So you like Pokemon in general, but don't know much about the trading cards? Or maybe you just bought a boxload from an auction and are completely clueless? Well, hopefully this information will get you started.

"Pokemon" is:

• A craze started in Japan, and based on the unique cartooning culture in Japan
  
• A word in the titles of the movies and books
• A card game that does NOT have a standardized deck, like for poker
• The actual creatures portrayed in the stories and on the merchandise

The last two details being the most important. A trading card game is a card game that is played with whatever cards you choose to buy, trade, or sell. There are, of course, rules of play, such as a minimum number of cards you use. Once you have bought, traded, and sold cards so that you have a deck of cards to your liking, you're ready to play! Playing the trading card game is like staging a hypothetical fight. You and the other player are pitting your Pokemon creatures against each other's, and the choices you make of which Pokemon to play at what time affect how many points you have. Pokemon creatures can be upgraded, or "evolve" to bigger stronger creatures sometimes, much like a tadpole can grow to be a frog. If you can "beat" your opponents Pokemon so that they have no moves left that they can make, you have won!

Okay, so that covers understanding the game itself. Now for the cards.

There are Energy cards, based on several elements (fire, water, electric, etc.). These power the Pokemon you play. Since these cards are the most common and easy to find, buyers are most likely not going to be looking for these at all.

There are all sorts of tools and healing items cards. These usually have a metal-grey background. These are not worth much unless they have extraordinary actions they cause during gameplay. These usually won't sell by themselves, but are great bonuses for lots.

There are Trainer cards, which cause unusual things to happen in gameplay. Demand is difficult to guess on these, as you can't really tell for sure how rare they are.

And then there were the actual Pokemon cards themselves. These are rated by their rarity, or how many (or few!) were manufactured and distributed worldwide. The rarer the card, the more it's worth! To begin discovering how rare or common a card is, consider first the markings on the card. The most important thing is to look at the bottom right corner of the card, and look for a symbol.

• COMMON cards have a solid black circle
• UNCOMMON cards have a solid black diamond shape
• RARE cards have a solid black star (five-pointed)

Sometimes cards say somewhere on them PROMO. If you find one, celebrate! You have a card that was released in extremely limited supply, usually at Pokemon shows and exhibitions. If a card has something shiny on it, it is a HOLOFOIL, and those are always rare and in demand. If a card has a number on it like number-slash-number (i.e. 82/100) it means that is card number such and such out of only so many ever made. Like the example 82/100 would mean there were only 100 ever made, and that one's the eighty-second one, so you know it's authentic. These are called ULTRA RARES and really are a hot ticket on eBay.

You can also pay attention to the date on the card, what series it's from, and even what language it's in, to determine rarity and value. And, just like on postage stamps, watch for printing errors! Those can increase a card's value too!

Well, I hope you bookmark this guide so you can return again any time you need to refresh your memory. Thanks for making it all the way through my guide! Happy eBay-ing!