history of TCGs
By Charlie Masterson
A Trading Card Game, or “TCG” is a type of card game that enables the player to build their own decks out of cards that are already in the game. While trading is a part of any TCG, it isn’t actually the main focus, although cards do have different value based on how powerful it is or how much it was printed. The first game that comes to mind could be Pokemon, a game based on the show about catching and battling wild monsters, or Magic: the Gathering, a game where two or more players cast spells to defeat each other.
Many players consider Magic to be the first TCG, but if you’re counting trading cards that don’t have a game associated with them, then you have to go all the way back to the 1860s. Cigarette companies often included trading cards with them, which was a success in getting people to buy more cigarettes. People would trade the cards, which created an economy inside of an economy. This and the fact that printers could print a wider variety of colors at this time led to other companies adopting trading cards. As the novelty of color printing wore off and it was no longer essential to cigarette companies, these faded into the background and now trading cards were born!
In the 1930s, something similar to cigarette cards was released: sports cards, which were typically sold in bubblegum boxes. These cards were similar to cigarette cards, but kids could buy them, which massively increased sales. Sports cards got popular to the point that they didn’t even have to sell them along with another product; they could sell boxes that had random cards in them. This added a luck aspect to it, and this combined made sports cards a massive hit. The first sports cards are still extremely rare to this day.
In 1993, a new type of trading cards was born: Trading Card Games, or TCGs. Magic: the Gathering is widely considered the first TCG, and the most popular and successful one to date. Other popular TCGs released in the 90s are the Pokemon TCG, and Yu Gi Oh!. All three of these are immensely popular today and just keep gaining more popularity. There are also many new TCGs coming out today, such as the One Piece TCG. TCGs also found a surge of popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because many TCGs have digital versions of the game for players to enjoy.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectible_card_game
https://collectinsure.com/2021/07/09/the-history-of-collectible-trading-cards/
