Not trying to age anyone here but does anyone remember how crazy the craze was in 1999?
I only remember a bit because I was pretty young (6 years old). I remember my mom buying me Pokémon red. I remember seeing cards at school and going to the first movie.
Anyone else’s have any cool memories or stories of cards, games or nostalgia?
Also if anyone still has some stuff from back then please post pics! Would be cool to see
I’ve always wondered what it was like. I was 3, so I didn’t even know what Pokémon was or have many memories from then. I didn’t really find out about Pokémon until roughly Ruby/Sapphire coming out. So while I know the hype was crazy, I have 0 idea what it was actually like. Is there some modern hype that’s similar to it? Just to get a feel of what it was like?
It was crazy! Well, in my world it seemed that way. I went to a scrappy middle school and tons of kids were bringing their pokemon cards to school. I remember I used to play in the back of science class as most of the other students were watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. We didn’t have a science teacher so it was filled with a substitute who just threw in the VHS tape and let everyone do whatever they wanted. Our school went through a pokemon card ban because so many students were getting their pokemon cards stolen and sometimes beat up in the process.
I remember this kid bringing his entire binder to school and showing it off. It was one of those kids who didn’t have many friends and was really chubby, picked on and such. I wasn’t far from his status but he was down there. Huge lenses in his glasses didn’t help, made his eyes look really big when you met his gaze. Think of the guy from Office Space with the stapler but in child form. He started getting attention from everyone as he showed off his pokemon binder collection. This went on for a couple of days. Rumors were started about people stealing other kids pokemon cards. I saw this popular kid walking down the hallway with his arm around the nerdy kid. I had to warn him. I walked straight up to him, lets call the nerdy kid Milton. “Milton! He’s going to steal your cards! That’s why he’s being nice to you!” Popular kid got in my face threatening to beat me up. Remember the middle school class order, I also was chubby but had some friends. I had no balls yet and I wasn’t about to get my ass beat by the popular muscular kid in 6th grade… So I deescalated and fled the scene. Didn’t help that Milton was getting an ego and also told me off saying they were friends…
Fast forward to the next morning. We are waiting outside the school for the bell to ring and the doors to open. Everyone kinda clumps up into their little groups. I see Milton, who I never see in the morning, with those popular kids. I get closer and realize they’ve convinced him to bring his entire pokemon collection to school to show them. His backpack was completely filled with pokemon cards, no books or paper just overpacked ready to hike the Appalachian Mountains filled with pokemon cards. And then… BAM! That popular muscular kid just sucker punches Milton, who has likely never felt such a feeling. He goes down screaming, pokemon cards go flying because he was holding a binder when the hit occurred. Popular kids made a mad grab for his backpack and others, even the girls, who likely don’t even know what’s going on are picking up some cards that have flown out onto the ground. Milton actually fell back screaming into a bush that was kinda thick like the Homer Simpson leaving the chat gif. So you mainly could only see his feet and hear him screaming and crying. It was a sight to be seen and probably only one of ten things I remember from middle school.
Anyways, come to find out that Miltons dad is a high profile defense attorney and is kinda a big deal. Next day anyone caught with pokemon cards had them confiscated. Extra police came to the school the next day kinda monitoring. A complete ban occurred and no one could bring a card of any kind to school for that entire year. Kids still did but it was the talk of everyone. One of the first few pages of our yearbook showed all the popular things that occurred throughout the year and it included a little picture of pokemon cards in the collage near a photo of N’sync or Backstreet Boys I can’t remember.
Sorry, this became way longer than I expected. Shout out to Milton, I hope he’s living his best life now.
-Matthew
Milton 
Damn I feel bad for the kid. But interesting that even 6th grades liked cards. I was in 1st grade so I had no idea what was going on.
Did you go see the movie? Play the games? Have any cards of your own?
Pogs were still massively popular where I lived at the time and it was funny how quickly Pokemon obliterated them. Within the span of a few weeks those heavy plastic bags went from the status symbol to a laughing stock. The only other things people cared about was sports and Britney Spears, but even that went topsy turvy for a few months. The sports guys had to engage with Pokemon to avoid becoming outsiders, and the girls would orbit the boys with the best binders. Crazy, crazy times.
What are pogs?
They’re also called milk caps.
Well said! It was a crazy time to be alive for sure. Probably the only time ever when the ENTIRE school was into one thing at the same time. What I wouldn’t give to go back.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was also 6 in 1999. For the entire summer break, all we did was play Pokemon Blue and watch the anime on YTV in the evening. I still remember when the cards eventually got “banned” from school or you’d get in trouble for having them because they caused such a nuisance during the school day. The hype for the movie going into the Fall of 1999 was just insane. I remember hearing of some of the older kids having been able to find the movie in Japanese and hearing all kinds of rumors about it before it came out in English.
It was so interesting back then not only because of being a kid, but also because things were a lot more mysterious compared to today. It was all fresh, new and exciting and you had to go through some effort to spoil things or figure things out.
Anyway, we’ve discussed this subject a lot on here. You might really enjoy reading these threads:
I was around (as an adult with little children) in 1999, I am still around and have seen the hypes come and go.
As for 1999, it’s a bit to compare to the 2020 hype. No product available and everybode wanting it.
Schools not allowing to bring pokemon cards. Cards were stolen (in 1999 by kids in 2020 by adults)
Also 2015 comes in mind, Pokemon Go also gained a lot of interest among a large group.
What I miss about the 1999 hype was the pure enjoyment and genuine enthusiasm for the hobby as just a hobby. No investment. No market. No will it won’t it discussions. What I wish we had then was the access to the community and the information that we do now. Still, it was very just fun, times.
i remember someone throwing a collection of cards in the Schoolhall and all went crazy- Teachers couldnt get every card as fast as kids and it was pure chaos for Minutes 
Okay that’s wild
I remember when they were debating whether or not to ban Pokemon in the schoolyard, all of us were deathly afraid. 
It didn’t end up happening, probably because we were so few (108 students 1-7th grade) and we sort of behaved ourselves.
But, and I can’t recall exactly, there were some restrictions for a time. I think we weren’t allowed to take them out during the long mid day recess or something. So we had this black market thing going on, meeting in the woods behind the school. We had to take our rucksacks with us so none of the teachers would see us walking out there with our binders. It didn’t last too long. 
100%. It was just a time of pure, organic discovery untainted by internet access. The first 151 were discoverable across 3 sets. The sets were well constructed and pull rates weren’t daft. The fact it was a new franchise and money wasn’t a factor (apart from frantically saving pocket money for packs) helps prove just how much innate value as an enjoyable collectible the cards had/have. Being forced into visiting card or toy shops to buy the next additions to your collection also added that extra dimension to the whole experience.
One thing I want to emphasize:
Trading Pokemon cards was specifically banned at many elementary schools. Every one in my school district, and almost all the elementary schools my college friends went to throughout California. Nothing else was banned like this, but you had more than half your grade bringing cards to school to trade in their shorts pockets.
We brought them anyway and would trade hiding behind large objects, like containers or portables. It’s not like Charizards got traded around like candy but Venusaurs did. And it’s part of why not many people have mint condition cards from back then, because they’re bound to get edge wear when you’re little and you trade them shadily to get around school rules.
It was a shared community experience, because Pokemon cards were anything but niche. The closest thing I’ve seen to it within Pokemon since then was the release of Pokemon Go, when for a week or two it seemed like everyone (at least in New York, at the time) played.
Was 11/12 at the time, it was both amazing and awful for that age group. I would wake up saturday morning, watch WB kids, play with my knex and stare at my cards. Anywhere I went in the car for a long trip I would play pokemon on my gameboy (banned at school), then I would play it at home.
We took our cards pretty much everywhere; to trade at school until they were banned, then we would trade them around the neighborhood, at friends houses and even during soccer and basketball practice. I remember one of the fields we played at was right next to a legit LCS (we didn’t have one in our town) and we would go pick up a pack or two after games. I literally don’t remember how I had all this time, I was an insanely active kid.
Problem is, it became uncool pretty quick in my age group around a year later, so just like that (around genesis) it was over. Kids grew out of it very quickly near me, I still bought packs, but barely anyone collected anymore in my age group. It ended as quickly as it started.
knex
Now that’s something I forgot I even had. Wow that’s a throwback.
Think it can really be summed up as nostalgia. Being young and carefree is a hell of a drug. I was too young to experience the 1999 craze but even in 2003/2004 there was still the aftershocks at least in the UK. I remember kids had hand me downs from older siblings and still doing trading in the playground. As it appears with every school it ending with an ban on Pokemon cards.
Its one of the key pillars of the hobby is that you didnt have to be there in 1999 to have nostalgia and be drawn back in to collecting. Card shops are opening for the first time in the UK and I have seen kids looking in cabinets making the same core memories that I did 20 years ago.