Features

From binders to playmats

Trading card games live on for players, collectors

Kwan Chit Ng, Staff Reporter | October 9, 2025

Table games have developed along with civilization. From Chinese XiangQi and chess being used for early types of battle strategy training to students collecting Pokemon cards today, humans have always found these activities exciting.

Mr. Malkovich showed some of his baseball card collections. (Photo by Kwan Chit Ng)

In the branches extending out from table games, card games, which have existed since around the 1300s, have developed for their properties of being strategic, creative and extensive. Classic examples include poker, extending to hundreds of gameplays, even included in the gambling industry.

Baseball Card Game

The prototype of all Trading Card Games: the “Baseball Card Game.” Collect baseball cards you like as collections, and put them into gameplays with rules set by the Topps Company. Although it was sold in random packs and was very similar overall, it lacked a great variety of strategies.
“I collected baseball cards quite a bit as a kid growing up, and it was a big passion I had. But as I got older, as my space became limited, I couldn't really [do it too much anymore], I got rid of a lot of them,” Government teacher Matthew Malkovich said. “But since we've had several major league baseball players come out of Hagerty High School, I've started to collect those kids, those young men now that are in the major leagues.”.

Today, Trading Card Games are another extension of board and card games, and students mostly treat them as collector items, as well as components of gameplay.

Magic: the Gathering

The first game that really started the craze was Magic: the Gathering, a fantasy card game, which brought the wave of prosperity to TCG’s around the world.

It was invented by Richard Garfield, Ph D., and was originally released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The collectibility and the background of Magic attracted a large fanbase, and rare cards became valuable. It also was the first fantasy card set that came with gameplay, which laid the foundation of its competitiveness.

“There are more specific strategies, or differences with strategy to the game, and it’s very much dependent on what kind of deck you have,” junior Nicholas Fennessy, who plays Magic: the Gathering, said. “[Building a deck is] kind of, [trying to make it] more virulent if you could. There’s different types of decks, [and] there’s different versions of magic cards. It’s a big community.”

Card games, including MTG, however, have been through a decline in recent years, leading to a smaller community with new values.

“I obviously [was in] elementary school [at the time], I didn’t know the peak of it, [but] it’s still very popular,” Fennessy said. “I wouldn’t say as much with the younger generation. It has definitely declined, but it’s still a very collected game.”

Magic: the Gathering developed a large market, and it also had been laying foundations of a more diverse card game market—setting the stage for newer TCGs.

Rules of Magic: the Gathering

Players take turns, advancing their resources and casting spells; some actions can be taken on the opponent’s turn.
Every player is assigned a life total of 20 points and loses when their life goes to 0 or below, or when they have to draw a card, but their library (deck) is empty.
MANA is the general currency in the game: you have to pay the required MANA to cast a spell.
“TAP”(turning the card to horizontal from vertical) means in your round the card is consumed, and when your round comes you need to unTAP your TAPPED cards then draw a card.
During the main stage you put one land card and as many spells as you want then execute the combat of your troops.
Combat is when your TAPPED troops will be blocking and included in the calculation of damage.

Pokemon TCG

The Pokemon franchise, initiated in February 1996, has led to a diverse range of products. Each part of the franchise updates along with the release of the main games, as new Pokemon appear in new areas. For example, pokemons from Pokemon Scarlet/Violet and their origin, the Padia area, were introduced to the show and to the card game. Most of the Pokemons are covered in TCG as well as their evolution forms, their design on cards based on the shows and games.

The Pokemon franchise has such a huge scalability, resulting in Pokemon becoming one of the most known intellectual properties among the world. It formed and it is forming people’s childhood and even adulthood. Though it was a byproduct (developed alongside video games, anime and movies), benefiting from the whole franchise, its influence was not limited to that.

Players mostly find local card shops for purchasing and tournaments, the Oviedo Mall is a popular choice locally.

One of government teacher Matthew Malkovich’s former students is the owner of the card shop “Trainer’s Backpack”.

“That [Oviedo] Mall gets jammed, packed with people that [play Pokemon], and [Trainer’s Backpack has] a lot more Pokemon [Card players]. That’s a big one,” Malkovich said.

While the cards were developed because of the game, Pokemon cards are also known more as collectible cards than competitive cards. Cards that are valuable to collectors reach high prices, the most expensive ever sold being the population 1 PSA 10 Illustrator Pikachu, bought by YouTuber Logan Paul in 2022 at a valuation of $5.275 million.

Zafarbek’s collections in his binder. (Photo by Zafarbek Tokhirjonov)

“[What I like is] maybe the design,” senior Zafarbek Tokhirjonov said. “The fun of collecting it is just the design.”

Though the gameplay is not the main goal of the product, it is still complicated. After building the deck, you will have Pokemons, supporters, tools and energy cards.

“You do need a strategy,” Tokhirjonov said. “It’s not like you can just pick out the best Pokemon [and] just run into [the] battle. You definitely need a strategy. You need to prioritize which pokemons to pick, to counter which others.”

Despite being widespread as collectible cards, the Pokemon TCG is sharing the fate of the entire card game industry, as players have noticed it slowly declining over these years.

“[The decline of Pokemon] did kind of hurt,” Tokhirjonov said. “It’s been dying out a lot. You have to go to these very specific places to play Pokemon cards. Back then [at the height of its popularity], you could go to any garage, and people would be playing it.”

Pokemon Trading Card Game Rules

In each player's deck, they will have pokemon, Trainer, tool and energy cards.
To win, you need to knock out six of your opponent’s pokemons, clearing their HP by abilities to win.
You can deploy and evolve as much as you want, but you can only evolve a pokemon once and you can't remove those you deployed.
You can command the pokmon in your active spot.
Energy is required to use skill or retreat, every round one random element of energy will be generated.
You can only use one Trainer card each round.

Yu-Gi-Oh

Blue Eyes White Dragon card behind Blake Lopez’s phone. (Photo by Kwan Chit Ng)

Compared to the Pokemon TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh is way more strategic and fast-paced. Released with a simple system, similar to other TCGs, but eventually developed into complex effects on the cards, it has continued to add different deck builds.

The vast majority of its cards are in series, and their effects (skills) follow a pattern: “Build around the main card in the series.” This results in one of the most competitive TCGs, behind Magic: the Gathering.

Junior Blake Lopez has played Yu-Gi-Oh with his friends before.

“It was fun, and I know it shaped a lot of people’s childhoods and stuff, especially like the show and the cards,”

Yu-Gi-Oh generally has a more complex gameplay environment, and a different balance of cards than most TCGs. And the gaming rhythm is different too.

“The main difference [from other TCGs] is just play style. I think [Yu-Gi-Oh is] a lot quicker now, [and I mostly used to play] back in middle school with friends,” said Lopez, “[And] I remember always playing with my brother and getting packs from Target.”

Yu-Gi-Oh Rules

Each play has monsters, spells and traps inside your deck and Extra deck (though it’s more enhanced).
Players summon monsters by the limitation of level and there’ll be ATK and DEF value.
When your opponent’s monster attacks yours both in ATK form, the monster with lower ATK will be destroyed and the controller receives the difference as damage, but when you’re attacking a defending monster, the only difference will be the opponent's monster won’t be destroyed .
You can change your monster between ATK and DEF which decides your monster value against others’ attack.
There will be different types of monsters including normal monsters, effect monsters, link monsters, pendulum monsters, XYZ monsters, synchro monsters, tuner monsters, fusion monsters, ritual monsters.
Link monsters, pendulum monsters, XYZ monsters, synchro monsters, fusion monsters, ritual monsters have to go through their summon process to be summoned.
The game process is divided into Draw Phase, Standby Phase, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, End Phase.
Spell and trap effects could be chained up to get specific effects.
Your target is to empty other players’ Life Points.

Trading Card Games had a decent popularity all over the world and are still popular with high school players.
Maybe people buy and collect for its gameplay, design or sentimental reasons.

“I enjoy card games because they’re fun, and there’s a rule and strategy to the way they’re played,” Fennessy said.

The influence of card games over both old and young generations is undeniable, and they help to influence business success, create fond memories, enhance mental sharpness and unite groups of people together.

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About the Contributor

Kwan Chit Ng, Staff Reporter

Kwan Chit Ng, junior, this is the first year he works as staff reporter. He has strong interest in STEM and with the ambition to be an engineer, currently working towards it. Out of school, Kwan Chit enjoys playing guitar, drums, gaming and also learning new things.