Prices have pushed some children out of the Pokémon community, but New Jersey’s own Big Show Card Show is working to keep them included.
150 tables lined the room’s walls and spilled into the hotel lobby’s hallways at the Bridgewater, NJ Marriott Hotel, with every inch covered in trading cards art (TCG), most being Pokémon.
Artists filled their tables with wood burnings, paintings and cutouts of beloved characters — Pikachu, Eevee, Charizard, Mew and variations of the other 1,021 creatures that have captured hearts through video games, cards and television. Couples, families, friends and singles walked in with smiles, ready to engage freely in the hobby they’ve likely loved for a lifetime.
There was laughter, negotiation, handshakes and fulfillment, all brought about by The Big Show Card Show. Since September 2023, Marilyn Millard has been organizing these events, which started as a New Jersey TCG show and have expanded into Pennsylvania and Maryland in the past year. The event is intended to create “a good environment” and “cater to everyone,” as she put it.
However, it has become increasingly difficult to cater to everyone when prices have been increasing tremendously, rising almost 4,000% in the past two decades. The recent moneymaker is a card depicting the Pokémon Umbreon reaching toward the moon from the Evolving Skies set, often referred to as the “Moonbreon” card.
This card alone has been sold for up to $3,000. With prices like these, it is nearly impossible for children to participate in a hobby that is targeted for kids.
“It’s probably 80/20, adults versus kids, just because Pokémon has gotten so expensive over the last year,” Millard said of the audience at The Big Card Show. A large contributor to this issue has been scalpers: people who buy large amounts of product, typically on release day and resell them for inflated prices.
Carter of Karmic Drive, a TCG vendor at the show, explained the effect of this trend.
“[Scalpers] do play an important role in the market, unfortunately, to keep people going with the prices,” the vendor explained. “But they also drive prices up and they dictate the market majority of the time. So if something new comes out, they’ll just take all the product so that no one else can, then they can resell for a super high price.”
Anthony of Azure Scales Cards, another vendor at the show, also commented on the phenomenon.
“It’s just a weird thing in the hobby,” the retailer said. “Everybody wants to make a quick buck off of Walmart restocks and Target stuff — it kinda stinks, that’s what it’s come down to… I don’t like it.”
Mallory Collins with NavTCG shared her own experience with a scalper while vending.
“He came up and said, ‘I want to buy every single card you own,’” Collins said. “And I’m just like, ‘What?’ He’s clearly not doing this because he’s interested in it, he’s just looking at the money.”
All hope isn’t lost for children in the community, as the organizers and participants of The Big Show Card Show are making efforts to ensure kids can participate. Mallory Collins echoed this sentiment and shared how special of an opportunity the show is for children.
“Seeing a kid dressed up as their favorite Pokémon or Ash Ketchum and seeing them come to your table, interacting with you — that definitely is the highlight of every single day,” Collins said.
In response to the pricing crisis, NavTCG began giving out free cards to kids.
“Watching either my boyfriend or I give them a free card or watching another vendor give them something and seeing how excited they [kids] get and how grateful they get… it’s very heartwarming to watch that.”
Karmic Drive also shared that they will give out free cards, Pokémon coins or stickers and encouraged others to do the same. Carter of Karmic Drive is in full support of this effort.
“I think if people give out stickers and little things here and there just to keep the kids involved, that’s a little bit better for them,” Carter said.
Marilyn Millard has partnered with the Collectr app to try to get cards for kids: “With their sponsorship, it gives us the opportunity to give vendors back a little bit of money on cards that they would be selling to other people and giving them away to kids instead,” Millard said. “We’re hoping it keeps kids in the hobby.”
To further this push to keep kids involved in the hobby, Millard also offers free admission for kids 10 and under to the Big Show Card Show. Millard attempts to prevent scalpers from entering by not allowing people “to come in with carts full of sealed product that they wipe out the shelves of.”
With Millard running the show behind the scenes, it can be confidently said that The Big Show Card Show will continue as a welcoming space for everyone, especially kids.
“That’s part of the reason why I love the show so much,” Millard said. “People just come in and have fun. Overall, it’s a kids’ game, right? [Pokémon] should be available for everyone to enjoy.”
