Other Ways to Play the TCG Game at Home

Here is what you need to do and you don't have to have the complete collection to do this, though it's cooler the more cards you have. We like to randomize our cards so each game is fresh and you never know what you will get. To get these 3 games started, you will need a little preparation, but once this is done, you will be ready for every subsequent game.

Step 1. Organizing the Neopets themselves. Cut some flashcards into the size of a trading card so they will fit in top loaders themselves and be protected. For each Neopet species you have, take a flashcard. I will use Acara as an example. Write the numbers 1 through 6 on the left hand side of the card going down in order. These are your basic Neopets. Sort your Acaras and figure out the order of worst to best you would like to have in a game. I have written 1 = green, 2 = blue, 3 = white, 4 = yellow, 5 = red, 6 = orange. The right side of the cards corresponds to the experienced ones. In this case 1 = acrobat, 2 or 3 = hiker, 4 or 5 = nurse, 6 = treasure hunter. Our complete deck has 6 basic Acaras and 4 experienced Acaras. Make the numbers work for the number of cards you have. The end result will be you will determine the dice roll necessary to draw the appropriate basic or experienced. The higher the number, the better the card you get if you roll that number. Thus, do this for every species you own, make what order you want and what numbers you want. Thus, it's better the more cards you have as you will increase the chance of randomly getting different cards. Lutari does not give many choices as an Aisha does. Every Neopet card in your deck should be possible when you are finished. Write the name of the species on the top left and the faerie type on the top right. Use numbers 1 thru 12 (2 dice) if you happen to have more than 7 different cards of one species (there is at least one that’s possible). Thus, you now have cards for every Neopet species. Keep these separate from all other cards. They are not used in the game, only to draw your Neopets themselves before the game starts.

Step 2. Put all your other cards into divided stacks. We have a separate filed section for Neopet Species (alphabetized so you can find them), villains, heroes, food, potions, books, neggs, charms, weapons, armour, petpets, locations, constellations (we normally don’t play with these), curses/quests, events, plushies, miscellaneous orange items, and paint brushes. There should be no blue cards mixed with orange cards. Our blues are thus separated into 3 stacks. The oranges have a number of stacks. You could just leave all the oranges in one stack if you like and all the blues in another. These are flexible rules. We have chosen the stacks we do to guarantee a good mix of cards in the games. You are now done with the pre-work!

Starting the game. Each player will choose randomly 6 Neopet species by drawing from the flash cards (or 4, whatever you want). Once you have your cards, it's time to roll the dice. One die is for the basic neopet, one die is for the experienced. A white die for the basic and a red die for the experienced works great and causes less confusion. Thus, with a white 2 and a red 6 I will have a blue Acara basic and an experienced treasure seeker Acara. Do this for all 6 species. Once the dice rolls are done, you now will have 12 cards randomly chosen for you out of your Neopets stack. You could have gotten an awesome Jubjub or a wimpy Lupe. It's random. Don't worry; even if you don’t have the best Neopets, you might get good equipment randomly.

Then randomly choose your other cards from the pre-divided stacks. We have chosen the following number of cards for each section; however, make your own rules on the cards you like. We draw 4 heroes, 3 villains, 4 foods, 2 potions, 2 charms, 3 miscellaneous items, 2 books, 2 curses, 1 quest, 4 locations, 5 events, 1 paint brush, 1 plushie, 1 constellation, 3 weapons, 3 armours, 4 petpets, and 2 neggs. Shuffle all non-basic Neopet cards together. Voila! Your deck is ready, now you can just play the game.

This is a great way to get random cards. You never know what you get. True, you might have a tough time making every card work with the Neopets you have out, but your opponent has the same problem. All other Neopet game rules still apply; these rules just help you choose the Neopets and cards to play with. When you are done with the game, put your cards back into the appropriate order so you are ready the next time.

We have a number of variations. Number 1 is what you just saw. I prefer to make it so you have one of every faerie type. You would keep randomly drawing flash cards until you have one of each faerie type. That way every card in your deck could be played, should you want to get that Neopet out of your stack.

Variation number 2 is faerie type themed. This is why you wrote the faerie type on the cards. Choose fire against light or fire and light against dark and earth. Draw your species randomly within the faerie type themes. Draw cards that only your Neopets could use. Thus, if you are just playing with light themed Neopets, then an earth hero would not be taken.

Version number 3 is reverse Neopets. You want to lose! Play your cards on your opponents if it will help them beat you. If you have a weapon, put it on your opponents. Yes, that’s right. Put your fire noil on your opponent. Experienced Neopets must be played unless you already have all Experienced Neopets out. Your goal is to lose, remember; you want your opponent to bank. Curse yourself so it's easier for you to lose! The rules are complicated in practice sometimes, but you get the idea. The rules for this game can be posted in a follow up story, but the idea is that you have to play your Neopets themselves in the best situations for them to win, but obviously you don't want them to.

When you are done with any of these games, just put your cards back in the appropriate stacks. Top loader boxes with dividers for each section work awesome. Not only will your cards be protected, it's nice to be able to see all the heroes at once for example. You've never viewed your collection this way, I bet.

That’s it; have fun playing. It takes a while to get used to, but we have way more fun playing this way than the traditional way. This way, you get to actually use 100% of your collection. In the power deck strategy, you might only see 25% of it, what you consider the best.

If you have any questions on these games, drop me a neomail; my username is katieroseneo.