The Trouble with Kids Card Games
I understand the business model 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 resources. It’s not like the card game company couldn’t give everyone what they want, by supplying more of the popular and most useful cards, they simply choose not to.
Booster packs have always been what I don’t like about the current trading card game market. Most of the trading card games in stores today require kids to buy stacks of useless cards in order to get one or two interesting ones. My local game stores behind the counter area is piled high with discarded cards that nobody needs, because their trading card game insists that random discovery is preferable to everyone getting the cards they want.
It doesn’t have to be like this. A collectible card game can be just as fun when everyone has access to all the cards. What’s more, the waste of paper and funds is sharply reduced if a collectible card game is designed for full access to cards.
Where the fun and collectability of a collectible card game focuses on the characters and a complete deck, game balance is also upheld. If everyone has access to the same cards they can test their talent rather than their wallet.
It’s like a lottery for kids, as they purchase booster packs to hopefully get the winning card. The other downside of a trading card game created this way is that kids can buy themselves into an unfair advantage – affecting game balance and putting entry level players at a disadvantage.
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