Home base for the whole stretch: the tables, the register, and the front door on Rainier. Photos: Drum Island Trading Co.
The next three weekends are some of the busiest on the Northwest card calendar, kicking off with Pokémon prereleases at the shop today and leading into back-to-back weekend card shows in Bellevue and Federal Way. A show floor is the one place where your want list and your sell binder both get a workout on the same afternoon. Here is the game plan for the whole stretch, whether it is your first event or your fiftieth.
October 24-27: Delta Reign prereleases at the shop
League night at the tables, where the Wednesday crew will be cracking Delta Reign all weekend. Photo: Drum Island Trading Co.
Before the show floors open next weekend, the Pokémon calendar has its own big kickoff starting today. Mega Evolution Delta Reign prereleases run October 24 through 27 at Play! Pokémon stores, and our Wednesday league crew will tell you a prerelease is the most fun way to meet a new set. Build and Battle Boxes come with one of four foil promos and four boosters, and the full set launches November 6. If you have never played a prerelease, this is the one: everybody learns the new cards at the same time, and nobody has a netdeck yet. Come crack packs with us before you go hunting singles at the shows.
Time: October 24-27 | Location: Drum Island Trading Co.
Saturday, October 31: the Halloween show at Meydenbauer
Next Saturday, Collectors Choice brings its SPOOK-TACULAR Halloween show to Bellevue, with more than 170 tables of sports cards and TCG. Doors open at noon for general admission, and VIP entry starts two hours earlier, which is when the best vintage tends to change hands. Halloween shows run on costume-party energy, and dealers bring out their fun stuff for a busy room, so next Saturday is the day to hunt. If you are selling, bring the binder too: a packed Saturday floor is where a well-priced stack of staples finds a new home fast. General admission is ten dollars, and kids twelve and under get in free. The twenty-dollar VIP ticket is for the early birds.
The case and the bulk wall at the shop. A well-priced sell binder finds a new home fast on a packed show floor. Photo: Drum Island Trading Co.
Time: 12:00-5:00 PM (VIP from 10:00 AM) | Location: Collectors Choice Halloween Card Show, Meydenbauer Center
November 7-8: Twin Oaks at Federal Way
The weekend after Halloween, Twin Oaks sets up at The Commons at Federal Way, and this is the friendliest first show in the region. The operation is family-run and has been putting on Northwest card shows for more than three decades, and admission is free, which makes it perfect for a casual browse with the kids. Sports cards, Pokémon, and everything in between share the floor. If the Bellevue show felt like the deep end, this is the shallow end, and there is just as much treasure in it.
Time: Saturday-Sunday, November 7-8 | Location: Twin Oaks Shows, The Commons at Federal Way
Plan the drive
Car runs the whole show calendar down on today's Trade Post, right after Bobby Milton tells him about the £1.56 million attic.
