Talk:Pokémon playing cards

Missing cards

Pulling card data from PSA with confirmations of ebay listings. Will use my personal set of decks for final confirmations (images?).

RainbowRichards (talk) 14:44, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Completed the missing card entries for all three decks. Removed the code indicating this is an incomplete section.

Do we actually need or want actual card images?

RainbowRichards (talk) 17:08, 21 August 2023 (UTC)

User:Daniel_Carrero - Is the identification of "incomplete section" necessary for the English-language decks? If yes, why?

RainbowRichards (talk) 12:41, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Ok - just actually read the posted reason ('add photos of English cards')

@ User:Daniel_Carrero - I'm not able to find evidence of a 1996 Blue Deck (I do find a 1998 Blue Deck). I find a 1996 Red, Green, and Yellow deck. Red and Green come as single decks and as a joint box. RainbowRichards (talk) 14:01, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Oops, you are right that the Blue Deck is from 1998. The year should be fixed now. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 17:41, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Daniel - I will be leaning on you for advice/assistance related to uploading and linking images once I have opened and scanned the cards from the English mini-decks. I am compiling the JPN red deck list presently and will post the deck list once completed. RainbowRichards (talk) 17:48, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Okay, I understand. Thanks for your previous work on this page and also thanks for the planned future additions. Okay, I don't mind helping with uploading/linking the images when needed. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 18:31, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

I received my first order for a 1996 Red deck yesterday - have not yet opened and viewed the cards). I already prepared an Excel file of all the cards from the ebay listing images. Working with PSA database (and confirmed through eBay listings) I have found there are up to 4 versions of each card (for example, 2 of Spades comes alternatively as 018 Pidgeot, 016 Pidgey, 016A Pidgey, and 017 Pidgeotto). Not sure how best to document that on the Wiki. RainbowRichards (talk) 18:24, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

It appears there is also a Japanese deck for Pokémon Yellow (also known as Pokémon Pikachu) from 1999. The article does not mention this one yet.

Can you please confirm if maybe there's just 1 card version for each Japanese deck, so that would be 4 versions (Red, Green, Blue and Yellow)? Or are you are specifically saying that the same deck (such as the Japanese Red deck) can have multiple versions of the same card?

Either way, it would be nice if this article mentioned all possible card variations in some way. If we have limited information, I would not mind adding what we know and then expanding the article later. Ideally, it would also be nice to have images of all possible card variations at some point.

If the same deck (such as the Japanese Red deck) has multiple card versions, maybe some simple text like "Pidgey (2 versions), Pidgeotto, or Pidgeot" would be good enough. Or alternatively, if the same deck has multiple card versions, we could also check if there are predefined groupings of cards (you know, if 2 of Spades is Pidgeot, then this may be a certain grouping so we would know all the other cards as well). --Daniel Carrero (talk) 22:47, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

My comment above about multiple versions of each card referred to my 1st hand experience/research on the Red Deck only. Meaning, the JPN Red Deck 2 Spades card is found with 1 of 4 distinct artworks (018 Pidgeot, 016 Pidgey, 016A Pidgey, or 017 Pidgeotto). The Red Deck 2 Clubs card is found with either 075 Graveler, 074 Geodude, 076 Golem or 076C Golem. This is consistent throughout the deck - I don't yet know where the variants are found - if randomly in other Red Decks, or in the combo Red/Green deck packaging.

While researching the Red Deck, I saw evidence (on eBay and in the PSA database) that this phenomenon is true for the Green Deck as well.

I have a single-packed Green Deck coming, as well as a combo Red/Green deck, so I hope to learn from them.

Quite true that there is a Yellow deck (2 variants, actually - of which I have one variant coming).

This is quite the undertaking - and I am happy to continue working it.

What would be the best way to share my Excel spreadsheet file with you once I have completed the documentation of all Red Deck card variants? I just created a Google Sheets file with the first half of my research on the JPN Red Deck. Not sure how I share that file.RainbowRichards (talk) 17:12, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

Here is the link to the Google file - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BZ9oFseCYg3cdl8vhrM9Xclt6knMZ15Y18nteWait90/edit?usp=sharing - but I think I need to give you access (possibly via your email address). RainbowRichards (talk) 17:14, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

Okay, I understand. So as you are saying, the same deck (such as the JPN Red Deck) has multiple card variations. Thanks again for verifying this information.

As you know, I was saying above that it would be nice if this article had the full set of all possible card images. But to be fair, the fact that there are multiple card variations per deck can make this goal harder to achieve than what I was initially thinking.

In my opinion, it's great that you have been ordering some of those Pokémon decks for yourself. If you are going to upload card images, I would suggest that it's also completely OK to upload some images even if the full set of all possible card images may not be completely available at this point.

I sent a request to see the Excel spreadsheet if that's alright. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 07:57, 12 September 2023 (UTC)

I created a new page under my user page https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/User:RainbowRichards/jpn_1996_red_deck_draft to show how we might list all (3 or 4) card variants. I copied the Red mini deck as a starting point. Let me know if you think this will work, or if you have better ideas. RainbowRichards (talk) 14:01, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

Daniel - I just completed the 1996 JPN Red deck draft on the link above (under my user page). Take a peek (if you haven't already) and let me know what you think - if anything could be done better. I'm thinking to wait to post it to the Playing Cards page until I have at least some of the cards scanned and images uploaded and linked.RainbowRichards (talk) 18:22, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

Okay. I like that this draft makes it clear that there are multiple card variations in the same deck.

I see you identified Pidgey variations as 016 and 016A. Is the 016A variation some kind of official ID number found on the card itself? The 016A looks official when presented this way on the article. If maybe the 016A is not actually official, I would suggest simply using #016 (or perhaps the modern-day version #0016) equally for all Pidgey cards.

Another thing: maybe we don't need to spell out the numbers like "3 Three", just saying "3" would be fine -- at least that's my opinion. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 02:52, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

Just to be clear - any one Red deck has only one of each of the 52 cards, but if one is to obtain multiple decks they may (will) discover multiple card variations - such as the 2 of Spades (which comes as either 016, 016A, 017 or 018). I say that in response to your comment 'there are multiple card variations in the same deck' - I wanted to be clear that any single deck will have only one of any card variant, but many decks will reveal the various card versions.

As for the 016A variant - these numbers appear on the text box below the Pokémon, such that there is officially a 016 Pidgey version as well as a 016A Pidgey card variant. This will become clear once I begin scanning and uploading the cards. It can also be seen on eBay listings.

Lastly - I take it you are referring to the numbers in the left-hand column. I have no objection to removing the words two, three, Jack, etc - I was just following the example set by the mini deck tables.

I have created a copy of the draft table and removed the card word names for comparison.

Cheers RainbowRichards (talk) 12:16, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

Here are images from eBay which show the Pidgey card as both 016 and 016A variants:

[1] 016A red PSA 10

[2] 016 red psa 9

Sorry - I don't know how to set the image size to something smaller RainbowRichards (talk) 13:38, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

Hey. If it's alright, I changed those large images to links instead in your message. But I saw them both now and I realize that variants like 016 and 016A are official. I find that interesting.

Okay, I also understand that a single deck comes with a single variation of each card, and that by buying multiple variants of the same deck it's possible to collect multiple card variants... like buying multiple of the JPN Red Deck and obtaining different versions of the 2 of Spades. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 22:47, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

I uploaded the following image file - https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:1996_JPN_red_deck_016.jpg - but I don't know how to link it to the corresponding card entry in the table. Questions: (1) is the filename proper per the style manual? (2) How do I link the image to the table? (once I know the how I can obviously repeat for further card images)RainbowRichards (talk) 15:41, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

Okay, that's a nice Pidgey card image. I'm sorry I took a few days to reply this time.

I'm unsure what would be the best format for these tables. I added that image now in the table as you can see, but we can still think of ways to improve the tables in the future.

Here's the manual of style, it basically mentions that we want descriptive and concise file names: https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Help:Uploading_images

Just to be sure, I asked other admins now if it's alright to keep using this naming system. But at least in my opinion, the naming system you used looks fine: "File:1996 JPN red deck 016.jpg". I like that this naming system appears to be easily usable for all cards. Although we arguably may or may not need the year if there's only one Japanese Red deck available (as opposed to having several Japanese Red decks, one from 1996 and others from other years). --Daniel Carrero (talk) 01:54, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

So I followed your example to add the 016A Pidgey image. I'm wondering whether the table will get too busy when it contains all the images? I guess I thought the Pokémon names would be linked to the images as opposed to having the images embedded (as was done on the ENG mini decks).

I will wait to do more until I hear back from you on the other admins opinion on the file naming, as well as the question of embedding images versus linking to images.

As for year in the filename - there is at least one other JPN red deck from 1998 (the 3D or Snap or also know as Stadium decks), so I'm inclined to continue to include the year in the filenames.RainbowRichards (talk) 12:33, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

There's no problem having the images appearing on the article itself. The Pokémon names can be linked to the Pokémon articles such as Pidgey (Pokémon).

Thanks for the additional card images uploaded so far. I think they are nice. If the table starts to appear bloated with too many cards together, we can try other alternative table designs.

I talked a little with the other admins about the card images. It was suggested that it's probably best to use "Red" starting with a capital letter since this was originally based on the Pokémon game, instead of lowercase "red" like a simple color.

At least in my opinion, it may seem at first that mentioning the year in the image name was not needed because there are few card images so far. Just as a "thought experiment", if there was only a single Pokémon playing card deck ever released (just a Red Deck with no different variations, no different releases, and no different language versions), then the year would probably not be needed to be mentioned in the title. But if you get the time to upload even more images from multiple different decks named "Red Deck", I think it will be easier to see the year as a helpful addition.

When I talked with other admins, there was also this possible thing to consider: One idea was including the company name instead of the year such as "Bicycle Red deck 016.jpg" if the deck was released by the company named Bicycle (English only as far as I know), or "Nintendo JPN Red deck 016.jpg" if that Red deck was released by Nintendo. But to be fair, I understand this probably would not work so well if there are multiple Japanese Red decks that were specifically released by Nintendo.

If you have the time at some point, it would also be nice if we had images of the deck boxes -- possibly front and back of each box (assuming that there's interesting stuff at the back too). At some point too, possibly also images of the back of the cards. Obviously, I know the cards of the same deck should look the same at the back, so I imagine that only 1 card back image would be needed per deck.

Here's another thing for the future: If there's any mistake in the card text (such as a typo or a Pokémon with the incorrect height or weight), it would be nice to mention it as trivia at the bottom of the page. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 01:16, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks again for your feedback, and for feedback and ideas from other admins.

I had planned to post images of the boxes, card backs, as well as the Jokers (2 per deck) outside of the table.

I will make further image uploads with the deck color capitalized (for, as you mentioned, these decks are indeed associated with the games of the same colors). Is it possible to edit the previously-uploaded image file names (to be consistent)?

I shall attempt to research the deck origins/publishers (such as Bicycle and Nintend0).RainbowRichards (talk) 14:38, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

Hello, sorry I took a while to reply again.

I renamed those early image uploads that used lowercase "red", they now use "Red".

Thanks for uploading more cards, I see there are now 12 card images.

I find it interesting that the two Metapod cards look mostly the "same" but one is 011 and the other is 011B. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 08:48, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks again - for re-naming the earlier files to capitalize the deck color/name. The Metapod is similar to the Golem and the Pidgey cards - with the variants ending in A, B, or C.

I shall continue to add images as time allows.RainbowRichards (talk) 14:10, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

No problem. Cool, sounds good to me. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 15:06, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

I've been away due to health reasons - will resume adding images/content soon. RainbowRichards (talk) 16:31, 19 December 2023 (UTC)