What do you do when you can't afford the latest must-have toy? You improvise. That is, if you're the brothers whose homemade Pokémon cards will blow your mind.



“When I was little, my brother and I loved card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, but we were too poor to buy them,” wrote user ‘one23abc’ on Reddit. “So we made our own card game.”



Even though this was a decade ago, Pokémon is still going strong with collectors and traders.



The cards themselves are incredible: highly detailed pictures and text featuring the names of imaginary creatures, like Cheese Boi, Bullengore the Minotaur and Dyson.



By the creator's estimation, he was around 10 years-old when he and his 12 year-old brother made the series of cards. And he admits that at least "half the fun" was the painstaking process of drawing and colouring each small card.



What a treasure! What a keepsake!



In my day, my cousin and I delighted in a similar project: a catalogue of fashions we designed. I remember a whole spring/summer spent creating, then circulating, J&J Fashions to family members, whom we badgered into placing fictitious orders for our wares. I still think fondly of collective entrepreneurial spirit, and how our poor relatives humoured us with their mock orders...



I encourage similar creativity in my son, and was super excited one day when he took to drafting and illustrating extra chapters to one of his favourite books.



Still, I fear that with all the apps and ready-made toys at their fingertips — not to mention with so many structured activities - today's kids may be less enterprising and resourceful than those of generations past.



These cards are an important reminder of just how talented kids can be when we give them the time and the freedom to create.



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