Pokémon The Gathering

Now, you don't have to lie. Every other normal kid was once a Pokémon nut during at part of their childhood. I, being a fat NORMAL kid was no exception.

Now this Pokémon obsession varies from kid to kid. Some kids are content with having Pokémon stickers while other kids have practically EVERYTHING Pokémon, from Pokémon Trading Cards to Pokémon toothbrushes to Pokémon underwears.

Pokémon Trading Cards

I like to call myself the mild Poké-fan. Not too obsessed, but certainly not totally uninterested as well. So when the Pokémon Trading Cards came out, I, albeit staying in Sarawak (read: On an island in the middle of nowhere) still managed to get influenced by it.
Although I led a poor life (ha ha), still I owned two original Decks and some extra cards here and there, and I was still a more or less content kid.

That was a good 9 years ago. Back when there still was the New York Twin Towers. Back when Osama bin Laden was still relatively unknown (Guess what, Echelon just filtered my blog post and they're tracking me and everyone that's reading this NOW). Back when I was fat. Back when little kids still went out and played instead of playing "DotA" at fucked up cybercafés. Yes, I am the anarchist and hypocrite that is opposed to cybercafés. I believe in letting the younger generation experience what I experienced when I was young, cycling in the neighbourhood, coming up with creative games WITHOUT the computer, and heck, FISHING.

Anyways, so when the topic of our pointless discussion suddenly turned to Pokemon Trading Cards, EVERYONE (read: Patma, Kein Yip, Sidharth, Yours Truly) was ready to revisit the long lost game. So one fine Friday, right after classes and lunch, it was to my place for a walk down memory lane.

Patma brought along a tin-full of cards, with cards that I've never even seen or heard about before. And I was already whoa-ing my arse off.

Everyone was excited. After all it was like 9 years since I last played. Sid was soooo excited he flipped through the cards so fast my camera couldn't even freeze his hands.

Sidharth "Lightning Hands" Pillai

Patma "My Rayquaza EX Beats 'Em All" Priyan

Then Kein Yip came. With at least SIX (6) ice-cream boxes of cards, amounting to at LEAST 1500 cards. That's enough to cover the whole of my bedroom floor, twice. It was like the Lord of Cards descended from the heavens and blessed me with an endless shower of cards. 1500 cards would give you roughly 150 booster packs, and with each pack costing roughly RM10, at least RM1500 was spent buying those cards.

Kein Yip, the One and Only True God of Pokémon cards.

Seriously, 9 years ago I would've screamed like a little girl at the sight of all those cards. There right in front of me, was the Mecca of Pokémon Trading Cards.

The New Mecca: This will sweep little kids off their feet.

We spent a good 5 hours having fun with the cards. And I can tell you, after so long, it was really fun playing with a group of friends. And yep, you bet your ass we're gonna do it again soon.

P.S. The author is risking his life just by publishing this post. He has been warned by his friends not to publish the photos online. Not only that, the NSA might also arrest the author with connection to the Afghanistan crime lord Osama bin Laden.