I know things kicked off in the 90's with Magic, Pokemon, and Yugiho, but things seem to be repeating themselves at the moment. I am a middle school teacher (pray for me!), and I have noticed a lot more kids into card games, and there is even a club after school this year.

I showed my collection of common/uncommon unwanted cards for Transformers TCG and a few jaws hit the floor. They didn't know anything about the game, but seeing two hundred cards plopped in front of them was awe inspiring to me.

Part of me thinks that kids are getting bored of TV, video games, and regular sports, so TCG is filling the void for a lot of kids. A buddy of mine even bought a set of magic for his high school daughters thinking they might be interested in it.

 

There's definitely been a bit of a renaissance of TCGs lately, mainly with licensed stuff. Star Wars Destiny and Dragon Ball Super are both games that have really taken off. They're nowhere near the sort of big 3 TCGs you mentioned, but they're maintaining and growing a respectable player base. The big question is if Transformers has the momentum to take off like the other two I mentioned. Mechanically, I think it's a blast, and for now at least, it's relatively affordable (though I still think the SR rarity is utter bullshit, but it wouldn't be a TCG without some predatory crap). The thing is, Star Wars and Dragon Ball have bigger fandoms that are not necessarily tied to a specific type of merchandise like TF fans are. I'm not sure how many fans can or are willing to support the game on top of the financial commitment of also actively collecting the toys. Especially as more cards are added to the pool, and sets probably end up having more than 2 SRs per set.

I think the biggest issue I've seen in my area so far is that there are tiny pockets of interest, but most LGSs aren't all that interested in the game compared to the previously mentioned ones and Keyforge.

 

Two things...

1. I think you just answered your own question. A fad is something that is really popular for a short period of time but then people quickly forget about it and no one cares anymore... Pogs were a fad that were really popular in the 90's but now no one even knows what those are except old people like me that grew up collecting little round pieces of cardboard with pictures on them. I also had that machine/kit that let's you make your own pogs.

TCG's are not a fad, if they were, they wouldn't still be selling in 2019. It would of been a thing like Pogs where it was really popular in the 90's but then faded away just as quickly as the trend started. Magic, Pokemon, Yugioh wouldn't exist anymore and Transformers never would have been made in the first place if it was just a fad.

2. Where were teachers like you back when I was in school? I was in 6th grade when I first started collecting Pokemon cards... and my collection actually started when a friend basically gave me his entire collection. His grandfather was very religious and thought Pokemon were Devil Nazis because of the whole evolution thing so made him get rid of all the cards. Anyway... the school also like many schools around that time had banned all Trading Card Games from campus.

Some teachers didn't really care as long as you only brought them out during recess. They'd pretend they never saw them and only really enforced the ban during class. I like those teachers because honestly no games during class is the only rule that actually makes sense. Not being allowed to play during recess however is a dumb nonsense rule that never should have been put into place. It's recess, kids should be allowed to play whatever they want during recess even if they're playing with toys or games they brought from home. As long as they aren't late to class and don't have their play out during class then there's nothing wrong with it.

Anyway... while I had a few teachers who would look the other way and pretend they saw me with Pokemon cards, never had any teachers who had their own set of cards. Though I suppose that would be a lot harder to pretend you didn't know about students breaking school rules if the teacher got caught breaking the exact same rule.

There was also one teacher who was so strict that if she confiscated something you weren't allowed to have in school you'd never get it back... Most teachers would return your things eventually, end of the school day, end of the week, end of the year whatever you'd get it back at some point but my second grade teacher, you got something taken away, you never going to see it again.

 

TCG aren't a fad, but there is a recent uptick in licensing for them. Transformers is pretty well established, as of course Pokemon, etc. If a current TCG company wants to take the risk on an expensive license like TFs they had better be sure it will succeed (WotC knows what they are doing) what you'll see now is whatever show is currently popular and has enough substance to support it (more than a couple seasons) less savory companies will jump on much cheaper licenses hoping to make a quick buck. I.E. Steven Universe, Rick and Morty, Adventure Time.

Not saying those franchises couldn't support a TCG, but less likely ones are getting them.

 

Well if it is a fad it's the longest fad ever since trading cards have been around since what....the late 1800s?

 

Trading Cards in general maybe but Trading Card GAMES started in the 90's.

 

Well I’d say the number one thing to keep the interest alive is mobile versions in that case.

 

Aren't card games inherently mobile since a deck of cards is easy to carry around in your pocket.... well at least other decks are, I don't know why they made the character cards for Transformers so big. It makes it harder to travel with... especially Metroplex.

Also Pokemon had a Game Boy version of the card game but that didn't last as long as the actual physical card game. I'm not sure anyone even knows a Game Boy TCG of Pokemon ever even existed.

It's funny because the Game Boy games and the Trading Card game are both very popular but combining the two only happened once and was quickly forgotten.

 

Hasbro owns both Wotc and Transformers, therefore some of the risk is mitigated. I do generally agree with the rest of what you said.

 

Hasbro owns WotC so I don't think they had to pony up a big licensing fee like Decipher did with Star Wars & Star Trek or Fleer/Skybox and later Upper Deck did with OverPower and VS System, respectively.

 

I STILL own a Game Boy Color and a copy of Pokemon TCG for it. I never got the 2 cards only available via Card Pop though.