THE POKEMON CRAZE; IN THE CARDS: KIDS LOVE POCKET MONSTERS

Josh Wright had to give up a lot of choice finds for a Charizard, but he was lucky enough to find Alakazam in a booster pack. He might be talked into handing over his Nidoking if the trade was right, but he'd practically give away his Weedle. Josh, 13, was talking the language of Pokemon card traders at the Broadway Burger King Tuesday night, where kids were wheeling and dealing for these postcard size cards, an activity that is sweeping through Southeast Missouri and the nation.

Pokemon began as a Nintendo Game Boy game with an associated cartoon and various spin-off items that turned the pocket monsters (the English translation of the Japanese Pokemon) into action figures, book heroes and a card game. It's that card game, or rather just the cards in the game which can be traded, that are now soaring in popularity."There are 150 Pokemon characters, and everyone wants all of them," said Joni Seyer, a manager at Toys R Us, in explaining why the cards are so popular."You trade the ones you have to get better ones," said Noah Butler, 9, who was also spending Tuesday evening at Burger King, which is giving away Pokemon toys and cards in its Kids Meals and sponsoring trading nights on Tuesdays during the promotion at area locations."This is by far the most popular promotion we've had since I can remember," said Mary Schwieger, Burger King district manager. "Kids are really into Pokemon." "It goes along the lines of baseball cards in that it's fun to see what you can get," Seyer said. In fact, it's so much fun it has become a compulsion for some, driving up sales and causing shortages, Seyer said. Toys R Us limits the number of card packs individuals can buy to combat hoarding.

She said Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes the cards, has been overwhelmed by the demand and can't ship fast enough the decks that retail for around $10 for a theme deck, $4 for a starter pack.

The cards are most popular among elementary, middle-school and junior-high students, say those who sell the cards. The cards can be used in a game. In fact, Toys R Us recently began a Pokemon card game league on Saturday mornings and had to add play on Friday nights to accommodate all those who wanted to play.

But the majority of those who buy the cards just want to collect and trade them, said Chris Taylor, manager of Front Row Cards, which sells the cards in packs and singles.

This isn't an item being driven by adult collectors like Beanie Babies, said Bill Foster, manager of Broadway Sportscards and Collectibles. "It's kids trading and having a good time."Friends Gregory Jackson and Kyle Bader were looking for trades at Burger King Tuesday night, and they trade at the homes of friends. The two 8-year-olds don't trade at school anymore because Alma Schrader School, where they are both students, has banned Pokemon cards."At the beginning of school I said it was OK as long as it didn't interfere with the educational process," said Frank Ellis, principal at Alma Schrader. But a few missing cards and some arguments over trades that spilled from the playground into the classroom convinced Ellis that the cards should go the way of such past disrupters like yo-yos and virtual pets.

Stan Seiler, principal at Jackson's West Lane Elementary, had the same experience. "When the cards started distracting from the school environment, it was time to put a stop to them," he said.

Seiler and Ellis both decided on a policy of confiscating any Pokemon cards found at their schools and keeping them until the end of the school year."I've told the students that any cards I find are mine," Ellis said.

Depending on what those cards are, he could be sitting on a gold mine. Taylor said some of the individual cards at Front Row Cards have a $50 to $60 price tag.

The card manufacturers made a lot of some cards like Weedles, but very few of others like Charizard. The rarer the card, the more it is worth.

To help kids tell the difference, the cards are marked with stars (very rare), diamonds (somewhat rare) and circles (common), said Jackson. Some cards are holographic, and that increases the value. And some are trimmed in gold, which increases the value even more. The chance of getting a rare card has meant big turnouts at giveaways involving Pokemon.

When the movie "Pokemon: The First Movie" opened Wednesday at Cape West 14 Cine, the theater had 1,000 cards to give away. They were gone by Thursday afternoon, said general manager Kevin Dillon."As soon as the movie was over, you'd see the kids in the lobby already trading their cards," Dillon saidThe film, which was No. 1 at the box office last weekend, owes part of its popularity to the popular Pokemon cards but is also helping increase the popularity of the cards.

Noah Butler said he'd seen the cards before but didn't start collecting them until after he saw the film.

Taylor said as soon as the movie hit the screen last Wednesday people began calling his Front Row Cards about Pokemon cards.