Pokemon Booster Drafts - How they work

Pokemon Booster Drafts are a lot of fun. Everyone really seems to enjoy them. Booster Drafts are very low pressure events, and you get some valuable experience building a deck, with a very limited pool of cards to choose from plus very little time to do it. It is also a great way to get your feet wet in competitive play in a venue that isn't too competitive.

There are a couple of reasons I participate in a booster draft.

1.There are cards from the set I hope to get, to make decks or fill out my collection. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but you will always get something good that you might be able to use or trade later.

2.It's a really great way to improve deck building and playing skills, and no matter who you are there is always room for improvement.

How they work:

There are different types of Booster Drafts, I am going to focus on the most common type of draft today.

Well, how it works is simple, you pay your money and then you are assigned a seat. Normally Booster Drafts are broken into "Pods" (small groups.) The people in your pod are the folks you are going to be "drafting with." A pod normally will consist of 8 players and if there is a large group the group will be split into several pods for drafting and then be combined for playing.

Each drafter will be given their packs of cards. Which will remain on the table until they are directed to open the first pack by the Judge or the "Pod Leader" (one person at the table that will give instructions as to when to open a pack or pass the cards.)

Once everyone is ready all the players will open their first pack, pick a card from that pack and pass the rest. It is important to wait until everyone has chosen their card and is ready to move on. This is done until all the cards are passed out. First pack will pass in one direction and the second will pass in the other. This will continue until all of the packs are opened and all the cards passed out.

After that, each player will build a 40 card deck (including basic energies) which will be provided by whomever is organizing the draft. The standard time for building a deck is 30 minutes. After everyone is done building their decks players will be paired for playing and the tournament will continue to conclusion. Number of rounds will be determined by the number of players.

As a rule booster drafts are not age separated so juniors can end up playing masters or seniors.

Next: Building a Draft Deck - How do I pick cards.

Pokemon Organized Play for Parents

POP for short

When your child first convinces you to go to an Pokemon Organized Play event, it can be a rough ride. It seems as though the biggest events attract the most new players. Parents can get completely overwhelmed by the experience.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this. Honestly it is a shock how many participants this game attracts and it is surprising to walk in expecting to see small children and coming face to face with far more adults and teens than 7 to 10 year olds. It can give a parent pause.

Have no fear. The players are separated into age divisions almost all events are age separated.

The POP age divisions are as follows:

Juniors - 10 and under

Seniors - 11 - 15

Masters 16 and up

This is the general rule. Sometimes a player will age up a little earlier because POP breaks up the ages based on a calender year. The season for Pokemon starts in September and if you were born later in the year sometimes you will age up sooner rather than later.

Pokemon Organized Play or POP is the organization that runs all the official Pokemon events and the leagues. You can read all about it here. Pokemon Orgaized play creates a fun, safe environment for your child to learn how to build decks and play the game, it also gives them the opportunity to get ready to participate in tournaments and other Pokemon events.

The first thing your child will need to play in a POP sanctioned event or league is a POP I.D. These can be gotten on-line here or you can get one at any league or tournament location.

There are Pokemon Leagues in many locations around the world. Within 25 miles of my house there are 4 or 5. You can find a Pokemon League near you here My boys and I play regularly at two different leagues and every now and then we will go to a third. I cannot stress enough that POKEMON LEAGUE IS THE BEST PLACE for your child to get their feet wet. League is free, and you child earns promo cards and Pokemon League Badges (just like on TV and in the video game.)

There is always a League Leader present and you can ask all the questions you want. They will happily help your child acclimate to the league experience. If your first event is a big tournament or pre-release the Professor may not have the time to walk you through it as thoroughly.