Trading Card Games For Dummies [Paperback]

John Kaufeld (Author), Jeremy Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2006

Check out Magic: The Gathering, Heroclix, and more


Explore popular games like Legend of the Five Rings, build decks, and trade online

Whether you're already hooked on trading card games, want to understand what your kids are into, or are just curious to see what all the fuss is about, you've come to the right place. Here's the scoop on the hottest games, secrets of successful collecting, tips for customizing your dream deck, and ways to make your hobby pay.

Discover how to
* Get started with the VS System, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and others
* Identify basic types of cards
* Buy and sell online -- wisely
* Play around with collectible miniatures
* Safely store and transport your collection

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Check out Magic: The Gathering, Heroclix, and more

Explore popular games like Legend of the Five Rings, build decks, and trade online

Whether you're already hooked on trading card games, want to understand what your kids are into, or are just curious to see what all the fuss is about, you've come to the right place. Here's the scoop on the hottest games, secrets of successful collecting, tips for customizing your dream deck, and ways to make your hobby pay.

Discover how to

• Get started with the VS System, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and others
• Identify basic types of cards
• Buy and sell online — wisely
• Play around with collectible miniatures
• Safely store and transport your collection

About the Author

John Kaufeld has been running independent game stores since 1998. He is an officer of the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA, www.gama.org), a national trade group for manufacturers, designers, distributors, and retailers of everything in the “adventure games” product category. He currently works with GAMA as the Press Liaison for the Origins International Game Expo (www.originsgames.com). John Kaufeld has also written numerous books in the For Dummies series.

Jeremy Smith is an associate editor at InQuest Gamer magazine, one of the premier publications in the hobby gaming industry. He has written for the magazine since 1996 and has been on its staff since 2001, when he moved from Rhode Island to New York to take on the immense task of playing games for a living. His chief task of compiling and editing the magazine’s price guide harkens back to his card-trading days at the University of Rochester in upstate New York, where he’d spend a weekend turning a handful of junk rares into a new car. Or something close to that, anyway.
The writing part probably sprung out of his lifelong love for words, starting back in Minnesota from age two, reading words off the TV while watching The Electric Company. This continued later on when he represented Rhode Island at the National Spelling Bee in 1987 and 1988 and then worked as an editor for the university newspaper in Rochester.
Jeremy’s previous interests in playing Dungeons & Dragons and collecting sports cards (go Red Sox and Patriots!) during the ’80s and early ’90s led to his entry into the trading card game arena, starting when he bought his first packs of Magic: The Gathering back in 1994 and told the dealer, “Hi! I’d like to pick up a new addiction!” How prophetic, indeed.
In addition to his daily routine of charting card prices, building decks, and occasionally getting some real work done at InQuest Gamer, Jeremy also moonlights as a certified judge for Wizards of the Coast’s sanctioned Magic tournament program. This has given him experience in everything from running a tournament of more than 100 players by himself to training and mentoring new judges to making darned sure that the players all have a good time and come back for more. It has also taken him to exciting places like Amsterdam, New Orleans, and Kansas City to judge at major tournaments. Well, at least Kansas City had some great steaks.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (March 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471754161
• ISBN-13: 978-0471754169
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Kaufeld makes complex things easy, and helps parents -- especially dads -- learn to connect with their kids through board games.

And he loves every minute of it.

He's a best-selling author, speaker, trainer, consultant, board gamer, dad, and all-around geek. He also believes passionately in the power of board games as a tool for connecting with family and friends, but more about that later.

Back in 1993, he started writing about America Online, Microsoft Access, computer games, tabletop games, and more in the popular "...For Dummies" line of computer books, eventually churning out over 25 books in the line, along with a few random ones for other publishers. Over the years, his titles sold more than 2.8 million books in over 15 languages around the world.

John started writing as a high school stringer for The Republic (Columbus, IN). At about the same time, he expanded into radio as a weekend DJ for WWWY Radio (also in Columbus, IN).

In college, he scrambled for stories as the weekend news anchor for WLBC Radio (Muncie, IN) and the afternoon news editor for WBST Radio (the Ball State University PBS station).

During his first stint in Corporate America, John spent 10 years in various Information Systems and System Development jobs. His second term in Corporate America saw him working in communication, publicity, and marketing for a national trade association, a regional bank, a high-end manufacturing company.

Along the way, John wandered into the social game industry. As a kid, he and his father played many rounds of Hasbro's "Monopoly" (consistently using the wrong rules), and actually finished the game two or three times.

Then he discovered German board games (also known as "Eurogames"), and his gaming world -- and parenting style -- changed forever.

These days, you can often find John in the board game areas at Gen Con and other game conventions. He indulges in "Puerto Rico," "Agricola," "Race for the Galaxy," and just about any train game that wanders past (especially Empire Builder). If you see him, definitely say hi. After all, he never bites. (Well, at least not since the therapy.)

He's current finishing a Master of Arts in Professional Communication at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, and is on the university staff in marketing and social media. He also freelances for several national and regional publications.

You can email him at [e-mail], the email address that launched a few million books.