The Problem with Kids Card Games

I understand the business motive for setting your card games up like this. You can generate a steady interest among kids by creating card games that fosters a sort of “planned scarcity” of goods. It’s not like the card game company couldn’t give everyone what they want, by producing more of the popular and most useful cards, they simply decide not to.

Booster packs have always been what I don’t like about the current trading card game industry. Most of the trading card games in stores today require kids to buy piles of useless cards in order to get one or two interesting ones. My local game stores behind the counter space is piled high with unused cards that nobody wants, because their trading card game insists that random discovery is preferable to everyone getting the cards they want.

It doesn’t have to be this way. A collectible card game can be just as interesting when everyone has access to all the cards. What’s more, the waste of paper and money is sharply reduced if a collectible card game is based on full access to cards.

Where the play and collectability of a collectible card game focuses on the characters and a full deck, game balance is also maintained. If everyone has access to the same tools they can test their skill rather than their wallet.

It’s like a lottery for kids, as they buy up booster packs to hopefully pick the winning card. The other downside of a trading card game set up this way is that kids can buy themselves into an unfair advantage – affecting game balance and putting new players at a disadvantage.