There are hundreds of different trading card games or collectible card games that have been or still continue to exist. Of course, some of these trading cards can be very valuable, such as baseball or football cards. Magic the Gathering cards are successful too. Unfortunately, most of these games are simply ploys by companies to bank on a popular television show or something else. Most of them fail, and here are some of those that did just that.
Pokemon
Okay, Pokemon has been successful for the companies involved, but collectors have been left with some relatively worthless cards. Only some of the first editions from the first few sets are worth anything near or over $100. Most cards can be bought for pennies, and the occasional rare card will go for a few bucks. Sadly, collectors with large collections won’t find them to be worth much if the rarest cards aren’t in the collection. Pokemon has been extremely successful, but the Pokemon TCG hasn’t become a valuable investment for the most part.
Digimon
Unlike Pokemon, Digimon trading cards sort of stumbled out the gate. The series was nowhere near as popular as Pokemon, so it suffered from relatively low sales in comparison. Likewise, the cards never really gained any value over the years. Sure, you can undoubtedly find the occasional valuable card. Digimon’s trading cards were just another way for the creators to get some more money out of fans. In the end, collector’s have been left with some fairly useless and worthless cards.
Dragon Ball Z/GT
Dragon Ball Z is one of the most popular anime series of all time. Dragonball GT wasn’t as well-received, but it worked. So then, you would expect a TCG or CCG based on these games to be incredibly popular. There are plenty of collectors of these cards, but their popularity has worn down over the years for a general audience. In fact, major stores no longer carry any type of DBZ/GT trading cards. Some of the rarer cards are worth a hundred dollars or more easily, which is fantastic. Still, most of the cards aren’t worth a ton of money. These trading cards might be considered one of the most successful yet not-so-successful TCGs/CCGs.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards were immensely popular when they first came out. Plenty of people still play the game, and collectors to exist. Despite this, the cards themselves aren’t incredibly valuable. You might never profit from your Yu-Gi-Oh! collection in the next fifty years. Obviously, popularity doesn’t always translate into increased value. Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards fall into that trap. You can hang onto those cards for as long as you want, but they probably won’t ever be worth a ton of money.
WWF/WWE
Finally, we come to WWF and WWE wrestling cards. The company might be trying to put an end to the term “wrestling”, but we all know the truth. Wrestling trading cards have been around for quite awhile and typically depict scenes and wrestlers from the past and present. Unfortunately, the majority of these cards aren’t really worth anything because wrestling isn’t the kind of thing where you would want to collect cards. Most wrestling fans would rather stick to collecting memorabilia.
Value and Worth aren’t the same.
Well, I guess they are. Still, you might value your trading cards a lot higher than they are actually worth, which isn’t a problem at all. Collectors who collect cards to fulfill their own joy for collecting something will have no problem with trading cards that aren’t worth a ton. Of course, “failed” trading card games are only problematic for collector’s who intended to profit from their collections.
For more information, visit List of Collectible Card Games.
