Cecilily discusses the financialisation of Pokemon cards as an investment vehicle.
It’s one thing that makes me pause in teaching my niece how to play, I don’t want her to get caught up in the abstraction of the cards as anything other than pieces of cardboard with funny pictures of animals
Take the kid to local events, check the pokemon website and go to event locator. They are usually well labeled so avoid a “challenge” or a “cup” but i can almost guarantee* if someone’s opening packs at the store your kid will get some bulk for free.
*i give my bulk to kids and i see it happen, hopefully your area is similar
For casual play and deckbuilding the prerelase kits are usually for sale from older sets. Some are overpriced but if you find a reasonable couple boxes they contain one of a few different 40 card premade decks and 4 booster packs. For prerelease you get to swap any cards from the packs into the deck and play a tournament so they’re meant to be playable and simple since they’re intended to be the first look at a new set.
If you lived near me I’d just drop a box of cards on your head and thank you for taking them off my hands tbh
We’ve scoped out a local all ages league, and see how things go