12 Likes
I know a guy that wrote his name on the back of all of his cards 
even the gold star mudkip
3 Likes
Saw a lot of kids do this when I was growing up too. I just held mine in a giant brick in my pocket with an elastic band until I got my first binder.
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This is what I did until they accidentally went through the wash.
Donāt worry, they were āfineā!
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I was desperate for a Venusaur (since Bulbasaur was my starter). I eventually traded for one with big cash money involved (Ā£5.00). It turned out that they written their initials (T.G) on the back, and it was Base Set 2.
Kid me was pissed off, current me is like āthanks for the memories.ā
3 Likes
Oh man I screwed up once and my Chaos Emperor Dragon Envoy of the End and Buster Blader cards went through the washing machine. I was sad for days 
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Guess I was a weird kid as I was always very careful with my cards.
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2000, I was 40 at the time. My kids had their shit and I had mine. Kids donāt touch DADās stuff, OKAY? 
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My boys too. Their cards are still getting 10s.
1 Like
If you asked me at the time as a little boy, I would have told you I took very good care of my cards. And compared to a lot of other children, this was certainly true. I have a lot of memories about this.
I didnāt know anybody who knew how to play the game, or really had any interest in playing the game, so all the damage cards suffered was from improper storage. Cards thrown in shoeboxes or loose in drawers was a norm I saw often and this made me upset even at the time.
But we were also children with limited ability to ensure the pristine quality of 1000 pieces of paper. My eye for detail also was not really strong enough to perceive damage unless it was especially egregious. Bends, tears, stains, etc. We were all trained to look for scratches on our holos, but kids saw what they wanted to see. There was also this assumption I remember at the time where kids believed that cards were basically always in the same condition than when they received it. For example, any cards kids got from packs themselves were always mint. It didnāt matter if they degraded from handling or improper storage, because they knew they were mint from packs that meant they had to still be mint weeks or months later. I remember an older kid pointing out how bad condition another younger kidās cards were, which the younger kid vehemently denied declaring defensively that they were mint.
I had this problem. I kept all my holos in a stack with a rubber band around them, which as a child I believed was very safe and secure. I had never even *seen* card sleeves or toploaders, I did not know they existed. I liked to have my cards with me at all times so having them in a stack allowed me to ākeep them safeā in my pocket. This ensured that I kept my cards āmintā, which I believed them to be and never once became aware of the damage I was creating by having them in my pocket or held together with rubber bands. My child brain just couldnāt see it. I only saw my perfect card I had opened right from the package and it would always look like that unless something really severe happened.
I mentioned earlier that I accidentally put my cards through the wash because I forgot them in my jean shorts. They didnāt go through a whole cycle, we caught them after just a few minutes, but logically these cards were damaged. There is no way they were not. But when I retrieved them from my pants pocket I was so relieved, almost to tears, that they were āfineā. Whatever damage theyād suffered I could not perceive, because I had a child brain who still only saw my cards as āmy perfect cardsā even though they surely looked like garbage.
But at the same time, I could tell when other kids had bad cards. I was snotty enough to look at someoneās binder and point out all the flaws on their cards and tell them their condition was bad, especially for cards I was jealous of. I told a friend how bad of condition his cards were in, which upset him a lot. He addressed this by wrapping the card in clear tape. He believed the card was now āperfectā and called me exalted at his work telling me he fixed all his cards.
Dumb kids. We were all so dumb.
2 Likes
The 'ole washing machine incident. I vividly remember it happening to Neo Gen Steelix, which was one of the first gen 2 cardsāif not the firstāI was ever exposed to. It seemed special as hell to me, a secret new gem few knew about. And I caught it a few minutes into the wash, panicking to my Mom about how it is missing. Typical situation, Mom does her 8 year oldās laundry, he doesnāt responsibly clear his pockets, and Steelix goes through the wash. I remember treating it like an injured person and dire need, looking up dramatically, and recalling clearly how unconcerned my Mom was, and being hurt by that. So funny. Washing machines provide for some funny Pokememories.
1 Like
Same here, I think I accidentally put a tiny crease in one cardonce, the only other cards I owned below NM condition came from other kids. Kid careful of course, not adult careful.
Yeahā¦ I did the whole corner bending thingā¦ also folded in half any base cards that had a more purple tinted back because I was told they were fake
i only cared about keeping the holo part from getting scratched is why most of my cards have whitening but little scratches. So most are at least near mint condition.
or having a stack of cards in a binder since its not enough room for all individual cards. Crystal Nidoking in the middle of a Stack of 10 cardsā¦ RIP ><
100 percent this! The kids leave dadās cards alone, and in turn dad lets the kids enjoy their cards however they want.
I feel sorry for kids who are schooled by their collector parents to treat their (the kidsā) own collectibles with utmost care. It sucks out all the fun of collecting as a kid.