{"id":15387,"date":"2016-09-16T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T00:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=15387"},"modified":"2016-08-25T19:42:53","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T19:42:53","slug":"unplugged-pokemon-the-trading-card-game-mythical-pokemon-collections-and-steam-siege-booster-packs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/16\/unplugged-pokemon-the-trading-card-game-mythical-pokemon-collections-and-steam-siege-booster-packs\/","title":{"rendered":"Unplugged: Pok\u00e9mon: The Trading Card Game Mythical Pok\u00e9mon Collections and Steam Siege Booster Packs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"POKEMON1\"<\/a>When I was in college I used to write game reviews for The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 This was in the late 90\u2019s and when Pok\u00e9mon first got popular, I was writing tons of articles about the franchise.\u00a0 I even like to say that Pok\u00e9mon helped pay my way through college!\u00a0 I even covered Pok\u00e9mon card game tournaments back then, and purposely learned how to play just so I could write about them better. \u00a0I have to say that because of having to use energy cards to perform moves, I didn\u2019t really like the card game as well because I felt that slowed the game down.\u00a0 Me personally, I prefer SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash on the Neo Geo Pocket Color.\u00a0 Anyway, Pok\u00e9mon has always been big since then, but with the recent release of Pok\u00e9mon GO on mobile devices, I imagine the franchise will get a boost of popularity this holiday season, including the card game.\u00a0 So parents, here are some new things you may want to look out for this Christmas if you have a Pok\u00e9mon card game fan in the family.<\/span><\/p>\n

To celebrate Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s 20<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> anniversary, the folks who make the card game have special boxes featuring cards of Mythical Pok\u00e9mon.\u00a0 These Pok\u00e9mon are very rare and are usually only available in the games via special promotions.\u00a0 The cards are shiny and include two booster packs and a lapel pin of the featured Mythical Pok\u00e9mon.\u00a0 The four shown here are Jirachi, Darkrai, Manaphy, and Shaymin.\u00a0 Although I think they have others as well, like Mew.\u00a0 Each box is only like, 12 bucks or so, which isn\u2019t a bad deal at all.\u00a0 Only problem I had was that the boxes were not resealable, so you couldn\u2019t put them back in.\u00a0 Anyway, here are the four boxes of the Mythical Pok\u00e9mon Collections.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"POKEMON2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a shot of the Jirachi box close up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"POKEMON1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a shot of everything you get out of the box.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"POKEMON3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I think my favorite thing in the collections are the pins.\u00a0 Here is a closer shot of all four.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"POKEMON4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another new Pok\u00e9mon card game item that just came out is the Steam Siege series.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get a chance to review the starter deck for that, but I did get some booster packs to check out.\u00a0 Here they are in their packages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"POKEMON5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are some of the Steam Siege cards out of the package.\u00a0 Each pack includes a shiny card as well as a card that has a QR code for you to scan into the mobile game.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really know what the theme is in Steam Siege, as the cards look to have a wide variety in them.\u00a0 But then, I haven\u2019t played the Pok\u00e9mon Trading Card Game in YEARS so I don\u2019t know how much has changed.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\"POKEMON6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anyway, like I said before, if you are a parent and have kids who love Pok\u00e9mon cards, these are the things you need to be looking out for them.\u00a0 Reading skill is a must for the text on the cards and instructions, and the game is best for older kids since it\u2019s a bit more complex.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why I\u2019m not playing Pok\u00e9mon GO.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So you may be wondering, if I\u2019m such a Pok\u00e9mon expert, why haven\u2019t I played and reviewed Pok\u00e9mon GO yet?\u00a0 Well there\u2019s lots of reasons.\u00a0 First, I share my phone data plan with my family and I don\u2019t want Pok\u00e9mon GO to suck up all the data that they could use.\u00a0 Plus, my phone is rather old and may not be able to run it very well.\u00a0 I hear it drains the battery quickly and I use my phone a lot where I work so I need it to be charged all the time.\u00a0 And finally I hear the game is pretty buggy anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s another reason why I\u2019m not playing it right now.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been blind in my left eye since birth and can\u2019t drive a car, so I don\u2019t get out and about as often as others.\u00a0 I do walk a lot, but I don\u2019t think I go far enough to really make use of the app.\u00a0 Also, with my limited vision, when I go outside I don\u2019t like to have my nose buried in my cell phone.\u00a0 I like to be extra aware of my surroundings, since I don\u2019t see as well.\u00a0 I still MIGHT download Pok\u00e9mon GO someday, but right now I just don\u2019t feel comfortable playing it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a bad game.\u00a0 Aside from the bugs and safety issues, I think it\u2019s a neat idea, and could even be a good game to play as a family.\u00a0 Just as long as everyone stays safe and remembers that sometimes it\u2019s OK to go outside and not have their faces shoved in a cell phone.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was in college I used to write game reviews for The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 This was in the late 90\u2019s and when Pok\u00e9mon first got popular, I was writing tons of articles about the franchise.\u00a0 I even like to say that Pok\u00e9mon helped pay my way through college!\u00a0 I even covered Pok\u00e9mon card […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unplugged-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15389,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15387\/revisions\/15389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}