Pokémon Trading Card Game
Ranked 10 of 15 card games by recommenders
Recommended as a deep strategy card game and collectible hobby with friendly communities. Caveat: artificial scarcity and gambling-like secondary markets drive prices.
Recommended as a deep strategy card game and collectible hobby with friendly communities. Caveat: artificial scarcity and gambling-like secondary markets drive prices.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 38%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun, deep strategy play
“if you get into the actual card game it is a deep strategy game with so many fun ways to play”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit” “I found that setup to be more enjoyable than the official format.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Magic the Gathering format: Fun 40”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Artificial scarcity inflates prices
“This is very much intended so that collectors chasing the nice full art / textured rare cards flood the second hand market with the less desirable cheaper versions.”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Retired decorator's Pokémon cards sell for £1.5M” “The pokemon company intentionally limits the supply to drive up demand.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Bricks and Minifigs Stole a Man's $200k Lego Collection” “The prices are completely driven by artificial scarcity”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “On Labubu and the Hyperreal” Gambling-like, addictive design
“Their extended popularity should be viewed closer to praying on addiction than an accomplishment of culture.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit” “immense (and insane) secondary market attributed to its gambling-esque qualities”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe” “introduced illegal unregulated gambling for millions of kids”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit” Excessive reprints and product
“they only have the effect of increasing and obfuscating the amount of product you need to buy”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe” “infinite printing supply without any utility or valid use case whatsoever”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Retired decorator's Pokémon cards sell for £1.5M” “they reprint staples to oblivion”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Retired decorator's Pokémon cards sell for £1.5M”
Other card games people recommend
The four most recommended other card games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic: The Gathering | 27 | 25 | 52% | 10 | 31 yrs7 owners | — |
| Dominion by Donald X. Vaccarino | 14 | 4 | 78% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Inscryption | 11 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Solitaire Alone Together | 11 | 1 | 92% | 1 | — | — |
| Pokémon Trading Card GameThis page | 6 | 10 | 38% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they have a special kids format with an age-barrier, so kids wont get outpriced that bad”
“This is very much intended so that collectors chasing the nice full art / textured rare cards flood the second hand market with the less desirable cheaper versions.”
“Seeing high value in them seems like a risky investment to me.”
“Pokemon company did a terrible job designing and evolving the game itself”
“they reprint staples to oblivion”
“Pokemon cards, on the other hand, are veritable collectors items, like stamps or baseball cards.”
“infinite printing supply without any utility or valid use case whatsoever”
“The pokemon company intentionally limits the supply to drive up demand.”
“The prices are completely driven by artificial scarcity”
“I found that setup to be more enjoyable than the official format.”
“Making new friendships with people not in my usual circles has been so rewarding”
“they only have the effect of increasing and obfuscating the amount of product you need to buy”
“immense (and insane) secondary market attributed to its gambling-esque qualities”
“Their extended popularity should be viewed closer to praying on addiction than an accomplishment of culture.”
“introduced illegal unregulated gambling for millions of kids”
“if you get into the actual card game it is a deep strategy game with so many fun ways to play”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.