Getting Started: Collectible Card Games

Today we're finishing out the Big Three of tabletop gaming, as well as my "Getting Started" series, at least for a while. Collectible Card Games(CCGs) are the most accessible of the tabletop trifecta and probably the most widespread as well, due to many CCGs being marketed to a much younger demographic than either RPGs or war games.
CCGs are the easiest of these three to start playing. CCG publishers box eveything you need to play into one package, from cards to rules to life counters to limited edition game starting coins. They want any semi-literate person with the ability to understand the bare minimum of rules to start playing their games. Most even have special little flash games on their websites that walk you through an example of play.
CCGs also have the widest distribution channels. You might find a few RPG core books at larger book stores, but in order to find most of the supplements you'll need to hit a gaming shop. There was a time when you could find blind boxed style miniature games at most toy stores, but that's pretty rare these days. Games Workshop won't even return your calls if you aren't a dedicated purveyor of games. Not so with CCGs. You can still regularly find the latest expansion of Yu-Gi-Oh! at your local Wal-Mart.
CCGs are distributed similarly to the blind boxed war games. By that I mean blind boxed war games stole their marketing structure from CCGs. A starter box gives you a deck, rulebook, and at least basic versions of any other equipment you need to play the game. The cards provided won't stand up very well in competitive level of play, however. For that you're going to need booster packs. Lots of booster packs.
Buying booster packs is like buying scratch off lotto tickets for gamers. They only cost a few dollars each, and the potential rewards are astronomical.
I got my start back in the early days of this style of game with the Decipher Star Wars CCG. After that it was Pokemon, right at the beggining of that fad, before picking up Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic:The Gathering almost simultaneously. In between there were various shortlived tenures with everything from Battletech to MagiNation. All told I probably own several hundred thousand individual cards. I quit playing CCGs completely before I graduated high school, and I've considered myself a recovered addict ever since. I won't even watch people play for fear of getting sucked into something I no longer have the time for. If it's your thing, though, have fun with it. If you've got kids and a sizable disposable income, it's a great way to bond with them. The rules are simple enough for adolescents to understand, but most of them are complex enough to keep you entertained. Good luck, happy hunting, and I'll see you in 48.