At Gen Con Indy, ICv2 talked with Branden Pelok, COO of PKXL Cards Inc. about his company’s real world and online PK Cards Trading Card Game. PK Cards is a fantasy-themed TCG that plays very differently from traditional entries in the field and has a strong online component that includes the possibility of winning some huge prizes.

 

At the heart of PK’s gameplay is a trick-taking system, owing more to hearts or spades than to Magic. Each player has an avatar to represent himself and plays troops to engage the other players in a series of sorties, comparing their troops’ attack values, defense values, and suits. Players can boost their troops with other card types or abilities on their avatars. After seven sorties, the player with the most victories scores one prestige point, or more if he has won a greater number of sorties. The first player to seven prestige points wins the game.

 

Included in every PK Cards product is a Gold Key card with a unique 18-digit code. Players can enter that code on the PK Cards web site and receive a random number of Gold Points to redeem for prizes or to “buy” cards for the online version of the game. “There’s an indirect relationship between the game as it’s played physically and the game as it’s played online,” said Pelok. “You may not end up with the same cards. You can use the online environment to try different things and try to get different cards.” Very rare Gold Key cards can be redeemed for grandiose “instant win” prizes, such as a car or a house.

 

There are four varieties of PK Cards core decks for the game’s first release, The Broken Seal, each containing a pre-constructed 75-card deck, five random cards, rules, and a Gold Key card for $19.99. Booster packs contain 10 cards: 7 common, 2 uncommon, and either a rare (2/3 chance), foil (1/6) or exotic rare (1/6), with an MSRP of $4.99. The company plans to release a 366-card set every year, though the next release will be broken up into three individual sets.

 

Originally released in October 2008, Pelok is pleased with the response to PK Cards. “Pretty much everywhere that we’ve gone, we’ve had immediately high response and an immediate return for more product,” he told ICv2. “The people that we’re seeing are both interested in the game – they like the way it looks and the way it feels and the Gold Points – and then they like the game, and they want to keep coming back.” Limited quantities are available at some Toys ‘r’ Us locations, though PKXL offers prize support to any hobby retailer who requests it. A national ranking system is also in the works.