I grew up in Washington and I have a bunch of shadowless theme deck cards and a lot of 1st edition Rocket/Gym. I don’t think I ever got a non-shadowless theme deck actually. A couple packs worth of 1st edition Jungle and no 1st ed Fossil. On the other hand I was limited to picking up cards when my mom decided to go to the mall as I was 10 at the time so I can’t remember how close to release I would pick up packs. I also got most of my cards from an actual WoTC if that matters. At school you would definitely see some kids with 1st Ed base cards but it wasn’t a common occurrence and while every kid into Pokemon knew of 1st Ed cards the hype for them wasn’t as drastic as it is now. The card that sticks out the most in my memory was the red cheeks pikachu, which is why I’m not surprised at all that it sells for more $$$ than several base holos in a PSA 10 despite being a common. This is a mind of a 10 year old kid of course so actual adult collectors likely saw Pokemon cards differently.
Can confirm. I was Ohio (CLE) and first edition base set was rare af. We smashed those rocket 1st eds tho
They were released on the west coast and never made it east as a distributor release. Of course it’s no surprise a couple hundred boxes made it out there.
I’ve always heard this too.
Everyone I know had to buy 1st ed. Base from eBay or from a west coast dealer/distributor. I’m curious what volume of 1st ed. Base east coast distributors received because it had to be very little.
@smpratte do you know?
1st edition Jungle and beyond was distributed much more evenly across the country. I know this because you could pre-order Jungle 1st edition from CT and TX distributors before its release.
Never knew that. But I grew up in the midwest, and that explains why I’d never seen 1st Ed Base outside of card conventions.
Thinking logically, it makes sense that it was only on the west coast and a bit on the east coast. The company is called Wizards of the Coast, not Wizards of the Country or continent.
The reason I didnt consider the company name is because under your logic we would have to assume they are actual wizards too lol
I would buy card made by wizards of the continent just saying
that is brilliant haha
Not sure that’s what it meant but great observation lol. At least one coast cause they’re located in Renton, Washington.
King Pokemon, if we were to heat map these packs, what % of 1st edition went to west vs. east vs. rest of the country? Was the same skewed distribution there for shadowless?
It makes me that much more appreciative of the shadowless and 1st edition cards I have from when I was a kid. I was on east coast and didn’t realize it was more rare for me to find those packs.
I grew up in Georgia during the initial release and we had 1st edition base set at the mall and some comic book shops.
How long did it last do u remember?
What areas in Florida, if you don’t mind me asking?
Pompano, Boca, Deefield, Ft Lauderdale