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[Unk Adams]

Does anyone remember how big Pokemon cards were in the late 90's-early 2000's? They were extremely popular for a year or so. Every store had them for sale and malls all had kiosks and stores that popped up overnight dedicated to those cards. They even had the Pokemon League at Toys R' Us every weekend. Then it seemed like sometime, probably after the summer of 2000 they lost popularity, those stores dedicated to them closed and only the hardcore players still bought them from that point. Why did it seem like they were huge out of nowhere and then seemingly overnight millions of people lost interest in collecting them?

 

[EverydayBeast]

I think paper anything is hard to fit into today’s digital age but cards are still around and organized on EBay. They’re sold out out there.

 

[-Minsc-]

Because these people were young, stupid and easily sold on something that was quickly going to be replaced by a new fad (which in on its self has been long replaced)?


Edit:

^^^

Fake news?

 

[octiny]

Still extremely popular rn. Lots of dedicated Twitch & YT channels w/ tons of stubbies/views.

So much that this happened.

Walmart & Target pull Pokemon cards

 

[BlakeofT]

I'm pretty sure it brings in tons of money each year still. Don't have exact numbers but I think I remember reading it was billions annually.

 

[Fbh]

They are still pretty popular though. They are still sold almost everywhere and there's still tournaments and stuff like that.

At the height of their popularity they were just more of a fad and as most fads they won't be quite as massive over time.
It's sort of like Pokemon go if you think about it, the game is still popular and still making a ton of money. But it's not quite as massive as when it launched and it felt like pretty much everyone was playing it.

 

[Unk Adams]

They regained popularity in the past year on sites like eBay and streamers promoting them, but for many years they basically lost any significant mainstream appeal. They weren't consistently popular over the years. They had a huge popularity from approximately 1999 until about the first half of 2000 and then you heard about them becoming pretty big again during last year when Covid hit along with retro videogames going way up in price. I'm just wondering if there was something that replaced the "fad" originally in 2000 or if people just lost interest like you said with Pokemon Go, where people still play it but I never see anyone in public actually playing it anymore like I did a few summers ago. You used to see people with binders in public all the time for about a year. Even with their popularity now I doubt you will ever see another person at a mall or whatever carrying around their Pokemon binders and trading them with other people. I don't see it reaching that level of popularity again. You even had tons of independent stores and mall kiosks similar to Gamestop that were dedicated completely to Pokemon cards and would buy, sell, and trade them. They're sold at major retailers now but back then you could even go into random gas stations in the middle of nowhere and they would have packs for sale and I don't see that anymore.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

I thought this thread was a joke at first.

Pokemon TCG is insanely popular right now. They're consitently sold out at Target, LGCs, online, etc.

The market for cards is insanely hot right now.

TCGs in general are extremely popular. I personally collect/play Magic: The Gathering and Flesh and Blood but have observed that people are going apeshit for Pokemon.

EDIT: Some Targets actually no longer carry them because people have been fighting over them in the store. My Target still carries them but limits the amount packs you can buy. Sorta irrelevant given they're never in stock.

 

[Unk Adams]

I thought this thread was a joke at first.

Pokemon TCG is insanely popular right now. They're consitently sold out at Target, LGCs, online, etc.

The market for cards is insanely hot right now.

TCGs in general are extremely popular. I personally collect/play Magic: The Gathering and Flesh and Blood but have observed that people are going apeshit for Pokemon.

I understand that they regained popularity. Why did they originally lose popularity during the years in between? Back in 1999 you couldn't go out in public without seeing people with Pokemon binders. I've yet to see that level of phenomenon in 2021. What major retailer still hosts a Pokemon League every weekend? Where are the stores strictly dedicated to Pokemon cards? At one point damn near every single person was into the things. Pokemon cards weren't consistently popular from 1999-2021, it would be a joke to think otherwise. There were many years where they cooled of in popularity.

 

[Unk Adams]

There's plenty of old news articles from back then explaining what I'm talking about such as:

https://archive.ph/Levjo from 2001

https://archive.ph/yGNHY from 2009

"And while we're on the trading card subject, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards from older series – even rare ones – tend to sell for next to nothing or not at all." from 2009

"The first casualties of the fall of Pokemon, created by Nintendo, were the toy companies. Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro division that publishes the cards and operates specialty stores that sell them, laid off 100 people last month after citing softening demand for Pokemon." from 2001

 

[Porcile]

A lot of the sets just weren't very good and English Pokémon TCG is like the leftover dog's dinner of the Japanese version.

 

[Soodanim]

I didn’t know a single person that actually played Pokémon TCG, and it seemed like the whole school was done with it within a year. We were 11/12 at the time.

 

[Kaachan]

They’re so expensive nowadays but I feel like the demand and popularity for Pokémon cards has increased anyway despite of this thanks to influencers on Twitch and Youtube

 

[zombrex]

Best way to relive pokemon TCG is the play the online version.
100% free and you can play games against AI and randoms.
It is a wonder nintendo has not made it available on switch.
Hell it seems like they barely promote it since I never see anyone talk about it.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Pokemon always seemd fun and well thought out. And Magic is pretty solid too.

But I hate shelling out the cash. The art for both games is leagues above their competitors tho

 

[SireSmogMurk]

All games eventually get put to the side. People all eventually get bored of the same and seek the new. No one is crazy about Nine Men's Morris anymore but that used to be all the rage.

 

[Scotty W]

They are popular enough in Japan that they can occupy a significant amount of space in many stores.

Also, Vietnamese kids are crazy about them.