Fortune Cards are not Pokemon Cards

http://wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drdd/20110427

So our neighbors 10yo & 9yo are obsessed with Pokemon cards and some of the other stuff (crap) that goes with it. I cannot go over to their home with Shane to play without the older kids running up to me to say, “Stephanie, do you wanna see how many Pokemon cards I have?!!!!” Then they proceed to tell me all about the different characters. But they know nothing about the game, how it's played or that it is in fact an RPG. Pokemon could be cool if played with emphasis on some tactic and shall I say, hmmmmm, I don't know skill, knowledge? Something! It annoys me to no end! I've actually been out with these particular neighbors when the oldest kid was supposed to be having a Pokemon-free day. He was required to make no mention of anything Pokemon related while we were at the zoo. He was foiled when we bumped into another kid his aged at the playgroun in the zoo who brought a DS and was playing...Yes, a Pokemon game!

The new Fortune Card Set WOTC released for D&D posed a Pokemon concern for me initially. Only because I had a knee jerk reaction to the hoarding of cards and random kids not ever playing the wonderful game that is D&D. There is a great article by a few folks on how they are implementing these Fortune Cards into their regular games. So check it out.

I know these cards are not the collecting Pokemon thing that our neighbors kids would be into. So I will continue to ask them if they are playing the actual Pokemon game instead of just hording and obsessing over material stuff. Because I totally support hording and obsessing over material stuff if there is educational, social & personal betterment within said hoarding/obsessing.