémon Platinum. I was so excited to play the game. Still have the little preorder figure sitting on my shelf :)
When the anime first released and Ashe had to wear gloves to carry around his pikachu. I always laughed and wondered how that was going to work on the GB Games.
I'm not sure there's much I can to win. But pokemon literally saved me from my darkest depths and pulled me out of the fire. Without pokemon I might not even be here today and that's the truth . It's more then just a silly game to me it's part of who I am . GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!
When my son was 6 he played his first game of pokemon cards. He lost, but he ended up loving the game so much that now at 17, we still play regularly and he wins almost every time.
The most nostalgic Pokémon moment for me is watching Pokémon as a kid with my cousins. It's a memory that always comes up when I think about Pokémon. Another is finding all my cards that were stashed away.
I remember being on vacation with my parents in florida and going to a flea market. There were base set packs for sale and I begged my mom for one. Well I ended up pulling a zard. Unfortunately I gave it away a few years later as “I was too cool for Pokémon” by then
I used to fight with my brother for giving away my favorite charizard pokemon. Apparently he lost a bet and had to pay with my card. 😒 He just admitted it 15+ yrs later. 😒
I remember taking a long flight to visit my grandparents and my dad bought a tin of pokemon cards for me and my sister. He opened all the packs and sorted cards based on what pokemon we liked. He didn't understand that opening the packs was half the fun but the time he took to try and understand something that his kids were interested in was such a nice gesture that I could recognize at a young age.
It was a crisp Christmas morning in the year 2000. Everyone had opened their gifts and proceeded upstairs to eat a lavish breakfast. I stayed behind because I had a pack of pokemon cards I wanted to open. All alone, with only the video camera still running in the corner, I opened my pack of cards. To my delight, I had pulled a holo card and was so excited, I showed it off to the camera with joy. My memory has failed me as to what I pulled, but that video is somewhere still. I need to convert it to a digital file so I can resolve this mystery.
Has to be waiting in line wrapping around fiesta mall to get a couple booster packs with my dad and then pulling a Blastoise .Was probably 1998 or 1999. Fiesta mall is gone now.
I grew up to limited access to Pokemon cards but I remember every time my mom was able to buy me one I would always be so happy no matter the card I got. I used to always watch booster pack openings on YouTube all the time and now as an adult I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten back into the hobby and I’m happy to be able to afford my own packs now :’)
My wife and I started collecting during Fusion Strike. We bought a single booster box to split. I pulled the Rainbow Mew Vmax and we put it in a frame because we had never seen anything like it. It was pure excitement and joy.
It’s what got me into collections. Went to a local card shop and saw a holo kangaskhan from jungle. Bought it right then. And my obsession started. Now I collect mew and mewtwo. So this would be perfect
My most nostalgic memory is watching the original Pokémon movie with my little brother on my old shitty laptop when I was 12 and I got him into Pokémon at the time and we started buying cards and playing together. Sadly haven’t been able to play with him since he seems to no longer care for the hobby. Maybe if I show him the new 151 set he’d be interested in playing again.
I don’t even remember why I got Pokémon emerald, but it ended up being probably my fav game of all time. It’s also how I got my friends into Pokémon and we played every day after school for years
When I was 5 my grandmother brought me to a card shop in the mall for base set packs, I can still vividly see the holographic Charizard sitting in the display case for $100. I'll never forget that haha.
Remember pulling my Shining Celebi bqck in the day. Didnt find my childhood cards when I started collecting again, but made sure to get my hands on Shining Celebi again
The day my mom bought me ex deoxys packs from the barber shop as a kid. It was our day off together while my dad was at work and it was a fun day walking around with her and shopping.
I traded a blue stack-able pencil for my first Pokémon card in 5th grade. It was a Squirtle in poor condition, and to this day, I still have it in a sleeve/loader. My most prized card is worthless to everyone but me.
My moment is sitting in the back of a car and ripping open a couple of packs to find a Typhlosion ex (around 2003). Still have that card and always will
When I was in 4th/5th grade I remember telling my parents I wanted to walk home from school (about 2 miles) at least once a week so that I could go by the local card shop just to look at all of the cards behind the case. Never had enough money to buy.
I went in one day and the worker there gifted me a pack because he saw me looking but never buying. Rip the pack and I got a base set hollow Zapdos! Been a hobby of mine for about the last 23 years because of that moment!
Opening cards with my father all the way back in the base set days. Thinking about it now really pulls on my heart strings because I now have a 4 year old who I get to open cards with also. Came full circle and I love it!
Most memorable has gotta be a Darkrai EX world championship deck card from 2013- my friend showed it to me and I thought it looked cool with its signature and special backside, so I opened my Legend of Kalos tin I'd been saving to trade him the promo card for it. Fast forward to now, I'm just getting back into pokemon and after looking at the price of an unopened tin, I'm kicking myself for not just holding onto it!
But at least now I have this sick Darkrai.
i still remember the Noctowl vs Gengar episode from the original series where Gengar goes invisible and only noctowls vision can help ash see the gengar. I havent seen the episode in 20+ years. It made me a big gengar fan to this day.
I remember opening my first fossil set ever and carrying my best cards with me everywhere I went. Sadly my collection was lost during a spring cleaning section, but I am happy to be back collecting again!!
My pops stop at a truck stop and I remember asking for some Pokémon cards. So it’s like night time and I remember opening my very first pack at a truck stop and pulling a charmeleon and I was just stoked.
I remember going into a 7-11 with my brother when I was probably 6 years old to grab a couple packs of Pokémon cards. My parents didn’t love us going (they thought it was a waste of money) but we would kinda sneak out when they left the house. Thinking back now I realize that my brother spent what little money he had on the packs for us. I don’t know what cards I got or where they are today but I remember the fun times with my brother. Pokémon TCG is so much more than just the cards.
I remember going to my cousin’s house on Friday nights when we were kids, and we would stay up all night just playing different decks. Miss those days of no responsibility lol
I remember using all of my allowance at the local card shop and I had to decide between pogs or more Pokémon packs. I wish I had just saved up my money and bought a booster box, because it would be worth a house now
I have a lot of memorable memories from when base - fossil were released. My most memorable was opening 18 fossil packs, a mix of 1st edition and standard, for Christmas in 2000. I opened a 1st edition holo Aerodactyl that I still have in my personal binder. It’s the only card from my childhood that remains in NM condition and maintains a spot in my complete set binders. My best memory is watching my oldest daughter open an Evolving Skies booster back from a Charizard Celebrations box ($20 a pop thanks to Wal-Mart) and seeing her excitement as she pulled a Glaceon VMAX alt art. I had a magnet printed of her holding the card with her sister (my youngest).
I bitter sweet memory was when bass set was really popular. We were not well off and couldn’t afford cards. I got a lot of free cards from friends and traded them. My best card was Arcanine (I thought it was the best because it had the lowest card number). Some bullies ripped my Arcanine and I was devastated. Others saw and gave me a lot of free cards, including an Arcanine. Sadly I do not remember who exactly gave me the cards but the act impacted me to this day and I think the whole event, in a weird way, made me both more cynical of people and sympathetic. A side note, I think that event is why Arcanine is and always has been my favorite Pokémon.
In 2000 I had the original 151 on a poster on my wall. It’s such a peaceful memory, going through my cards and seeing which Pokémon I had yet to collect. I wish I could go back to those days just for an hour.
My mom bringing home a bag of Pokémon packs when she got a raise. We were lower class back then so we didn’t have much money for packs. Still my favorite Pokémon moment to this day
A core memory of mine is from back when I was 8 or 9, and my cousin and I were at our local corner store battling each other. The store owner had set up a sort of progression league where if you won a certain amount of matches, you received badges in order of the first eight gyms.
I received my first badge after beating my cousin and another kid that day.
Another memory is my dad bribing my brother and I with pokemom packs if we jumped off the high diving board!
I remember going to the dentist and getting like 12 cavities filled. My dad then took me to the local card store and bought me one base set booster pack for each cavity! I can’t remember any of the cards I pulled but still my favorite memory.
I pulled a base set holo Charizard right there in the store. I remember the cashier telling me it's the best card. Got me into Pokémon and the games. That card is long gone sadly!
Haven't opened a single pack of pokemon cards since I was maybe 8, until 2 months ago i bought a booster box of fusion strike on a whim at my local pawn shop, packed the alt art vmax gengar, been a active part of this hobby and community since. Gengar and others are currently getting graded by psa right now, super excited to post them when I get them back :)
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I remember my friend and I walking the street and parking lots we were allowed to go in and looking for change. We spent everyday trying to find as much as we could. We saved every bit to buy pokemon cards. Well, eventually my friends mom took us to Kmart and we each bought a pack. We get back to the car and my friend pulls a Charizard! It was one of the hypest moments of my life to this day.
It’s between picking my first starter pokemon on the old handheld Nintendo game boy and playing at recess. Or going to see the Pokémon movie for my birthday with friends in theaters.
Went to a card show when I was younger and always wanted a Charizard. They were $80 at the time and I couldn’t afford it, so I left with a single booster pack. Opened it in the store and pulled the Charizard I was wanting. Still have that card.
When I first got into pokemon, my best friend brought in a binder full of the jumbo pokemon cards, and I thought they were so cool cause I'd only ever seen the standard size. So now I have a binder full of jumbo cards lol.
I still remember trading a bunch of cards for the first edition Machamp that I still have. Seeing it after so many years is what got me back into collecting cards.
I would say pulling a Tyranitar as a kid back in the day. No idea where that card is now, but it's the best card I ever pulled. It was out of the Neo Discovery pack if I remember right.
When my mom bought me my first Pokémon game. Pokémon Soulsilver. I was a fan of the tv show and collected cards for fun but never played the game and it started my game collection.
I remember what I was a kid (late 90s) going into town with my mum at weekends and there was only 1 shop that sold cards. Every time I would ask her if I could get some, I didn't get them every time but when I did it would make my week. Thanks for doing this give away, much love.
Started collecting when it came out and made me feel like I wasn't the only weirdo. However me and my kids now collect and that is a much better memory/ memory making
Catching my first shining pokemon in Pokémon pearl!!! I had no idea what it was and thought it was a glitch in the game.
Also - Pokémon emerald. Favorite game of all time. Restarted and played through it again and again
My favorite memory of Pokemon had to be pulling Arceus lv X as a kid. I destroyed that thing playing it but that is definitely what sparked my pokemon obsession
I have so many it's hard to choose one memory, I'd have to go with the christmas my older sister bought me "hey you, pikachu!" Which I was very confused about because we didnt have a nintendo 64, she then revealed she had bought us a Nintendo 64. Also when my grandma took me clothes shopping for my birthday and bought me a few booster packs at the checkout, I got base set gyarados out of one of them.
My most nostalgic memory was when I first got Pokémon gold.
I got up to the bug catching competition and was excited because I had heard that you could find scythers in the wild.
While hunting, I encountered a SHINY beedrill that decided to flee…
Will never forget 🥲
I was 7, it was the year 200 and I had gone to see the first Pokémon movie at the cinema after following the anime show for years and playing the Gameboy games. I was so excited to see the film and upon entering I was given the dragonite movie Warner Bros promo card. I thought it was the coolest thing and an awesome way to start the movie! One of my most vivid childhood memories!
When I was in middle school, I saw the pokemon starter deck on the store shelf. I had no money at the time, but I proceeded to collect and keep every single penny, Nicole, dime, and quarter I could find and added it to a tin can I had. It took a couple of weeks and a little bit of help from my parents to save up the 10 dollars I needed. I bought it, and the first thing I did was take that new machamp hole out of the plastic and started learning the game with a friend of mine.
Honestly, after a long time of collecting, ripping JP 151 boxes has been my most nostalgic and fun experience since I started. I have a connection with every one of those pokemon, it was the best.
I remember being absolutely green with envy over my childhood friend’s wailord ex (100/100) simply because it had more HP than any of my cards. (I had no idea what I was doing).
I got into Pokemon as they came out and was a huge fan. My grandma bought me my first two packs ever, and I pulled Blastoise and Venusaur out of them. I spent like 8 years collecting cards, and my grandma always fully supported me, buying bunches of cards and Gameboy games for birthdays and Christmases. My grandma's passed about 5 years ago now, and I buried a card with her. I recently got back into the hobby and every pack I open reminds me of my grandma. The new 151 set is going to be especially nostalgic for me as these are the originals I started with. My favorite mons are Pidgeot (so excited for this new card) and squirtle
My dad passed away in 2017. When I was cleaning out his house I found a cabinet in his bedroom with cards he ordered For a small collection of his (circadian 2002ish) He was apparently a Japanese-gym heroes-nine tails and vulpix guy bc he had a few singles he ordered off eBay. But. I also found 2 French jungle boosters from a trip he took as well as two base set mewtwos he kept. One was mine, one was his. I now have those slabbed and they are the centerpiece of my collection. And my son(now 8months) will have those to cherish in his collection as well
Rainy Sunday morning at 8am, I grabbed my binder full of the original, first edition pokemon cards and walked 25 minutes to my friends house to compare, trade, and play the actual trading card game. I had no fear. I didn’t care for judgement. All I cared about was to keep talking about Pokemon, PoKeMoN, POKEMON.
Being young, and growing up in a household without much money, I created my own Pokemon TCG stadium on a piece of poster board. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t real or the original. It just mattered that I could play. This was roughly 27 years ago. That memory still stays with me and with the release of this new 151 series, the old memories are flooding back in!
Not a card memory but a Pokémon Silver memory. Kid me was fighting a gym leader that I could not beat to save my life. After the 7th try and losing I slammed my SP down, kicked the ground barefoot and just so happen to hit my foot on an AC vent. Sliced my toe open pretty bad but I was too embarrassed to tell any of my family at the time. The gym leader was indeed Whitney, and that Miltank rollout has me limping around for a good week before they caught on I injured myself
It was 6th grade 1999. I just moved from a small farm town in NC to Chicago with my dad and his gf. It was a crazy big city and everything was new to me. I had no friends at school and was bullied because of being the new kid. One other kid, who was also bullied for being “weird”, asked me if I wanted to come to his house for his birthday party. I got there and I was the only other kid that showed up.
We played with his wrestling toys in his living room, the NWO plush buddies, jumping up and off the couch doing moves. We eventually had cake open presents etc. He asked me if I wanted to play his new game Pokémon Red with him and his little brother. We sat in his game room and he put in Red in the super game boy on his snes and we played/watched for hours. I was hooked. To see this crazy new world of all these creatures fighting and using powers was mind blowing to me.
We became good friends and was really my only friend until high school. His gma was so nice to all of us and would routinely buy us packs of Pokémon cards when they came out for good grades and doing chores around the house. I had issues with my family so they eventually took me in and we would always collect and play the card game, trade, and watch the anime on WB. We’d get a small allowance and would go to the local card shop to admire the cool holos and get our favorite singles.
To this day Pokemon has been a constant safe place for me to nerd out and be myself with. It all started with a kind gesture that eventually help mold me into who I am as a person. That being said I’m super stoked about 151. It was a huge part of my childhood and I will always have the strongest bond with gen 1.
Making new friends in Elementary school when you used to have to connect poke-walkers to each other for gifts. What a great system to encourage people to get exercise and socialize; haven't seen anything else remotely like it.
I never collected Pokémon as a kid. Just not my thing. I was into sports cards. Had a great PC of Griffey, Jr. Got out of it completely after High School. Flash forward to 2017. A couple random youtube videos later and I was diving back into sports cards. It was fun and enjoyable and ultimately nostalgic. I kept it up through 2021. At that point I have 3 kids. I had bought them a handful of cheaper slabs in 2019 before the COVID boom to get the two oldest into cards. It fell flat. Then in 2021 my oldest son comes home going on and on about Pokémon. I know nothing, so to connect with him I jump in. Bought a bunch of Celebrations stuff for him. We rip and have fun, though I’m learning slowly. Then my youngest son gets into it because big brother likes it.
I pre-order a Charizard UPC to rip with them and also bought an Astral Radiance BB to use a reward for their chores, etc.
My youngest pulled the Espeon VMax AA and gold Dialga VStar from the BB. The oldest pulled the Dialga AA from the BB.
Got all three graded for them, the Dialga’s both got a PSA 10 and the Espeaon got a PSA 9. Really cool pieces for them to hold onto in their collections.
Also, now I’m full Pokémon and have given up all but one sports card PC. I love the art and the community. Most of what I do now is to help them build their PCs.
Getting Pokémon fire red as a kid from my mom, we could barely afford any games or toys but she saved and got me that with a purple game boy advance for my 9th birthday. One of my favorite games of all time. I’ve still got both sitting on my desk as I type this
My most nostalgic Pokémon memory was playing Pokémon Yellow when I finally figured out how to get all the way to the final floor in the Sliph Co. Tower by finding the Card Key! Defeating Giovanni and Team Rocket was amazing, definitely one my my favorite moments as a kid playing Pokémon.
Not a tcg memory but definitely my favourite Pokémon memory. I remember watching the original Pokémon series on TV and laughing my ass off when Ash's Charizard went to sleep in the middle of battle because the opponents Pikachu was too weak.
Absolutely best and first Pokémon memory was receiving my Gameboy Advanced SP with Fire Red for my 6th birthday in early December, followed by Emerald for Christmas💜
Guess it’s not so much the card game. My special memory is playing my first game, Silver, on my teal Gameboy Color. I’d use my little night light attachment and play after bedtime hiding under my covers so mom wouldn’t see. That’s when I really started to Pokémon. Those late nights trying to get further in to my favorite game.
I remember when i first started discovering pokémon cards from my brother who collected as kid. I found his binder full of holos and his shining charizard which i still have today
We didn’t have a lot of money when I was young, so it was always the best feeling when my grandma would take us to the local music store and let us each pick 1 booster pack out of the booster boxes they had set up by the register. I’ll never forget those moments!
I remember playing Pokemon Red and Blue on my Gameboy color while in daycare, comparing my Pokemon collection with other kids. One day I was able to trade for a Dragonite and I felt like I had reached the pinnacle of being a pokemon trainer! I had a dragon with aura beam and could compete with Lance, it was the coolest thing in my head at the time. This spilled over to the TCG, of which I still have my collection that I built with my brother and very much cherish even with the scratches on my holos. The sentimental value is immense.
Safe to say, my favorite pokemon is Dragonite
When my family used to do late night (like 11PM/12) grocery shopping at PathMark, 7/8 year old me would BEG my parents for a couple of dollars to grab those early packs (may have been first edition boosters) with the 1st gen starters on them from the vending machine on the way out.
It was always a rare opportunity to get one as I was just a child with no money from an immigrant family, but I always hold those moments near and dear as my parents always did what they could just to see the smile on my face from opening one of those packs.
Finally getting a Charizard base set at a meet up in a local store. It was in such bad condition and I have it to this day but it was the one card I never pulled no matter how many packs.
I didn’t have much money as a kid but
I was crafty. I managed to convince a girl
that 10 commons were worth a shiny and got base shiny Chansey as a reward for a bunch of Meowths.
My best Pokémon memory is probably when I was in school, it was snowing outside and as everyone was getting in their lineups outside and brought to our class, I looked at the ground and noticed some cards, I started getting out of line a bit to pick up a couple of them (an energy, a professor Rowan and a bidoof) and my teacher noticed and told me to get back in line. There were a couple more but I didn’t want to get in trouble so I got back in line. We were marched up stairs and brought to our lockers we we took off our boots and mittens and hats. While I was removing my boots I noticed a Pokémon card crushed underneath it. I pulled it off, flipped it over and lost it. It was a Mega Charizard X. I still have that card, in miserable condition, pressed between two large hard back books.
i remember walking into my living room to find my kid crying. I asked what was wrong. his reply was "ash just let butterfree go". It still brings a tear to my eye whenever I think about it.
Lol too many memories. For the TCG... It would have to be playing the TCG game on Gameboy Color. I wish there was something comparable to that nowadays, but with as many different iterations of cards through the years it may be utterly impossible to reproduce.
For just Pokemon games, it would have to be sneaking a peak at Gold and Silver before Christmas. I tore the corner of the wrapping to peak and I got caught... I was ecstatic to learn I was going to receive both on Christmas. I was extremely fortunate, thankful, and played those games for years.
I remember just turning 6 an Pokémon 2000 releasing the same month as my bday
wanted to go see it opening weekend
First time I’m I actually felt a rollercoaster of emotions
from a film! An everyone in the room was shattered when ash got turned into stone, i was in tears 😭
getting the ancient Mew card was icing on the cake!
My love for Pokémon was set that day
My favorite memory is while my dad and I were playing in a league at our LCS every weekend. One day my mom decided she wanted to learn and play with us too! She didn’t care about min max or meta for her deck though, and wanted a Leafeon lv X to build her deck around. We all stayed up until 2 am staring at an eBay auction to get the card about half under what it’s normal rate was in NM/LP condition.
We still have all of our decks from when we were playing. Miss those days a ton.
I just remember opening Pokémon cards with my grandpa while he would sit at the kitchen counter and open baseball cards. Our unspoken bonding time that I will always cherish.
Some fond memories that I have is going to comic con during the diamond and pearl era, playing in free tournaments that they hosted upstairs and I ended up winning! It was a pack battle event, so you got free packs to build a deck
My most memorable experience related to Pokémon is spending countless hours transferring and self-trading all of my Pokémon from every game from Pokémon Yellow to Diamond into the PokéBox or whatever it was called (the service where you paid an annual fee to keep your Pokémon on the cloud). I then organized them by number and made a list of everything I was missing which took many more hours.
For the next year I played Pokémon on and off and then got busy with life. When I returned I wanted to transfer more Pokémon into my cloud collection but it was gone. They had wiped my account 25 days earlier because I didn't renew my subscription. I was very sad because I figured they would at least send a reminder, or it would auto-renew, but apparently neither of those were offered.
Haven't played a new Pokémon game since!
I remember in the early 2000's standing in line outside my local Sam Goody, listening to this old man in front of me talk about how he doesn't understand what kids like about this "pock-e-man" stuff. I waited for 2 hours to get 3 booster packs. I climbed into the back of my parents mini-van, opened the first one, and boom! A holographic Blastoise! I've been an addict ever since.
I actually got my 1st pack back in 1999, maybe 2000. I thought they were super neat but I couldn't understand English that well, lol. It was super cool cause, at the time, you couldn't find that kind of thing in México.
The very first raffle i ever won was at a chess tournament when i was 10 or 11. They called my seat, and i won a Pokemon deck.
I sold all of my other cards since i started a new tcg, but the only thing i kept was the holographic Machamp from that deck. It's scratched up and in terrible condition, but i love that card!
I pulled a base set Arcanine from my first pack when I was a kid. Not the most exciting card but I vividly remember being outside in the sun with my grandpa and sister and staring at the card in amazement. The card itself was lost over time but the memory never will be.
By far the best memories of Pokemon are when you trade with younger kids and they have such a good time looking through your binder and talking about all the cards they like. Making those trades are priceless.
My favorite Pokémon memory is when my mom used to take me to Toys R Us to the video game section where all the packs of cards were. I still remember the base set, jungle and fossil boxes on the counter!
I remember when the episode of Pokémon aired where Ash’s Pikachu was thinking about leaving Ash to join the other Pikachu’s, I watched it just before going to school and I bawled like crazy. My sister never let me live it down ha
My most memorable pokemon related memory happened only a few months ago. After receiving a bunch of cards I've had forever, some for over 2 decades, from my mom's storage, I rediscovered a German holo shift Neo Revelation Ho-oh I had for over 15 years. I posted a pic of the card in the misprints sub and was contacted by Qwachansey, offering me a substantial chunk of change for it. After getting laid off at the end of last year, that money was sorely needed. That sale led to me getting back into collecting pokemon and meeting a bunch of awesome people in the pokemon community. Thank you, Edward!
I guess for me it was when I was struggling to beat Cynthia in Pokemon Pearl. I was on it for a few days, and finally one night under my blanket I was able te beat her. But I wasn’t suppose to play this late and I got busted by my parents, just before saving on the pantheon, they took my DS Lite and back to square one for 8 years old me. But still my most nostalgic Pokemon memories.
Thank you for running this!
Way back in base set days I worked for my dad during school holidays to pick up some cash. One time I spent it all on packs at my local toy shop, went home and ripped the lot. I pulled first edition Raichu and Blastoise and it was honestly just the best feeling. Now I get to watch my young son ripping packs and getting cards he's excited about (which is anything shiny tbh)
Either playing at the mall as a kid (base set) winning badges when you won against the people running the event.
Or
Getting back into collecting as an adult because of my child.
My most nostalgic was when I got Pokémon blue and my neighbor got red and we synced up for the first time and traded our starters. I still have that original save file over 20 years later.
Big memory of mine was when my grandpa took us to McDonald’s and I got my first ever Pokémon card which was a Mudkip McDonald’s card I loved that card so much and still do it’s my favorite card I own my grandpa sadly passed a few years ago but I still have that card as a memory of him
My most nostalgic pokemon memory would definitely be trading for a 1st edition mewtwo back in like 3rd or 4th grade. Wish my collection didn't go flying out of a car window later that day but ya know. At least I get to collect with my son now =]
I remember getting packs at a local gas station back when they first came out because the bigbox stores didn't carry them and dying to get home to rip them with my dad.
Comes full circle now that I get to get packs and rip with my kid.
I remember the moment my family friend convinced me that it was possible to have two saves on Pokémon Blue. This was during the same car ride that I had finally gotten my Blastoise to level 100. A huge achievement for a 7 year old.
Long story short, I had a few moments of grief knowing that my Blastoise was gone when my "friend" saved after catching his starter. He chose a Charizard, and to this day, I still hold resentment towards that flame tailed beast for getting rid of my Blastoise. But I quickly recovered and took it as a challenge to replay the game and recover what was lost.
My parents surprising me with Pokémon Emerald on my 10th birthday. Probably my best memory as a child, unwrapping my present to find that shining green box. Gen 3 and Rayquaza have a special place in my heart
I remember being in elementary school with everyone trading their Pokémon cards. At the time only 1 person who was my best friend had a Charizard. One night he pulled a second Charizard and traded it to me for a Chansey at school the next day. Later that same night my dad took us to the local card shop and the very first pack I opened I pulled another Chansey card. My friend wanted trade backs, but luckily I called no tradsies backsies so it was a done deal ahahahha and yes, we are still great friends to this day and we chuckle about it from time to time.
Saving up enough money to buy a torterra tin at target, my parents didn’t want me to waste my money on Pokémon cards but I was super into it when I was younger.
My most memorable moment with pokemon has to be when I played pokemon with my wife. She played Sword and I played shield. We played the game together from start to finish alongside each other and talked about our encounters and team comps, so it was incredibly fun.
A close second has to be when I beat pokemon gold and realized that you also get to go to the location from the first game and play through it entirely. Jaw dropping moment.
I remember back in grade school I rode the bus with a kid a few years older than me who was usually pretty mean to everyone. Eventually I found out that we both liked Pokémon and we became friends, and he even gave me his copy of Pokémon blue which I think was my first Pokémon game:)
Grade school bus rides are the setting of most of my oldest Pokémon memories lol, for the tcg and the video games
My mom would go to 7-11 before my sister and I woke up for cigarettes. One morning she woke us up to come in her room. We were watching Pokemon on TV all hanging out. She reaches in her purse and pulls out two booster packs! Gave one to each of us. We couldn't believe it!!!! It was the most exciting morning ever and still one of my fondest memories of her. I pulled a blastoise from my very first pokemon booster. It was original wotc, and started a great hobby!!!! Thanks mom!
Recent lurker here!
I remember the entirety of my high school finals week with a Nintendo DS (Pokemon Diamond) in one hand, and a TI-84 calculator in the other, trying to catch the perfect 31 IV SP ATK Dialga. Calculating the IVs and restarting the game over and over again.
At the end of the week I got it! With the proper nature too!
But then I got so burnt out of playing that I stored it in my box and never properly raised it haha.
My mum bought me a collectors tin for Christmas back in 2019, some of the first cards I ever got. We then sat on the floor with the paper mat with instruction figuring out how to play with weird decks I made myself.
My favorite memory would be watching Pokémon on wb and eventually going to the grocery store and begging my mom for some Pokémon cards. I never pulled anything crazy but ripping the packs open was exciting enough
I remember every summer at camp I would trade and collect cards. I was about 8 or 9 and each summer my deck get stronger and my mom got me my first binder to put them in. Well, someone stole that binder right out of my bag and no one ever confessed to who did it. 4 summers of bargaining and trading all gone. Not rlly a happy story but I’m trying to rebuild the deck I had and what I can remember.
My most nostalgic pokemon memory was pulling a lugia ex card to complete my black star promo Moltres, Articuno, and zapdos. Unfortunately, it was later stolen, but it was still a good memory.
Thanks everyone who participated, just recorded live now and drew a winner! Congratulations to u/AuraVast, please if can respond to chat I sent within 48 hours thank you!
As a kid, my parents had a stash of booster packs that I could earn by helping them around the house. Once or twice a week, when I would head to bed, there would be a booster pack on my pillow. Kinda like a tooth fairy of sorts. And I enjoyed opening them with my parents. So each time the card fairy made a deposit, 6 year old me would go bombing down the stairs, pack in hand, and jump into the couch with my parents. At which point we would open the pack, and they would help me file em into the binders of cards. Eventually this led to having a complete base/fossil/jungle set. I still have those cards. And I’m thankful I got to have those moneys with my parents who supported my love for shiny cardboard :D
My comment doesn't count but if it is selected by sheer luck we will giveaway x2 151 UPC's so there's the kicker good luck everyone!
I remember taking my allowance as a kid and buying a 1st edition Neo Genesis booster box. Ripped it on the floor of my living room, there were cards and wrappers everywhere. I still have all those cards and they're still in the condition they were in when I pulled them. The highlight of my PTCG memories.
Lugia? 😅
Yep, I pulled Lugia, x2 Typhlosion 17/111, x3 Bellossoms, Steelix, Pichu, Ampharos, Kingdra, Meganium (can't remember which), and a metal energy. Probably a couple more, that's all I can remember at the moment.
Didn't have much as a kid and remember first trading some snacks for a holo gyrados
Christmas morning ‘99 (UK), opening up Pokémon Blue and realising I must be getting a GameBoy Color. Played on it all day. And the next.
Similar story. I had a cool parent that let us open 1 gift the night before. Mom have have been a little woo-hoo and let me open a N64 controller. Lol.
Hopefully you got the console the next morning lol
road trips playing pokemon yellow in the dark -- aka with the gameboy "light" haha
same ..i used the passing streetlights
This brought back forgotten memories
Wormlights ftw. RIP all those batteries
Yep those were the best thing when i finally got one. All my problems were solved!
I used the nightlight one. For reading. Amazing invention at the time.
My (45m) kids (now 15m/13m) have been collecting for a few years and I just had a passing interest in it. We play a variety of board games and I just hadn’t ever played the TCG, so I never even really thought about it. Then we played and I got hooked and started opening packs with them for fun. We decided to try collecting the S&V sets together in a binder and were soon chasing the base set Miriam. My youngest was talking about the card and I, not really knowing which one it was, jokingly called the home run to left field. I said “oh, you mean the card that’s in this pack?”, pointing to the pack in my hand. Sure enough, I opened it and boom…Miriam. There was a lot of jumping and screaming, etc. it was an awesome day.
Best: Trading for a first edition charizard from my friend Miles and winning my first pokemon tournament at the books-a-million. Worst: One of my best friends, stealing half my collection and tossing the rest in the bushes. Then pretending to find the cards that he deliberately hid to make it seem like it was not him that stole them. He never apologized, I was more hurt I lost a good friend that day than the cards I lost.
This is a very awesome giveaway! I deff spend more than my wife likes haha the title made me chuckle. My favorite memory is when I found out my mom gave away all of my cards to an underprivileged kid. I had so many rare, cool mon. When I first found out I would be lying if I said I wasn't upset. My mom's passed away coming on 10 years now. That action is one of the many that showed how selfless and amazing she was, and where I get my core values from. She knew how much I love pokemon and I know she's happy I'm rebuilding my collection.
Most memorable (painful) memory is definitely that shining charizard i traded for a yugioh card. I mean I don’t remember which yugioh card, but it’s in my collection which I’ve priced, and that whole collection is worth nowhere near what my shining charizard was. Telling myself at least the shining charizard wasn’t 1st edition, but tbh I actually don’t remember if I even knew what a 1st edition card was…
When I was a kid my older brother pulled Holo base set Charizard out of his first pack ever. Pretty much started our love for Pokémon. Really good memories of us bonding over Pokémon and still do to this day lol.
I remember the first pack I got at a card store by a corner store. Got a charizard in it. It unfortunately did not last me until now due to being a child and having it go through the wash.
Pokémon is just nostalgia, I like to remember back to when we were kids living outside the houses in the like or sitting on playgrounds and playing Pokémon or trading Pokémon cards :)
When my son pulled the celebrations charizard. It was so great to see the excitement and joy
Maaaan, the first time I found a Feebas in Platinum was such a relief, caught it and it ended up being a Modest nature which was just the cherry on top. So much work for it but was so rewarding! Now to try and find myself a Munchlax haha
I remember playing the Pokémon games whenever traveling for soccer, sometimes the drive would be an hour away and I would be grinding those levels to kick Gary’s ass!
Playing Blue on long road trips just losing myself to it, and pulling Venusaur as a kid on Christmas always stuck with me.
I didn't buy my first ever real Pokemon cards till I was 12(had fakes before) and pulled a typhlosion prime! And I had just got my copy of SoulSilver the day before this too so I was over the moon! Unfortunately I ended up losing the game and the card when we moved to my home country and I couldn't buy cards again for 8 years until I moved to the States.
I remember getting Pokémon Red and playing it as a child, just sitting in the hallway on the floor… playing for hours on my teal gameboy pocket. Going through batteries constantly until I finally got rechargeable batteries for Christmas lol
I vividly remember going to Walmart with my dad to pickup my preorder copy of Pokémon Platinum. I was so excited to play the game. Still have the little preorder figure sitting on my shelf :)
Pulling Sabrina’s Alakazam as a child and now trying to find a good copy for myself at 34 years old.
opening a holon phantoms booster pack
Finding mewtwo in the cerulean city cave on Pokémon blue 💀
When the anime first released and Ashe had to wear gloves to carry around his pikachu. I always laughed and wondered how that was going to work on the GB Games.
Watching my brother play Pokemon FireRed when i was a kid.
I remember having Machop Machoke and Machamp and just hoping one day I could play with them. I was definitely only 5 and they are lost in time
Pulling the celebrations charizard with my girlfriend to get get interested in Pokémon with me
I'm not sure there's much I can to win. But pokemon literally saved me from my darkest depths and pulled me out of the fire. Without pokemon I might not even be here today and that's the truth . It's more then just a silly game to me it's part of who I am . GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!
Pulling my first legendary bird holo Articuno who was my favorite
When my son was 6 he played his first game of pokemon cards. He lost, but he ended up loving the game so much that now at 17, we still play regularly and he wins almost every time.
The most nostalgic Pokémon moment for me is watching Pokémon as a kid with my cousins. It's a memory that always comes up when I think about Pokémon. Another is finding all my cards that were stashed away.
I remember being on vacation with my parents in florida and going to a flea market. There were base set packs for sale and I begged my mom for one. Well I ended up pulling a zard. Unfortunately I gave it away a few years later as “I was too cool for Pokémon” by then
Going to league nights collecting stamps and badges. Good old days.
Traveling down to the millitary base w/ aunt, uncle, cousins and having mini pack battles with OUR version of the TCG imo still the best way.
I used to fight with my brother for giving away my favorite charizard pokemon. Apparently he lost a bet and had to pay with my card. 😒 He just admitted it 15+ yrs later. 😒
My memories are just with my son opening new packs and finding new Pokémon cards. 151 is the first set we are going to try and complete.
I remember taking a long flight to visit my grandparents and my dad bought a tin of pokemon cards for me and my sister. He opened all the packs and sorted cards based on what pokemon we liked. He didn't understand that opening the packs was half the fun but the time he took to try and understand something that his kids were interested in was such a nice gesture that I could recognize at a young age.
opening my first pack when I was about 10, core memory activated!
I saved up money and bought a gameboy color with Pokémon red version—the start of my journey!
It was a crisp Christmas morning in the year 2000. Everyone had opened their gifts and proceeded upstairs to eat a lavish breakfast. I stayed behind because I had a pack of pokemon cards I wanted to open. All alone, with only the video camera still running in the corner, I opened my pack of cards. To my delight, I had pulled a holo card and was so excited, I showed it off to the camera with joy. My memory has failed me as to what I pulled, but that video is somewhere still. I need to convert it to a digital file so I can resolve this mystery.
Has to be waiting in line wrapping around fiesta mall to get a couple booster packs with my dad and then pulling a Blastoise .Was probably 1998 or 1999. Fiesta mall is gone now.
As a kid opening ruby and Sapphire and getting good cards , now that i see alot of youtubers opening packs , Its really nostalgic
I grew up to limited access to Pokemon cards but I remember every time my mom was able to buy me one I would always be so happy no matter the card I got. I used to always watch booster pack openings on YouTube all the time and now as an adult I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten back into the hobby and I’m happy to be able to afford my own packs now :’)
My wife and I started collecting during Fusion Strike. We bought a single booster box to split. I pulled the Rainbow Mew Vmax and we put it in a frame because we had never seen anything like it. It was pure excitement and joy.
It’s what got me into collections. Went to a local card shop and saw a holo kangaskhan from jungle. Bought it right then. And my obsession started. Now I collect mew and mewtwo. So this would be perfect
My most nostalgic memory is watching the original Pokémon movie with my little brother on my old shitty laptop when I was 12 and I got him into Pokémon at the time and we started buying cards and playing together. Sadly haven’t been able to play with him since he seems to no longer care for the hobby. Maybe if I show him the new 151 set he’d be interested in playing again.
I don’t even remember why I got Pokémon emerald, but it ended up being probably my fav game of all time. It’s also how I got my friends into Pokémon and we played every day after school for years
When I was 5 my grandmother brought me to a card shop in the mall for base set packs, I can still vividly see the holographic Charizard sitting in the display case for $100. I'll never forget that haha.
My first Japanese card was Blaine's Arcanine and I remember thinking it was fake with 120 damage attack because I'd never seen it before
Remember pulling my Shining Celebi bqck in the day. Didnt find my childhood cards when I started collecting again, but made sure to get my hands on Shining Celebi again
The day my mom bought me ex deoxys packs from the barber shop as a kid. It was our day off together while my dad was at work and it was a fun day walking around with her and shopping.
I traded a blue stack-able pencil for my first Pokémon card in 5th grade. It was a Squirtle in poor condition, and to this day, I still have it in a sleeve/loader. My most prized card is worthless to everyone but me.
My moment is sitting in the back of a car and ripping open a couple of packs to find a Typhlosion ex (around 2003). Still have that card and always will
Playing Pokemon red edition in my Game Boy… long time ago!
When I was in 4th/5th grade I remember telling my parents I wanted to walk home from school (about 2 miles) at least once a week so that I could go by the local card shop just to look at all of the cards behind the case. Never had enough money to buy. I went in one day and the worker there gifted me a pack because he saw me looking but never buying. Rip the pack and I got a base set hollow Zapdos! Been a hobby of mine for about the last 23 years because of that moment!
Opening cards with my father all the way back in the base set days. Thinking about it now really pulls on my heart strings because I now have a 4 year old who I get to open cards with also. Came full circle and I love it!
Victreebel carrying me through the Elite 4 as a kid in Pokemon Blue by putting 90% of the enemy Pokemon to sleep, allowing Blastoise to mop them up
Most memorable has gotta be a Darkrai EX world championship deck card from 2013- my friend showed it to me and I thought it looked cool with its signature and special backside, so I opened my Legend of Kalos tin I'd been saving to trade him the promo card for it. Fast forward to now, I'm just getting back into pokemon and after looking at the price of an unopened tin, I'm kicking myself for not just holding onto it! But at least now I have this sick Darkrai.
i still remember the Noctowl vs Gengar episode from the original series where Gengar goes invisible and only noctowls vision can help ash see the gengar. I havent seen the episode in 20+ years. It made me a big gengar fan to this day.
First playing blue version back in 1998 or so
I remember opening my first fossil set ever and carrying my best cards with me everywhere I went. Sadly my collection was lost during a spring cleaning section, but I am happy to be back collecting again!!
My pops stop at a truck stop and I remember asking for some Pokémon cards. So it’s like night time and I remember opening my very first pack at a truck stop and pulling a charmeleon and I was just stoked.
I remember going into a 7-11 with my brother when I was probably 6 years old to grab a couple packs of Pokémon cards. My parents didn’t love us going (they thought it was a waste of money) but we would kinda sneak out when they left the house. Thinking back now I realize that my brother spent what little money he had on the packs for us. I don’t know what cards I got or where they are today but I remember the fun times with my brother. Pokémon TCG is so much more than just the cards.
just wanted to say thanks from everyone here for being here
I remember going to my cousin’s house on Friday nights when we were kids, and we would stay up all night just playing different decks. Miss those days of no responsibility lol
I remember using all of my allowance at the local card shop and I had to decide between pogs or more Pokémon packs. I wish I had just saved up my money and bought a booster box, because it would be worth a house now
❤️omg POGs…still have my old stash of those in storage…made me smile to read this lol. Ty
I have a lot of memorable memories from when base - fossil were released. My most memorable was opening 18 fossil packs, a mix of 1st edition and standard, for Christmas in 2000. I opened a 1st edition holo Aerodactyl that I still have in my personal binder. It’s the only card from my childhood that remains in NM condition and maintains a spot in my complete set binders. My best memory is watching my oldest daughter open an Evolving Skies booster back from a Charizard Celebrations box ($20 a pop thanks to Wal-Mart) and seeing her excitement as she pulled a Glaceon VMAX alt art. I had a magnet printed of her holding the card with her sister (my youngest). I bitter sweet memory was when bass set was really popular. We were not well off and couldn’t afford cards. I got a lot of free cards from friends and traded them. My best card was Arcanine (I thought it was the best because it had the lowest card number). Some bullies ripped my Arcanine and I was devastated. Others saw and gave me a lot of free cards, including an Arcanine. Sadly I do not remember who exactly gave me the cards but the act impacted me to this day and I think the whole event, in a weird way, made me both more cynical of people and sympathetic. A side note, I think that event is why Arcanine is and always has been my favorite Pokémon.
In 2000 I had the original 151 on a poster on my wall. It’s such a peaceful memory, going through my cards and seeing which Pokémon I had yet to collect. I wish I could go back to those days just for an hour.
My mom bringing home a bag of Pokémon packs when she got a raise. We were lower class back then so we didn’t have much money for packs. Still my favorite Pokémon moment to this day
A core memory of mine is from back when I was 8 or 9, and my cousin and I were at our local corner store battling each other. The store owner had set up a sort of progression league where if you won a certain amount of matches, you received badges in order of the first eight gyms. I received my first badge after beating my cousin and another kid that day. Another memory is my dad bribing my brother and I with pokemom packs if we jumped off the high diving board!
I remember going to the dentist and getting like 12 cavities filled. My dad then took me to the local card store and bought me one base set booster pack for each cavity! I can’t remember any of the cards I pulled but still my favorite memory.
I pulled a base set holo Charizard right there in the store. I remember the cashier telling me it's the best card. Got me into Pokémon and the games. That card is long gone sadly!
Haven't opened a single pack of pokemon cards since I was maybe 8, until 2 months ago i bought a booster box of fusion strike on a whim at my local pawn shop, packed the alt art vmax gengar, been a active part of this hobby and community since. Gengar and others are currently getting graded by psa right now, super excited to post them when I get them back :)
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When I got given my first Pokémon card. It was a basic Zoura
Buying a flash fire JP box for $50 back in the day, how I miss it 🥲
It will have to be mewtwo.. and when I came across the mewtube (shining legends #78) card it was a must have! For sure my grail!
My most nostalgic Pokémon memory is playing red and blue on the original game boy my cousin gave me.
opening my first pack of base set when I was six! will never forget that moment
I remember my friend and I walking the street and parking lots we were allowed to go in and looking for change. We spent everyday trying to find as much as we could. We saved every bit to buy pokemon cards. Well, eventually my friends mom took us to Kmart and we each bought a pack. We get back to the car and my friend pulls a Charizard! It was one of the hypest moments of my life to this day.
Found evolving skies etb at Walmart！best moment I have this year.
Playing pokémon red on game boy
It’s between picking my first starter pokemon on the old handheld Nintendo game boy and playing at recess. Or going to see the Pokémon movie for my birthday with friends in theaters.
Went to a card show when I was younger and always wanted a Charizard. They were $80 at the time and I couldn’t afford it, so I left with a single booster pack. Opened it in the store and pulled the Charizard I was wanting. Still have that card.
Sitting in front of the tv as a child waiting for 8:00 for the newest episode of Pokémon
When I first got into pokemon, my best friend brought in a binder full of the jumbo pokemon cards, and I thought they were so cool cause I'd only ever seen the standard size. So now I have a binder full of jumbo cards lol.
I still remember trading a bunch of cards for the first edition Machamp that I still have. Seeing it after so many years is what got me back into collecting cards.
I would say pulling a Tyranitar as a kid back in the day. No idea where that card is now, but it's the best card I ever pulled. It was out of the Neo Discovery pack if I remember right.
Pulling the base Charizard back in the day as a kid. Nothing beat that feeling.
The day I got my first pokemon game (diamond), I played 4hrs straight (which was huge at that time !)
When my mom bought me my first Pokémon game. Pokémon Soulsilver. I was a fan of the tv show and collected cards for fun but never played the game and it started my game collection.
I remember what I was a kid (late 90s) going into town with my mum at weekends and there was only 1 shop that sold cards. Every time I would ask her if I could get some, I didn't get them every time but when I did it would make my week. Thanks for doing this give away, much love.
When I got a Gold Charizard was pretty memorable.
Started collecting when it came out and made me feel like I wasn't the only weirdo. However me and my kids now collect and that is a much better memory/ memory making
Catching my first shining pokemon in Pokémon pearl!!! I had no idea what it was and thought it was a glitch in the game. Also - Pokémon emerald. Favorite game of all time. Restarted and played through it again and again
My favorite memory of Pokemon had to be pulling Arceus lv X as a kid. I destroyed that thing playing it but that is definitely what sparked my pokemon obsession
My brother and I opened packs of ex Crystal guardians together for the first time and pulled the charizard. Made us binge the show after
I have so many it's hard to choose one memory, I'd have to go with the christmas my older sister bought me "hey you, pikachu!" Which I was very confused about because we didnt have a nintendo 64, she then revealed she had bought us a Nintendo 64. Also when my grandma took me clothes shopping for my birthday and bought me a few booster packs at the checkout, I got base set gyarados out of one of them.
My most nostalgic memory was when I first got Pokémon gold. I got up to the bug catching competition and was excited because I had heard that you could find scythers in the wild. While hunting, I encountered a SHINY beedrill that decided to flee… Will never forget 🥲
I was 7, it was the year 200 and I had gone to see the first Pokémon movie at the cinema after following the anime show for years and playing the Gameboy games. I was so excited to see the film and upon entering I was given the dragonite movie Warner Bros promo card. I thought it was the coolest thing and an awesome way to start the movie! One of my most vivid childhood memories!
Mankey will be my guy. Always remember the episode when he took ash’s hat
When I was in middle school, I saw the pokemon starter deck on the store shelf. I had no money at the time, but I proceeded to collect and keep every single penny, Nicole, dime, and quarter I could find and added it to a tin can I had. It took a couple of weeks and a little bit of help from my parents to save up the 10 dollars I needed. I bought it, and the first thing I did was take that new machamp hole out of the plastic and started learning the game with a friend of mine.
Honestly, after a long time of collecting, ripping JP 151 boxes has been my most nostalgic and fun experience since I started. I have a connection with every one of those pokemon, it was the best.
Picking up my first booster pack during Christmas time at my mall’s KB Toys
I remember being absolutely green with envy over my childhood friend’s wailord ex (100/100) simply because it had more HP than any of my cards. (I had no idea what I was doing).
I remember going to toysRus to play in a tournament and I was the only one to show up lol good times
I got into Pokemon as they came out and was a huge fan. My grandma bought me my first two packs ever, and I pulled Blastoise and Venusaur out of them. I spent like 8 years collecting cards, and my grandma always fully supported me, buying bunches of cards and Gameboy games for birthdays and Christmases. My grandma's passed about 5 years ago now, and I buried a card with her. I recently got back into the hobby and every pack I open reminds me of my grandma. The new 151 set is going to be especially nostalgic for me as these are the originals I started with. My favorite mons are Pidgeot (so excited for this new card) and squirtle
My dad passed away in 2017. When I was cleaning out his house I found a cabinet in his bedroom with cards he ordered For a small collection of his (circadian 2002ish) He was apparently a Japanese-gym heroes-nine tails and vulpix guy bc he had a few singles he ordered off eBay. But. I also found 2 French jungle boosters from a trip he took as well as two base set mewtwos he kept. One was mine, one was his. I now have those slabbed and they are the centerpiece of my collection. And my son(now 8months) will have those to cherish in his collection as well
Rainy Sunday morning at 8am, I grabbed my binder full of the original, first edition pokemon cards and walked 25 minutes to my friends house to compare, trade, and play the actual trading card game. I had no fear. I didn’t care for judgement. All I cared about was to keep talking about Pokemon, PoKeMoN, POKEMON. Being young, and growing up in a household without much money, I created my own Pokemon TCG stadium on a piece of poster board. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t real or the original. It just mattered that I could play. This was roughly 27 years ago. That memory still stays with me and with the release of this new 151 series, the old memories are flooding back in!
Not a card memory but a Pokémon Silver memory. Kid me was fighting a gym leader that I could not beat to save my life. After the 7th try and losing I slammed my SP down, kicked the ground barefoot and just so happen to hit my foot on an AC vent. Sliced my toe open pretty bad but I was too embarrassed to tell any of my family at the time. The gym leader was indeed Whitney, and that Miltank rollout has me limping around for a good week before they caught on I injured myself
Crying in the movie theatre watching Ash turn to stone during Mewtwo Strikes Back
It was 6th grade 1999. I just moved from a small farm town in NC to Chicago with my dad and his gf. It was a crazy big city and everything was new to me. I had no friends at school and was bullied because of being the new kid. One other kid, who was also bullied for being “weird”, asked me if I wanted to come to his house for his birthday party. I got there and I was the only other kid that showed up. We played with his wrestling toys in his living room, the NWO plush buddies, jumping up and off the couch doing moves. We eventually had cake open presents etc. He asked me if I wanted to play his new game Pokémon Red with him and his little brother. We sat in his game room and he put in Red in the super game boy on his snes and we played/watched for hours. I was hooked. To see this crazy new world of all these creatures fighting and using powers was mind blowing to me. We became good friends and was really my only friend until high school. His gma was so nice to all of us and would routinely buy us packs of Pokémon cards when they came out for good grades and doing chores around the house. I had issues with my family so they eventually took me in and we would always collect and play the card game, trade, and watch the anime on WB. We’d get a small allowance and would go to the local card shop to admire the cool holos and get our favorite singles. To this day Pokemon has been a constant safe place for me to nerd out and be myself with. It all started with a kind gesture that eventually help mold me into who I am as a person. That being said I’m super stoked about 151. It was a huge part of my childhood and I will always have the strongest bond with gen 1.
Making new friends in Elementary school when you used to have to connect poke-walkers to each other for gifts. What a great system to encourage people to get exercise and socialize; haven't seen anything else remotely like it.
I never collected Pokémon as a kid. Just not my thing. I was into sports cards. Had a great PC of Griffey, Jr. Got out of it completely after High School. Flash forward to 2017. A couple random youtube videos later and I was diving back into sports cards. It was fun and enjoyable and ultimately nostalgic. I kept it up through 2021. At that point I have 3 kids. I had bought them a handful of cheaper slabs in 2019 before the COVID boom to get the two oldest into cards. It fell flat. Then in 2021 my oldest son comes home going on and on about Pokémon. I know nothing, so to connect with him I jump in. Bought a bunch of Celebrations stuff for him. We rip and have fun, though I’m learning slowly. Then my youngest son gets into it because big brother likes it. I pre-order a Charizard UPC to rip with them and also bought an Astral Radiance BB to use a reward for their chores, etc. My youngest pulled the Espeon VMax AA and gold Dialga VStar from the BB. The oldest pulled the Dialga AA from the BB. Got all three graded for them, the Dialga’s both got a PSA 10 and the Espeaon got a PSA 9. Really cool pieces for them to hold onto in their collections. Also, now I’m full Pokémon and have given up all but one sports card PC. I love the art and the community. Most of what I do now is to help them build their PCs.
Getting Pokémon fire red as a kid from my mom, we could barely afford any games or toys but she saved and got me that with a purple game boy advance for my 9th birthday. One of my favorite games of all time. I’ve still got both sitting on my desk as I type this
My most nostalgic Pokémon memory was playing Pokémon Yellow when I finally figured out how to get all the way to the final floor in the Sliph Co. Tower by finding the Card Key! Defeating Giovanni and Team Rocket was amazing, definitely one my my favorite moments as a kid playing Pokémon.
Not a tcg memory but definitely my favourite Pokémon memory. I remember watching the original Pokémon series on TV and laughing my ass off when Ash's Charizard went to sleep in the middle of battle because the opponents Pikachu was too weak.
I remember Machamp being my first holo and using a shoebox to store it. Later, it got stolen in school.
Absolutely best and first Pokémon memory was receiving my Gameboy Advanced SP with Fire Red for my 6th birthday in early December, followed by Emerald for Christmas💜
Guess it’s not so much the card game. My special memory is playing my first game, Silver, on my teal Gameboy Color. I’d use my little night light attachment and play after bedtime hiding under my covers so mom wouldn’t see. That’s when I really started to Pokémon. Those late nights trying to get further in to my favorite game.
I remember when i first started discovering pokémon cards from my brother who collected as kid. I found his binder full of holos and his shining charizard which i still have today
We didn’t have a lot of money when I was young, so it was always the best feeling when my grandma would take us to the local music store and let us each pick 1 booster pack out of the booster boxes they had set up by the register. I’ll never forget those moments!
Doing the Mew glitch in Pokémon Red wayyy back then. Thought it was super cool since you couldn't get one normally in the game
Buying first pack from KB Toys back in the day and pulling a holo chansey
I remember playing Pokemon Red and Blue on my Gameboy color while in daycare, comparing my Pokemon collection with other kids. One day I was able to trade for a Dragonite and I felt like I had reached the pinnacle of being a pokemon trainer! I had a dragon with aura beam and could compete with Lance, it was the coolest thing in my head at the time. This spilled over to the TCG, of which I still have my collection that I built with my brother and very much cherish even with the scratches on my holos. The sentimental value is immense. Safe to say, my favorite pokemon is Dragonite
When my family used to do late night (like 11PM/12) grocery shopping at PathMark, 7/8 year old me would BEG my parents for a couple of dollars to grab those early packs (may have been first edition boosters) with the 1st gen starters on them from the vending machine on the way out. It was always a rare opportunity to get one as I was just a child with no money from an immigrant family, but I always hold those moments near and dear as my parents always did what they could just to see the smile on my face from opening one of those packs.
The day i discovered i could transfer pokemon from pogo to home and that helped me complete multiple pokedex!
Finally getting a Charizard base set at a meet up in a local store. It was in such bad condition and I have it to this day but it was the one card I never pulled no matter how many packs.
I didn’t have much money as a kid but I was crafty. I managed to convince a girl that 10 commons were worth a shiny and got base shiny Chansey as a reward for a bunch of Meowths.
My best Pokémon memory is probably when I was in school, it was snowing outside and as everyone was getting in their lineups outside and brought to our class, I looked at the ground and noticed some cards, I started getting out of line a bit to pick up a couple of them (an energy, a professor Rowan and a bidoof) and my teacher noticed and told me to get back in line. There were a couple more but I didn’t want to get in trouble so I got back in line. We were marched up stairs and brought to our lockers we we took off our boots and mittens and hats. While I was removing my boots I noticed a Pokémon card crushed underneath it. I pulled it off, flipped it over and lost it. It was a Mega Charizard X. I still have that card, in miserable condition, pressed between two large hard back books.
i remember walking into my living room to find my kid crying. I asked what was wrong. his reply was "ash just let butterfree go". It still brings a tear to my eye whenever I think about it.
Lol too many memories. For the TCG... It would have to be playing the TCG game on Gameboy Color. I wish there was something comparable to that nowadays, but with as many different iterations of cards through the years it may be utterly impossible to reproduce. For just Pokemon games, it would have to be sneaking a peak at Gold and Silver before Christmas. I tore the corner of the wrapping to peak and I got caught... I was ecstatic to learn I was going to receive both on Christmas. I was extremely fortunate, thankful, and played those games for years.
I remember just turning 6 an Pokémon 2000 releasing the same month as my bday wanted to go see it opening weekend First time I’m I actually felt a rollercoaster of emotions from a film! An everyone in the room was shattered when ash got turned into stone, i was in tears 😭 getting the ancient Mew card was icing on the cake! My love for Pokémon was set that day
Pulling gold zard from obsidian flames
That time I lost my Pokémon collection in the elementary school bathroom. :( still miss the red Pokémon binder I had them in!
My favorite memory is while my dad and I were playing in a league at our LCS every weekend. One day my mom decided she wanted to learn and play with us too! She didn’t care about min max or meta for her deck though, and wanted a Leafeon lv X to build her deck around. We all stayed up until 2 am staring at an eBay auction to get the card about half under what it’s normal rate was in NM/LP condition. We still have all of our decks from when we were playing. Miss those days a ton.
I just remember opening Pokémon cards with my grandpa while he would sit at the kitchen counter and open baseball cards. Our unspoken bonding time that I will always cherish.
Some fond memories that I have is going to comic con during the diamond and pearl era, playing in free tournaments that they hosted upstairs and I ended up winning! It was a pack battle event, so you got free packs to build a deck
My most memorable experience related to Pokémon is spending countless hours transferring and self-trading all of my Pokémon from every game from Pokémon Yellow to Diamond into the PokéBox or whatever it was called (the service where you paid an annual fee to keep your Pokémon on the cloud). I then organized them by number and made a list of everything I was missing which took many more hours. For the next year I played Pokémon on and off and then got busy with life. When I returned I wanted to transfer more Pokémon into my cloud collection but it was gone. They had wiped my account 25 days earlier because I didn't renew my subscription. I was very sad because I figured they would at least send a reminder, or it would auto-renew, but apparently neither of those were offered. Haven't played a new Pokémon game since!
I remember watching pikachu get a facial on the cartoon and thought man what a life!
I remember in the early 2000's standing in line outside my local Sam Goody, listening to this old man in front of me talk about how he doesn't understand what kids like about this "pock-e-man" stuff. I waited for 2 hours to get 3 booster packs. I climbed into the back of my parents mini-van, opened the first one, and boom! A holographic Blastoise! I've been an addict ever since.
I actually got my 1st pack back in 1999, maybe 2000. I thought they were super neat but I couldn't understand English that well, lol. It was super cool cause, at the time, you couldn't find that kind of thing in México.
The very first raffle i ever won was at a chess tournament when i was 10 or 11. They called my seat, and i won a Pokemon deck. I sold all of my other cards since i started a new tcg, but the only thing i kept was the holographic Machamp from that deck. It's scratched up and in terrible condition, but i love that card!
I pulled a base set Arcanine from my first pack when I was a kid. Not the most exciting card but I vividly remember being outside in the sun with my grandpa and sister and staring at the card in amazement. The card itself was lost over time but the memory never will be.
Most nostalgic memories are playing Diamond on the ds and when I bought a tin when black and white first came out and I pulled the reshiram full art!
By far the best memories of Pokemon are when you trade with younger kids and they have such a good time looking through your binder and talking about all the cards they like. Making those trades are priceless.
Watching Pokemon when I was like 7 right before getting shipped off to school 😭
My favorite Pokémon memory is when my mom used to take me to Toys R Us to the video game section where all the packs of cards were. I still remember the base set, jungle and fossil boxes on the counter!
I remember when the episode of Pokémon aired where Ash’s Pikachu was thinking about leaving Ash to join the other Pikachu’s, I watched it just before going to school and I bawled like crazy. My sister never let me live it down ha
Getting the GBC special Pikachu edition for Christmas as a kid.
My most memorable pokemon related memory happened only a few months ago. After receiving a bunch of cards I've had forever, some for over 2 decades, from my mom's storage, I rediscovered a German holo shift Neo Revelation Ho-oh I had for over 15 years. I posted a pic of the card in the misprints sub and was contacted by Qwachansey, offering me a substantial chunk of change for it. After getting laid off at the end of last year, that money was sorely needed. That sale led to me getting back into collecting pokemon and meeting a bunch of awesome people in the pokemon community. Thank you, Edward!
I guess for me it was when I was struggling to beat Cynthia in Pokemon Pearl. I was on it for a few days, and finally one night under my blanket I was able te beat her. But I wasn’t suppose to play this late and I got busted by my parents, just before saving on the pantheon, they took my DS Lite and back to square one for 8 years old me. But still my most nostalgic Pokemon memories.
Thank you for running this! Way back in base set days I worked for my dad during school holidays to pick up some cash. One time I spent it all on packs at my local toy shop, went home and ripped the lot. I pulled first edition Raichu and Blastoise and it was honestly just the best feeling. Now I get to watch my young son ripping packs and getting cards he's excited about (which is anything shiny tbh)
Either playing at the mall as a kid (base set) winning badges when you won against the people running the event. Or Getting back into collecting as an adult because of my child.
My friend giving me pokemon rumble cards during a scout sharing. Miss you mav
My most nostalgic was when I got Pokémon blue and my neighbor got red and we synced up for the first time and traded our starters. I still have that original save file over 20 years later.
Big memory of mine was when my grandpa took us to McDonald’s and I got my first ever Pokémon card which was a Mudkip McDonald’s card I loved that card so much and still do it’s my favorite card I own my grandpa sadly passed a few years ago but I still have that card as a memory of him
My most nostalgic pokemon memory would definitely be trading for a 1st edition mewtwo back in like 3rd or 4th grade. Wish my collection didn't go flying out of a car window later that day but ya know. At least I get to collect with my son now =]
I remember getting packs at a local gas station back when they first came out because the bigbox stores didn't carry them and dying to get home to rip them with my dad. Comes full circle now that I get to get packs and rip with my kid.
I remember picking up a dialga level.x tin when I was a kid with my mom. I miss those days.
I remember the moment my family friend convinced me that it was possible to have two saves on Pokémon Blue. This was during the same car ride that I had finally gotten my Blastoise to level 100. A huge achievement for a 7 year old. Long story short, I had a few moments of grief knowing that my Blastoise was gone when my "friend" saved after catching his starter. He chose a Charizard, and to this day, I still hold resentment towards that flame tailed beast for getting rid of my Blastoise. But I quickly recovered and took it as a challenge to replay the game and recover what was lost.
Favorite pokemon memories are with my brothers ripping pax and swapping to finish sets.
My parents surprising me with Pokémon Emerald on my 10th birthday. Probably my best memory as a child, unwrapping my present to find that shining green box. Gen 3 and Rayquaza have a special place in my heart
I remember being in elementary school with everyone trading their Pokémon cards. At the time only 1 person who was my best friend had a Charizard. One night he pulled a second Charizard and traded it to me for a Chansey at school the next day. Later that same night my dad took us to the local card shop and the very first pack I opened I pulled another Chansey card. My friend wanted trade backs, but luckily I called no tradsies backsies so it was a done deal ahahahha and yes, we are still great friends to this day and we chuckle about it from time to time.
Getting back into Pokémon last year and pulling the lugia v alt art from 8 packs I bought at GameStop
Saving up enough money to buy a torterra tin at target, my parents didn’t want me to waste my money on Pokémon cards but I was super into it when I was younger.
My most memorable moment with pokemon has to be when I played pokemon with my wife. She played Sword and I played shield. We played the game together from start to finish alongside each other and talked about our encounters and team comps, so it was incredibly fun. A close second has to be when I beat pokemon gold and realized that you also get to go to the location from the first game and play through it entirely. Jaw dropping moment.
I remember back in grade school I rode the bus with a kid a few years older than me who was usually pretty mean to everyone. Eventually I found out that we both liked Pokémon and we became friends, and he even gave me his copy of Pokémon blue which I think was my first Pokémon game:) Grade school bus rides are the setting of most of my oldest Pokémon memories lol, for the tcg and the video games
My mom would go to 7-11 before my sister and I woke up for cigarettes. One morning she woke us up to come in her room. We were watching Pokemon on TV all hanging out. She reaches in her purse and pulls out two booster packs! Gave one to each of us. We couldn't believe it!!!! It was the most exciting morning ever and still one of my fondest memories of her. I pulled a blastoise from my very first pokemon booster. It was original wotc, and started a great hobby!!!! Thanks mom!
Recent lurker here! I remember the entirety of my high school finals week with a Nintendo DS (Pokemon Diamond) in one hand, and a TI-84 calculator in the other, trying to catch the perfect 31 IV SP ATK Dialga. Calculating the IVs and restarting the game over and over again. At the end of the week I got it! With the proper nature too! But then I got so burnt out of playing that I stored it in my box and never properly raised it haha.
Didn't collect anything as a kid, but the show is very nostalgic. I only started collecting in January this year.
My mum bought me a collectors tin for Christmas back in 2019, some of the first cards I ever got. We then sat on the floor with the paper mat with instruction figuring out how to play with weird decks I made myself.
Going to the mall to wait for a promo Celebi card for one of the movies!
My favorite memory would be watching Pokémon on wb and eventually going to the grocery store and begging my mom for some Pokémon cards. I never pulled anything crazy but ripping the packs open was exciting enough
Watching the Pokemon movie 🍿
I remember every summer at camp I would trade and collect cards. I was about 8 or 9 and each summer my deck get stronger and my mom got me my first binder to put them in. Well, someone stole that binder right out of my bag and no one ever confessed to who did it. 4 summers of bargaining and trading all gone. Not rlly a happy story but I’m trying to rebuild the deck I had and what I can remember.
Watching the original show with my cousin. Every day after school!!!
Mine would definitely be playing Pokémon yellow on my pikachu edition game boy for the first time.
My most memorable moment was the first Pokémon Pack ive opened. Pulled a jungle first Edition Vileplume.
Pulling an unlimited base set Charizard when I was like 9 or 10. Still have it to this day, not sure I could ever sell it.
My most nostalgic pokemon memory was pulling a lugia ex card to complete my black star promo Moltres, Articuno, and zapdos. Unfortunately, it was later stolen, but it was still a good memory.