A Bit of Crossover: Learning to play Magic the Gathering

For a long time I have wanted to learn how to play Magic. In grade school, the only kids that played it were some of the nerdier boys and when I tried to ask them to explain it to me they never really wanted to. Instead, I joined up with local Pokemon leagues, and spent my weekends playing the Pokemon trading card game with my sisters, friends, and competitors at our local comic book store The Annex.

A Bit of the Past: Card Games

Does anyone still play with Pokemon Cards? I mean, I remember when I was a wee lass in 6th grade, and I would go to the local comic book store and play in the Pokeleague on Sundays trying to beat other kids at a card game with fictional animals which would probably never be helpful to me in the long run. But that's the whole point, isn't it?

Sometimes kids need to do something that isn't productive, that lets them take a bit of time OUT from their regular lives to pretend and exist in another realm if you will.

Do people still play? I mean, even people my age that got into it when I did. Does ANYONE play with the actual cards, or are playing card games a thing of the past? I feel like there are a million and one pokemon games for DS, and Gamecube, or whatever the hell kids are playing on these days, but that no one actually takes the time to play the cards and learn the characters.

It's kind of like kindles versus real books; I'd so much rather read the book and have it in my hands than have to scroll down an electronic screen. Why get rid of pokemon cards, or magic cards, or any other kind of cards just because you can play it virtually. Where have the tactility of life gone?