OT Pokemon..Neopets and Yugio? Clueless parent

[mommyceratops]

I know this is OT....but I need help! I have been trying to avoid this....

My DS7 has been into Dinosaurs (and Disney) his friends at school seem to be into Pokepmon and Neopets. (I just did book orders and over half ordered Pokemon books )

My DS7 is ASD, so if this helps him carry on a conversation with a friend then it is worth it to help him find out about them.

What are they? DS7 went to Neopets.com with me today and I felt so dumb what is the point? What do they do?




Thanks for any input! I know the best parents are on this board and help me get a clue!

 

[barkley]

good luck in YOUR trying to understand it, however your son will likely develop an encyclopedic knowledge of it in a relativly short time.

my ds has been ADICTED to pokemon and yugioh for several years (he's 10) and as best as i've been able to understand-pokemon means 'pocket monsters' and they can be used for good or evil. different pokemon have different 'skills' and attributes, and in playing (with the cards) the player calls upon these to battle against their opponants. yugioh card dueling is much the same in that different cards can and can not be used in battling your oponants.

as far as the books go-there are allot of books for his age range that are short early reader books that are basicly like the cartoon shows, they tell a story of a particular event in one of the character's lives. there are other books-like guides that are references for what can do what to whom and offer strategies. then there are strategic books about whatever the current popular video game is-because there will be the game, then the associated release of the cards associated with that game.

i tried watching a couple of ds's videos-but they were too confusing for me, dd (13) was able to develop a basic understanding-but only dear old dad could realy understand it all in our house, so ds and he end up 'doing battle' on my dining room table (as i speak it is covered with cards and a dueling mat).

a couple of suggestions-for the movies, keep an eye open at garage sales. i've found that while kids and teens hold on to thier cards forever they tend to let moms sell off the videos and dvds. i've also found allot of the books at goodwill and garage sales (at least the story type ones).

unless you locate a source for bedding or clothing or posters don't indicate to your son that you'll get some, they can be very hard to come by (the cards are still very popular, but associated items are not always easy to come by). my ds wanted a yugioh themed room-i went to walmart, target...no luck. ended up on the internet with some bedding company who sold me their last comforter/sheet set in stock (and they said it was no longer available). posters often come in the crazy overpriced magazines. tshirts and such-since for some reason despite the continued craze with young boys the stores are'nt carrying them, i've found some used ones in good condition at goodwill.

as for the asd-interesting you mention this. at the last neurologists appt. ds went to, a boy noticed ds was playing with his gameboy advanced which was a special release at toys r us and looks like pikachu (one of the pokemon characters) and began chatting away with him. the mom and i chatted and she mentioned that her son was autistic-and that she was so happy when he got into pokemon, that it seemed to provide a universal basis of conversation for him to share with other kids-and that she had seen his social interaction soar based on him interacting more, and interacting successfully.

 

[atlnewf]

My DS8 and DD6 are into pokemon. They tried neopets and never really got into them. Neopets are imaginary friends with an online imaginary world. That's about as far as we got. My kids could never remember to go online and "feed" their neopets, so they keep "dying". They've since quit.
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Pokemon are pocket monsters, they originated in Japan. Trainers "catch" various pokemon and "train" them for battle. They have to take care of them as well. They better care they take with their pokemon, the better the pokemon perform in the battles. There are no battles to the death (either in the video game or in the cards). The trainer (your kids) has to know what abilities their pokemon have, which ones do best to battle against their opponent, etc etc. It's a good memory game as well as strategy.
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Yu-Gi-Oh is more card based. Even in the videos it's people battling with cards. The newer cartoons have virtual card games where the "monsters" on the cards battle in virtual reality. There are spells and traps as well as the monsters which can affect the outcome of the battle. The player has to build their deck to the best of their ability to be able to battle anyone that comes up. Each monster, spell, or trap, has an effect and a side-effect. They have to know what each one does before they can use it. Also a good strategy game. A bit more advanced than pokemon, though my DS8 seems to do ok with it.
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Hope that helps. I've played the pokemon games, they're kind of fun. As a substitute teacher it gives me an "in" with some of the kids.

Ashley

 

[design_mom]

My DS is in first grade and loves Pokemon. (We're planning a Pokemon b-day party for the end of the month). He got into them in Kindergarten and it seems like all the Kindergarten boys were crazy about Pokemon.

They are trading cards. There's a game associated with the cards but I read the rules and I *still* don't understand it. The boys like to "battle" but at 7, I don't think they really understand the game either (the instructions say "for 10 and up". I think that is because the rules are so complex.)

For the most part, at DS's school, the boys like to trade their cards. DS is always trading cards during "free time" and ask for play dates just to trade cards. (I've seen the same card be traded, then traded back, all in the same day.)

The cards are sold in a couple of ways. You can buy a "deck" which includes character cards, trainer cards and energy cards. (The decks have a lot of duplicates and energy cards in them. The energy cards are apparently very useful in the game, but aren't much fun to trade. The duplicates are also apparently useful in the game, but DS likes them because he can keep one and trade the others.) They are also sold in "booster packs" of 9 cards per pack. DS loves those because they usually have lots of characters in them.

Overall it seems to be a pretty harmless hobby... There's also a cartoon on the Cartoon Network called Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl which is pretty cute. Lots of battling (explosions, etc.), but the message is usually to try your best, do the right thing even if someone else doesn't, etc.

We encouraged the Pokemon thing because DS got a Pokemon Guide book at the school book fair and loved it. He really, really wanted to read it himself and we figured whatever encouraged reading was good!

Edited to add: When we first bought some Pokemon cards for DS, I was worried that you'd lose your cards if you lost the battle (like marbles), but that does not seem to be the case. Each kid keeps his/her cards, regardless of whether they win or lose. DS has made a few "bad trades" and lost cards (gave up 2 to get one), but otherwise he has the same number despite all the trading.

 

[bzzymom]

DS is 10 and recently got "into" Pokemon. Before that it was (and still is some) lego bionicles andd sonic the hedgehog. DS is different from the other boys in his class. I couldn't put my finger on it, but this summer I took him to a psycologist and he was diagnosed with anxiety disorder with OCD features. I really thought DS has HFA but the psychologist said that DS is too espressive and too intellegent to be HFA. The one thing I know is that he got into Pokemon because the boy he sits with during lunch likes them. It gives them something to talk about.

 

[Z.Black]

As for Neopets, as I haven't seen it mentioned... It's basically an online world where you get a 'pet' of some sort and you can do all sorts of things with them. There's an entire world for them to explore, with different countries. You have to feed your pets and you earn Neopoints (money) by playing games. You can win trophies from the games as well. You can also buy different items, or 'find' them and then open your own shop and re-sell them and make money that way. It's pretty much about making money, winning trophies, and playing the games. My sister and I were hooked for almost 3 years on it, and then we grew out of it. I was never into the 'card' games like Pokemon, though I did watch the show for a while.

 

[sherryrae]

Like some of the other posters, my DS (6) is also very much into Pokemon. I have never really understood what exactly the game is or how to play it but he loves to collect the cards and look at the books that explains all of them. I don't really think him and his friends know the correct way to play and they don't really care. They all make up their own rules. My son only has one game (Fire Red) for his Game Boy and has one friend that helps him collect everything. I can't believe how quickly he memorized all of the pokemon names!

 

[mommyceratops]

Thanks so much! I think it is my DS7 is into it because the kids at school, but he has driven me crazy all weekend on the computer.....he also printed 47 pages of the neopets store (2 times) before we got into a conversation that was not a good idea.

I am so confused! I collected Garbage Pale Kids all that was counting!