"Gotta catch 'em all!" That's what kids across the U.S. are saying. They've fallen under the spell of 150 cute little monsters that make up the world of Pokémon, Japanese for "pocket monsters." Pokémon mania first hit in 1996 in Japan, where the Game Boy games, toys, cartoon and videos began. There, Pokémon stuff has earned more than $4 billion for Nintendo.
Last fall, Pokémon invaded the U.S. Faster than you could say "Pikachu," toy stores ran out of the game, and the cartoon became the most popular kids' show on TV. "Grownups who watch don't really get it," admits Donna Friedman of Kids WB, which airs the show. "It's a world only kids seem to understand."
Now, Pokémania has spread to trading cards. Since January about 850,000 starter sets of cards have been sold. A set costs about $9. Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes them, has cleverly limited the availability of a few of the 102 cards. Kids are paying as much as $50 for these rare cards! "We didn't know how quickly it would take off," says Wizards' Paul Verner. "It came out, and wham!"
The cards are causing conflicts at some schools. "Kids get upset because they didn't make the right trade," says Randy Fortenberry, principal at Endeavour Elementary in Issaquah, Washington. Older traders take advantage of younger ones. At Kevin Wolski's school in Pelham, New York, Pokémon cards are banned. "The principal said he'd better not catch us trading," says Kevin, 7.