As I mentioned there are several reasons to participate in a booster draft.

• To acquire specific cards to complete a modified format deck or collection.
• To win the draft.

Sometime these two things are compatible, sometimes they are not. You have to have a clear objective going in, then you will know what to take and what to pass.

Remember when you open your first pack you get to take 1 card, the rest gets passed to your neighbor on either the left or the right.

When you open your pack that is the time you will get the “best” card because there is a rare card in every pack.

If you are lucky enough to get a pack that contains a Level X just take that one and pass the rest immediately.

If you open your pack and there is nothing there that you want for yourself, but something that other players are looking for, TAKE IT, you can trade it after the draft for something you do want.

After the first or second pass, the rare cards will be gone and then drafting becomes more difficult. If there is still a really great Pokemon that you want to build your draft deck around and it is uncommon take it, if it is a common, let it go, they will keep coming around over and over. What I do is take any supporter or helpful trainer that might be in the pack because we always need them and in a draft they can win you a game.

If you are serious about playing Pokemon you need a good variety of Trainers, supporters, and stadiums. If you are a beginning player I would urge you to take all you can get your hands on. Once you have those, building decks is a whole lot easier.

When I am drafting I like to keep my Pokemon lines to no more than 1 or 2 types. Because there is limited searching capabilities in any draft deck and most sets do not provide a method for accelerating evolution I like to stick with strong basics or stage 1 Pokemon.

If you get a really good stage 2 and multiple basics and stage 1 evolutions of that Pokemon, I say go for it. As a rule don’t count on getting a 1 – 1 – 1 line in play, it never turns out well.

There is no 4 card limit in a booster draft. If you draft 6 of one Pokemon you may use them all in a booster draft.

When I do a booster draft I like to have 14 to 16 Pokemon, 5 to 6 Trainers, Supporters, and Stadiums and 20 energy cards. That will usually work out well. You are building a 40 card deck.

I don’t like to have too many different types of Pokemon in a booster draft deck. That makes it more difficult to get the right energy and Pokemon matched up. Keep an eye on the energy requirements of any Pokemon you put in your deck. If that Pokemon uses colorless energies but is a different type than the other Pokemon that you will be using that will work, but as I said stick with 1 or 2 specific types and fill in with Colorless Pokemon.

Don’t forget – 40 card deck – 4 Prize cards. Rule of thumb 1 Prize cards for every 10 cards in a deck.

It’s great to see that folks are following this blog. It gives me a good reason to continue, but I would love to hear from you. Please leave any questions or suggestions for future discussions.

Next Time: Battle Roads are Coming – Good tournaments for starting Players.

Pokemon Booster Drafts are a lot of fun. Everyone really seems to enjoy them. Booster Drafts are very low pressure events, and you get some valuable experience building a deck, with a very limited pool of cards to choose from plus very little time to do it. It is also a great way to get your feet wet in competitive play in a venue that isn’t too competitive.

1. There are a couple of reasons I participate in a booster draft.

1. There are cards from the set I hope to get, to make decks or fill out my collection. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but you will always get something good that you might be able to use or trade later.

2. It’s a really great way to improve deck building and playing skills, and no matter who you are there is always room for improvement.

How they work:

There are different types of Booster Drafts, I am going to focus on the most common type of draft today.

Well, how it works is simple, you pay your money and then you are assigned a seat. Normally Booster Drafts are broken into “Pods” (small groups.) The people in your pod are the folks you are going to be “drafting with.” A pod normally will consist of 8 players and if there is a large group the group will be split into several pods for drafting and then be combined for playing.

Each drafter will be given their packs of cards. Which will remain on the table until they are directed to open the first pack by the Judge or the “Pod Leader” (one person at the table that will give instructions as to when to open a pack or pass the cards.)

Once everyone is ready all the players will open their first pack, pick a card from that pack and pass the rest. It is important to wait until everyone has chosen their card and is ready to move on. This is done until all the cards are passed out. First pack will pass in one direction and the second will pass in the other. This will continue until all of the packs are opened and all the cards passed out.

After that, each player will build a 40 card deck (including basic energies) which will be provided by whomever is organizing the draft. The standard time for building a deck is 30 minutes. After everyone is done building their decks players will be paired for playing and the tournament will continue to conclusion. Number of rounds will be determined by the number of players.

As a rule booster drafts are not age separated so juniors can end up playing masters or seniors.

Next: Building a draft deck – How do I know what cards to take?

What is a Pokemon Booster Drafts ?

When a new booster set of Pokemon Cards comes out, as well as Pre-Release events there will be accompanying “Booster Drafts.”

While Pre-Release events will only be held on the two weekends before the store release of the booster sets, Booster drafts will be held a different times throughout the season.

Booster Drafts serve several purposes, one is to get experience building decks and playing with cards that you may not be familiar with, but they are very helpful in allowing you to pick cards that you need to complete a deck or a collection.

It is important that you be a little familiar with the cards that you will be drafting. Of course, with brand new sets this is more difficult, but there are web sites that scan and post translations of the Japanese sets that the American set will be based on.

Not all the cards in the Japanese sets will be released in the same set in the U.S. but you get an idea of what is coming out.

The site I like to look at Japanese card scans is called “Pokebeach.” They also post the scans of the American cards, usually right after the first Pre-Release.

I find that speaking to the teens at league is helpful because they usually have a pretty good idea of what is coming out and what the “word on the street” is about it. I find that to be a great way to find out about new cards and decks.

The cost for booster drafts in my area is $20.00. Most stores give each player 5 booster packs and have a prize pool for either the first and second place winner or if it is a bigger event sometimes there will be prizes for 3rd and 4th as well.

Other venues will just draft with 6 packs and not provide a prize pool, but everyone gets 6 packs.

Next time, how to draft.

POP for short

When your child first convinces you to go to an Pokemon Organized Play event, it can be a rough ride. It seems as though the biggest events attract the most new players. Parents can get completely overwhelmed by the experience.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this. Honestly it is a shock how many participants this game attracts and it is surprising to walk in expecting to see small children and coming face to face with far more adults and teens than 7 to 10 year olds. It can give a parent pause.

Have no fear. The players are separated into age divisions almost all events are age separated.

The POP age divisions are as follows:

Juniors – 10 and under

Seniors – 11 – 15

Masters 16 and up

This is the general rule. Sometimes a player will age up a little earlier because POP breaks up the ages based on a calender year. The season for Pokemon starts in September and if you were born later in the year sometimes you will age up sooner rather than later.

Pokemon Organized Play or POP is the organization that runs all the official Pokemon events and the leagues. You can read all about it here. Pokemon Orgaized play creates a fun, safe environment for your child to learn how to build decks and play the game, it also gives them the opportunity to get ready to participate in tournaments and other Pokemon events.

The first thing your child will need to play in a POP sanctioned event or league is a POP I.D. These can be gotten on-line here or you can get one at any league or tournament location.

There are Pokemon Leagues in many locations around the world. Within 25 miles of my house there are 4 or 5. You can find a Pokemon League near you here My boys and I play regularly at two different leagues and every now and then we will go to a third. I cannot stress enough that POKEMON LEAGUE IS THE BEST PLACE for your child to get their feet wet. League is free, and you child earns promo cards and Pokemon League Badges (just like on TV and in the video game.)

There is always a League Leader present and you can ask all the questions you want. They will happily help your child acclimate to the league experience. If your first event is a big tournament or pre-release the Professor may not have the time to walk you through it as thoroughly.

Everything you always wanted to know about Pokemon
but were too embarrassed to ask.

When you flip through any pile of Pokémon Trading Cards one thing will be immediately noticeable. They come in different colors. Now, this is not just for aesthetic purposes, although the colors are really vibrant and pretty. There is actually a reason for it.

The first thing you need to know is that Pokémon come in different “types.” The colors help to indicate what types of Pokémon they are. I am going to focus on the card game because that is what this book is about. On TV and in the video game there are many more types of Pokémon than are present in the card game but I will let your children confuse you about that themselves.

The Pokémon Types are as follows:

• Electric

• Fighting / Ground / Rock

• Psychic / Ghost / Poison

• Normal or Colorless

• Dark

• Steel

• Water

• Grass

• Fire

Can you guess which colors go with which type? You probably won’t be very surprised when

• Electric = Yellow

• Fighting /Ground / Rock = Brown

• Psychic = Purple

• Colorless = White

• Dark = Black

• Metal = Silver

• Water = Blue

• Grass = Green

• Fire = Red

So, far so good, this makes sense. Everything matches up. Consistency is a good thing. Color coding is very smart. This way as soon as you see the card you know what type you are dealing with.

In case the color isn’t enough of a clue …

Symbols

Each Pokémon type has a corresponding symbol to go with the color. The different symbols are:

• Electric = Yellow w/ a thunderbolt

• Fighting/ Ground / Rock = Brown w/ a fist

• Psychic / Poison / Ghost = Purple w/ an eye

• Colorless = White w/ a star

• Dark = Black w/ a crescent moon

• Metal = Silver w/ a hazardous materials sign (???)

• Water = Blue with a dew drop

• Grass = Green w/ a leaf

• Fire = Red w/ a flame

That is the first thing you need to know about Pokémon. They have different types that correspond with basic energy cards. The basic energy cards will be the same color and have the same symbol as their corresponding Pokemon.

Colorless Pokemon have no corresponding energy. You can use any energy for them UNLESS there is a type of energy specified on the attack.

It is very easy to match up that way. You could say it’s child proof.

If your child is very young or a new player I would recommend the Theme Deck Challenge.

The two events usually run at the same time.

1. Trading during the event is NOT allowed.  You must play with the cards you were given.  If they would like to trade they may do so AFTER they are done playing.

2. They need to hang on to, or have you hang on to their cards, one pile of cards looks much like any other and it is easy to lose them.

3. Tell them not to be afraid to ask for help, that is why there are Pokemon Professors.

4. Whether they do the main event or the Theme Deck Challenge they will receive the sleeves, the promo card and Packs of the new set.  With the Theme deck challenge they will receive 4 Packs of the Rising Rivals Booster set.  If they do the Pre-Release they will get 6 packs to make a deck and 2 Packs after they are done playing and turn in their energy cardss.

5. If they are competing in the Pre Release event they will have to build their own deck of 40 cards from scratch using only the cards they were given there.

Discuss trading with your child.  If it is OK with you than it is fine, if you want them to talk with you before they make any trades make that clear.  If you are unsure ask a Professor, they will know if a trade is fair all around.  Trading cards is a big part of the game but it’s not manditory.

If, like many new players, you start out with a “Starter” or “Theme” deck (two different terms that describe exactly the same thing) you will notice that Pokemon has included several different kids of cards,  these are:

Pokémon – short for “Pocket Monster”.   These are the often cute and sometimes scary creatures that you “train” to carry out your objectives.  Theme decks come with a wide variety of Pokemon, often in several types.  You will have 4 of each basic, usually a couple of Stage 1 Pokemon and (if your Pokemon has a stage 2 evolution) 1 stage 2 evolution will be included in the set.

I guess they are pocket monsters because you carry them in “Poke Balls” that you carry around in your pocket.  (This seems a bit hard  to believe because some of these creatures weigh hundreds of pounds and can be 6 feet tall but it’s best to just not think about the physics of it, we are talking about a card game after all.) When the video game first came out it was called “Pocket Monsters” (in Japan)  after it caught on the name was shortened to Pokémon and the rest is history.

Energy Cards – these are the price your Pokémon pays for the privilege of attacking the Pokémon of your opponent.  Starter decks have lots of energy cards in them.

Trainers – They say Trainer in the top left corner of the card.  They do really great things for a deck.  Most have some element of chance involved for example a coin flip.

A good tip to remember, when it comes to trainers is to think of them as instructions that you give your Pokemon.  You may give your Pokemon multiple instructions per turn.  Some examples of trainers are: “switch”, “energy pick-up” or “search”.

There often is an element of random chance with trainers because some require a coin flip,  or only allow you to look at a limited number of cards, like the top 2 or the bottom seven cards in your deck.

Supporter – You will know these by the title Supporter on the top left corner of the card.   They are usually named after a character in the video game. Don’t worry if you are not familiar with the video game, a name is a name is a name.

Think of a supporter as the one person you can ask for help during your turn.  That is an easy way for you and your child to remember to play a supporter.  A very important thing to remember about supporters, which is probably why you only get to play one per turn is that there is no “random chance” involved.  You are more likely to get exactly what you want with a supporter, as long as the card you want is in your deck.

Stadium cards – They affect game play for both players no matter who put the card into play.  Think of Stadiums as the place you are playing.  It can either be friendly to you or very inhospitable.

These are the cards that a person needs to play a game.

I personally encourage new players to use starter decks.  Once you have the basics of a deck it is easier to modify it and improve it.  It is much easier than starting from zero.

Miscellaneous and Sundry Items:

When you play a game of Pokémon you also need a few additional items.  Luckily they are included in a Theme deck and these are:

Damage Counters
Status Indicators
Coin

Most experienced players buy a set of dice to use as damage counters and to flip instead of a coin.  Some Pokémon attacks as well as trainer cards require a coin flip and it is easy to substitute a roll of the dice.  Evens are heads and odds are tails.  They are also easier to deal with than damage counters.  When you have 100 damage points on a Pokémon it is easier to use 2 dice than it is to use 10 individual pieces of cardboard.

A Pokémon starter deck also comes with a play mat so you lay out your cards correctly, and an instruction book which will guide you through basic game play.  The go-pokemon web site also has the rule book online so you can see it there.

The first rule of playing Pokémon is READ THE CARDS!  Read your cards, read your opponents cards.  Read the card-dex on the Pokémon website.  It is the best way to become a really good player.  Make sure your kids read the cards too.  I don’t know how many times I have said this as a Professor.

I wasn’t born that way. A few years ago when my children decided to start playing Pokémon I was completely clueless. It was a steep and expensive learning curve.

Week after week new young players and their parents come to league for the first time. The kids are excited but their parents have an “I think I just beamed to a strange new world look on their faces.” I try my best to teach and help them build a working deck but with 20 – 40 kids coming to League every week it is difficult to give everyone the time and instruction they need to succeed. While there are some great sites for experienced players to go chat and discuss strategy there isn’t a lot for the new players.

What I am aiming to do with this e-book is to pass on to you what I have learned about Pokémon. I will do my best to teach you how to help your child be successful and encourage you, the parent, to build yourself a deck so you can play too. It is a lot of fun to play at league and in tournaments, and you can do this side-by-side with your child. Why not? You are sitting there anyway.

I am going to explain the cards, what they are, what they do, and teach you what to look for strategically. I want new parents to have an easier and less costly time getting going in the game of Pokémon.

Believe me when I tell you it is a great way to make friends and spend fun time with the kids. I can assure you that while I have given no ground in authority I enjoy being the “cool” Mom.

My Pokémon Journey

My oldest child, as of this writing, is 13 years old — Pokémon first hit his consciousness he was all of 5. We might have been able to put it off a few years but he had some older cousins who were just the right age when Pokémon took the United States by storm.

His cousins had Pokémon action figures, so he had to have them.

His cousins watched the Pokémon TV show, so he had to watch it.

His cousins played Pokémon video games so he had to play them.

His cousins had Pokémon Trading cards so he had to have them.

I think you get the idea. Now as far as being a follower goes, there were worse habits he could have picked up so I considered myself lucky. The only thing I resented was having to watch all those movies. If you have ever seen one you know what I mean but he loved them and they were never that long.

Well time went on and his cousins got older and he found other interests. Pokémon was still in the house, the toys and video games were always played with and very popular, but the other incarnations were off his radar screen.

Sometime in 5th grade, three years ago, he came home and told me that some kids in his class were playing Pokémon and he really liked it and wanted to play too. No problem, I thought, we still had a lot of cards from the first time he had to have them, he should dig those out and use those. He then reminded me that he sold them all at a garage sale the year before. Oops.

Not for nothing, when you have children they are always looking for something. I have found that often the best response is to say “I’ll think about it.” It’s a solid strategy that works pretty well. Most ten-year-olds will forget most things they have-to-have within a day or two. Sometimes that worked with my kid too, but for the most part when he focuses in on something that is it. He becomes the Terminator, he never gives up, he kept coming at me and coming at me until my only choice was buy the cards or send him to boarding school.

I have to give him credit. He was pretty clever in his relentlessness. He convinced his younger brother, who REALLY loved Pokémon, (believe me when I tell you that he is a walking Pokedex.) that he wanted to play too. He explained to me that it would give them something to do together, and didn’t I want them to get along and play nice? He also told me that there was a lot of reading and math involved so playing Pokémon would help both of them with their school work. He was good, he was really good. In fact he was a perfect angel because he really wanted those Pokémon cards.

Children are remarkable creatures, a bit like Pokémon to be honest. It never ceases to amaze me how they know everything about the purchase of items they covet. My son could tell me what store to go to, exactly what he NEEDED to get, how much it cost and could tell me what was on each card. If I asked him where he put his homework, or why is little sister, two feet away had suddenly erupted into tears, he had no idea, but when it came to this card game, he was “the answer man.”

Finally the big day arrived, I picked the kids up from school and we went to the local Comic Book Store and we bought a starter deck, actually I bought 3 because by this time my daughter, who was six, had to have one too. They were so excited. They opened the cards, laid out the play mats, punched out the damage and status counters and flipped their shiny new coins. They played game after game until it was time for dinner. Yet another benefit: they were playing together nicely, leaving me to do my housework in peace.

All was fine for a day or two but it didn’t take long before he needed to get cards that didn’t come in the starter deck. He had many friends who played and they had many different cards that weren’t available in starter decks. He started talking about the cards in excruciating detail, not only the name of the card, but the types, the attacks, the weakness, resistance, and why it is would be good against his friends deck. I just wanted him to stop talking so I bought him some packs. Now, if you are familiar with Trading Card Games (TCGs) you know that if you have 100 – 130 cards in any given booster set the odds of getting just the card you want in a pack of 9 cards is almost impossible. My problem was that I didn’t know anything about TCGs so we just kept buying packs, at $ 4.00 a pop they start to add up really quickly.

Then I found out that you needed to have four of certain cards to make a deck. “Four copies of one card! It was hard enough to get one!” He was a lot savvier than I at this though and he started to do some trading with his friends. I was getting a little nervous about that; what if he made bad trades? I guess we all started to get a little obsessed, but it seemed to be becoming a major financial investment. HA! This was only the tip of the iceberg.

He worked on his deck and played with his friends whenever he could.

Things went along OK for a while after that until one day he asked me if he could go to a tournament.

Tournaments? Wow, who knew?

He pointed me to the Pokémon website, www.go-pokemon.com (live it, learn it, know it.) and there I found the details of a tournament.

I figured no big deal, just a few kids getting together and playing Pokémon, what the heck.

I called up the mother of the friend that had gotten him sucked into this whole thing, she had been to one or two card tournaments already and we would all go together.

An outing in New York City is fun, what the heck.

I was not prepared. We walked into a mass of children and parents. These people seemed like professionals to me. They had card boxes, sleeves and dice. There was a special I.D. that had to be acquired and deck lists to fill out. We were all in way over our heads. All the other parents and children knew what they were doing but we were lost. The store hosting the tournament sold 15 different packs of Pokémon cards, not just the most recent 3 or 4 sets. They also sold single cards; some of them were selling for a lot of money.

My son who was so confident all the way in the city, flinched. He looked at me for help and guidance, and I looked at him like a deer in the headlights.

I like to think of myself as and optimist. I just started babbling about what an excellent opportunity this was for him to “elevate his game” and see what other more experienced players were doing. He told me that he just wanted to win. I looked around the room and realized that was very unrealistic but I kept that to myself and told him to have a good time and do his best.

The thing about Pokémon is that when you are new, the staff and judges go out of their way to make you comfortable and guide you through. That is just what they did for my kids and I have to say, they did not win a single game that day but boy did they have fun. They made a lot of new friends and were excited to try out new deck ideas and see everyone again.

I looked around the room; I saw that there were many players, not just kids but teens and adults too.

I spotted a group of parents sitting off to the side and joined them. I introduced myself and they couldn’t have been nicer

I found out that they spent a lot of time doing the Pokémon Tournament Circuit.

Their kids went to League where they tried out decks and play-tested with other kids on a weekly basis.

Pokémon is not just a game, it is a way of life. Some kids play soccer, some play Pokémon.

I also found out that there was scholarship money awarded for the big tournaments and some kids used the money for private school or college. Wow.

Turns out while I was getting the low-down on leagues and future events so was my eldest. He was anxious to go to a league that he heard about and knew when the next tournament was going to be.

BAM! I entered a whole new world, a world with its own rules, structure and language. I was now a fledgling Pokémon Mom, or PokeMom for short.

We started to go to league, pre-releases, booster drafts and tournaments. I needed a dictionary and more money. I spent so much time at Pokémon events that I started playing myself and after a while I even won a game, then after a couple of years, I won a tournament, and there were good players there.

We became so involved with Pokémon that it was only natural that I become a Pokémon Professor.

It isn’t easy to be a Pokémon Professor. There is a test. I know a one judge, during the day he is a doctor. He makes life and death decisions on a daily basis, yet the Professor test made him nervous. He passed it of course, I mean after medical school how bad can the Pokémon Professor test be, but you get the idea.

Judging a tournament makes for a very long day, some events can go for 10 – 15 hours before you are done, but they pay you in booster packs and other really cool items, like lab coats, and professor hats and professor shirts, binders, deck boxes, etc.

I think the kids get a kick out my professorship as well, as long as I don’t talk about it in front of their non-Pokémon playing friends. They like when I judge a tournament; they especially like the cards I earn.

After a time I started up my own league. Pokémon league is a great invention. It is a place for Pokémon Players to get together at a regular time in the same location and play Pokémon. The kids work on decks, play-test, design strategies and trade cards.

I love going to league with my kids. It is a great time because it is the time we set aside during the week to do something that we all enjoy together.

We look forward to hanging out with our Pokémon friends.

Every week new players and their parents join our league. The kids are enthused and the parents are trying to be supportive but they have so many questions. I try to answer them and guide them through but with dozens of children and games going on there isn’t a lot of time to talk each one through the process.

This guide will tell you everything you need to know to help your child and maybe even build a deck for yourself.

Playing Pokémon has given me some really enjoyable time with my children. I know their friends and they actually speak and want to spend time with me, even the teenage one. Remember, the family that plays together, stays together.