Game Components:
Game board, 6 Decks of color-coded playing cards, Scorecards, Instructions

This is my favorite place to go for nice cards (I used to go to Party City, but the lights and cheap crap gave me a headache!)- I mean, if you think about it, most people save their cards for a. This card store has a nice selection -especially for blank cards, which I prefer to use for most occasions so. Greeting Cards Gift Shops. YEARS IN BUSINESS. Website (708) 469-7581. 5555 S Brainard Ave Ste 300. Countryside, IL 60525. Card Frenzy Inc. Website (708) 320-2349. 6500 W Irving Park Rd. Chicago, IL 60634. Website (630) 537-1890. 8340 S Madison St. Willowbrook, IL 60527.

Object:
Get as many of your cards on the game board as possible — as quickly as possible! Cards must be put on the board in matching suits and in order from lowest to highest. For example, clubs on clubs, and hearts on hearts. Cards must be played in order, from Ace, 2 , 3, etc. to King on each suit.
You will play cards on the game board from your 13-card pile, your ‘Row of Four’ and your hand-held cards, as explained below.
At the end of each round, you will get points for your cards on the game board. Any cards remaining in your 13-card pile will COUNT AGAINST YOU.

Set up:
Each player takes one complete deck of cards, and sets up as follows: Remove the Joker and shuffle the rest of the deck. Count out 13 cards in a pile and turn the top card face up. Set aside. Place 4 cards face up in a horizontal row. Hold the remaining cards face down together in your hand.
(See illustration for further reference.)

Play the Game!
When all players have set up, one player shouts “Go!” Everyone starts at the same time – and the frenzy begins!
Quick! Look at the top card on your 13-card pile and see if you can play it on the game board. Remember, cards must be played on matching suits from lowest to highest. If you can play the card, do so, then turn the next card in your pile face up. As your opponents play cards on the game board, you may play your cards on top of theirs, BUT, only one card of each number can be played on that space!

The Row of Four
If you can’t play from your pile, look at your row of four horizontal cards. You may play onto these cards from your pile, or from your hand, from high to low in alternating colors. For example, you can play a red eight on a black nine, or a black queen on a red king. Suit does not matter.

You may also move your cards around. For example, if you have a red 10, black 9 and red 8 in one row, and a red queen and a black jack in another row, you may take the 10, 9 and 8 and place them on the black jack in the other row.

When you move cards to another row, you must move ALL of the cards in one row as a group. You MAY move single cards to the game board from the bottom of a row of cards. Once a card is placed in sequence onto a row of cards, it cannot be moved BY ITSELF to another row. If you create an open space by
moving a row of cards, take the top card from your 13-card pile or a card from your hand to restart that row.

Hand-Held Cards
If you can’t play the top card from your pile or from your Row of Four, you may play the cards in your hand. Hold the cards face down, take the top 3 cards as a group and place them face up on the table in front of you with only the 3rd card showing. If possible, makea play with this card, then the 2nd card and the
last. If no plays are possible, take the next 3 cards in the same manner and place them face upon the previous cards. Continue this way, playing any cards you can, until you’ve gone through all the cards in your hand. Then pick up the remaining cards (do not shuffle) and begin again.

Solitaire Frenzy Tips!
Always watch the game board! Try to play cards from your 13-card pile first. If you are stuck and unable to play, watch the other players’ cards carefully! Someone may lay down a card which will enable you to play!

Ending the Round
The round ends when one player has played all 13 cards, OR when all players are unable to make any more plays.

Scoring
Players count their cards on the game board. Each card counts as one point. If you have any cards left in your 13-card pile, you must SUBTRACT one point for each from your game board points. Record the total on the scorecard. For example, if you play 10 cards on the game board, but you have 3 cards left in your 13-card pile, you subtract 3 from 10 and record 7 points on the scorecard. If you have no cards left in your 13-card pile, then you just record the number of cards you played on the game board.

Winning
After 3 rounds, add the total of all 3 rounds for each player. The player with the highest total wins!

EL PASO, Texas – Local trading card stores have seen a spike in demand for cards that were popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s as videos of online content creators buying Pokémon cards during the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many collectors to go on a spending frenzy.

“It’s a perfect storm of everything – it’s the pandemic, the stimulus checks – it’s everyone trying to find that happy place that made them happy during these really messed up times,” said Joshua Rooslet manager of Game Vault of El Paso.

These are the few Pokémon cards left recently in a display at Game Vault of El Paso. The cards are in increasing demand because of the pandemic, among other reasons. Photo by Oscar Gonzalez, Borderzine.com.

Pokémon launched in 1996 as a video game that features catching and training animal-like creatures. The franchise expanded to a variety of media platforms, including a TV show and trading cards.The number of creatures in the Pokémon universe now is about 900 from its original 151.

Card Frenzy Countryside Il

It is now one one highest-grossing media franchise surpassing other franchises like Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse & Friends and Star Wars.

Stores have had to implement rules for these high-demand cards and promotions.

“We try our best to get as much product to everyone,” Rooslet said. As recently as February 2020, patrons could “walk at any given time and buy booster packs, booster box – buy pretty much whatever they wanted” because demand wasn’t as high as it is today.

“Fast forward to today, we can’t keep any Pokémon products in stock is nearly impossible, we had to put a limit of 1 per family and even then we sold out,” Rooslet said.

Derek Lion, Sun City Games manager, said the demand is higher than the supply, and he wants “to get some Pokémon products because of how much the prices have gone up.”

“Some of the stuff we can still get is overpriced and we don’t see ourselves selling it locally so we just don’t order it, we might get a bad rep for it, but we do it for the people who can afford it,” Lion said.

David Flores, 31 and a local Pokémon card collector, is a co-administrator for a Facebook group called Pokémon TCG – El Paso. The group has more than 1,000 members who are free to trade, sell, or show their collections to other members.

He has felt the impact of the sudden rise of popularity of the cards in the form of scalpers who gather certain in-demand products to resell at a higher price.

Some patrons will camp out at a store to be there as cards are restocked with the hope that they will be able to purchase a “hot set [box] . . . They sell that box for $50 and they resell it for about $150 so they buy all the boxes they can whatever is put out there,” Flores said.

McDonald’s restaurants have had to implement restrictions on its Pokémon promotion because of high demand. Photo by Oscar Gonzalez, Borderzine.com. Photo credit: Oscar Gonzales

Pokémon is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and has promotional packs with McDonald’s. The restaurant chain is dealing with its own high demand as some of its packs have been found on eBay going for more than $1,000. McDonald’s has sent a statement, calling for restaurants to limit supply.

“We’re working quickly to address shortages and also strongly encouraging restaurants to set a reasonable limit on Happy Meals sold per customer. We want to offer the full Happy Meal experience to as many families as possible, and help ensure everyone is able to get in on the fun!,” the statement said.

Card Frenzy In Countryside

Some counterfeit or replica cards have appeared on retail sites.

“For experienced collectors, it’s typically pretty easy for us to tell (a product) is counterfeit,” Flores said. “We have the experience to know what is real, but for new collectors, that’s a good way for them to lose out money if they don’t know what they’re looking for. If they are not familiar if they haven’t purchased enough actual cards yet and they are barely starting and it happens to be fake cards they wouldn’t be able to know the difference it’s kind of hard unless you have someone who is experienced to like go with you for that purchase but you’re typically aren’t buying anything too crazy when you first start.”

TCG Player is an online website that helps collectors and sellers estimate a market price for packs and individual cards, some of the cards can go from up to $2,400 and as low as 18 cents.

Rooslet referred to the Pokémon frenzy as a bubble. “That bubble might pop,” he said.

As pandemic cases drop, interest in Pokémon might drop as well. “That just means people are going to have less money for Pokémon.

“That sense of excitement that people are going to get is what is going to crash the (card) market,” Rooslet said.