TRADING CARD GAMES

This is the HowTo Gaming section for trading card collectors and players, with a focus on Pokémon cards. It covers the whole life of a card: buying your first packs, reading what is printed on it, protecting it, deciding whether to grade it, and working out what it is really worth when you sell.

Beginners should start with three guides from the HowTo Gaming editors. "How to Read a Pokémon Card" explains HP, types, attacks, energy cost, weakness, retreat and rarity. "How to Buy Your First Pokémon Cards Without Getting Burned" compares sealed product with singles and explains how to avoid resealed or weighed packs. "How to Build Your First Pokémon Deck" walks through a 60-card deck built on the Pokémon, Trainer and Energy split.

The rest of the section is organized into three areas. Grading covers PSA, CGC and Beckett: reading slab labels, picking a PSA service tier, packing and tracking a submission, spotting cards that will not grade well, and running a break-even before you submit. Card Care & Storage covers sleeves and toploaders, binders that do not dent cards, storing cards in a damp room, and displaying slabs and raw cards without light damage. Card Values covers checking completed sales instead of asking prices, reading price charts, what moves a card's price, buying low, timing a sale and keeping fees from eating the proceeds. Most of these guides are by Ian, with display pieces by Poppy.

Trading Card Games is a top-level section of the HowTo Gaming menu. It has 9 sections: Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Disney Lorcana, One Piece TCG, Sports Cards, Grading, Card Care & Storage and Card Values.