The Appeal of the TCG

As I discussed in my post about the TCG and my ups and downs with it last week, today is the day of the local tournament, but because it's full and I am not a participant in it, I can't exactly cover it, though I did stop by to see how it progressed and to get in touch with a few of my Pokémon fellows. However, I can discuss other things that may pertain to it. One of those things is considering the appeal of the game for different people, including some of my fellows. It's a fascinating topic with several different outcomes for different people.

For some of my fellows, particularly some of those in my figure group, they appear to be taken with the TCG, so much so that they're putting on hold figures for the latter, and Pokémon Go as an example for the former. They themselves have invested more money for the cards than I'd like to invest in one sitting (confer last week's similar case), and as a result, now some of them are pursuing as many competitions as possible, including today, which happens to be their faraway competition. It's kind of like what has transpired with me and my Pokémon cosplay, only it has taken them far quicker compared to my cosplay efforts. It's obviously quite appealing to them, to a certain degree greater than mine. The game remains quite appealing to me as much as some of us.

Even so, for some people, the appeal for the cards may remain low. An example is one of my good friends, whom I've already discussed in another post on this blog. We met again when I dropped by to check out the TCG tournament, as another friend of his served as part of the tournament staff. He said he's not quite a trading card game player, and I'll accept that. I myself could be considered such a person, only that I've welcomed the Pokémon TCG into my heart and mind. He has done the same, with a deck of his own. We may or may not be able to play anytime soon, but perhaps the opportunity may present itself sometime. Who knows, our penchant might grow at least a little bigger with time.

And then there are the youth, the ones whom the Pokémon TCG are really destined for. With that being the case, it has been observed that many players are in fact adults, and young players are hard to come by... at least, locally. By my observation of today's tournament, only one player appeared to be well below the age of others. It may be that the youth of today have a hard time with reading the details on the cards, or it may be that they're just interested in other things. A kind of "affirmative action" may be necessary. Regardless, it's still rather early to make this conclusion as the local TCG is relatively new, so it remains to be seen.

The appeal of the TCG seems to be varied, even among full and partial fans, at least in my local case. Despite the situation, the cards themselves have appealed to quite a number of people, enough to fill out this tournament way ahead of time, for example. It will likely be that way for at least the next few tournaments ahead. In that case, it would serve me well to be able to serve the appeal of others in an upcoming tournament, seeing as how Pokémon in general and its TCG in particular have appealed to me.

One year ago: A Pokémon Watch
Two years ago: Three's Demise