Trading cards in the spotlight

Pokémon and Magic heading to Portland Library Trading card games have been a popular pastime for many years, and they’re about to find a new lease of life at the Portland Library.

The library will be the venue for four special trading card game sessions over the next few months, held in association with the Portland Trading Card Game Community.

It will be an opportunity for the community to learn to play Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering and discover new community members to play with.

Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering have been around for more than 20 years. As the games have now become intergenerational, the Portland events will be for all ages.

The first event will be on Saturday, 22 February with others to follow in March, April and May at this stage. The last of these sessions will be a friendly tournament.

At these sessions you’ll learn how to play Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering, meet new people to play and trade with, and you can bring your own cards or learn with supplied ones.

Jacob West started the Portland TCG Community to organise events in the hope of providing a space for the communities to come together.

“One of the most successful community building strategies is to regularly have organised playing days,” he said.

“This gives people the opportunity to meet and play with other community members that they might not have encountered otherwise by just buying cards from the shop and playing with friends.

“We collaborated with Glenelg Libraries to widen our scope of influence and utilise their spaces in the hope of stimulating interest in TCGs and getting a sense for who is in the community in Portland.

“We have also started a Facebook group to highlight local TCG events, co-ordinate travel, and provide a central hub for the community to organise their own events.

“We’d love to see some new faces to the games and are looking forward to growing our community of players.”

For more information on the Portland Trading Card Game Community visit the Facebook page or email [email protected].

Details

Portland Library Saturday, 22 February, 10am-noon Monday, 24 March, 3.45pm-4.45pm Monday, 14 April, 2pm-3.30pm (during school holidays) Saturday, 31 May, 10am-1pm (tournament).

FREE events, no bookings are required and all ages are welcome but parent/guardian supervision is required for children under 12.