A complete foundation to building a customized deck of tradable Pokémon cards, this starter set is a great way to get into the action of the expandable trading card game.  Through the character-based cards, children play as competing Pokémon trainers, using the different creatures and abilities in their decks to try and best their opponent as their Pokémon battle.  Further cards can be purchased or acquired through trading, giving the game a substantially more social aspect than simply playing with a friend or two.  Children must think ahead, deciding what will give them the best chance as their build their decks and use strategy in the game-play itself.
— David Marks, owner of Learning Express of Westport in Westport, Conn., said Pokemon is still his top seller. “There's been a resurgence after a couple of years,” he told TDmonthly.
— “Pokemon's been kind of ridiculous. We can't keep Pokemon in stock,” Michelle Deutschmann, owner of Kaleidoscope Toys in Falmouth, Mass., told TDmonthly in August 2008.
— Four of 64 retailers named Pokémon when asked about best-selling card games in summer 2008. The Toy Chest in Cary, N.C., sells between 30 to 50 card packs per month, Owner Sharon Heath said.