I'm a Pokemon card collector living in the USA. I love all kinds of Pokemon cards, from the very first Jungle expansion cards I got as a kid back in 1999 to the newest expansions made today.
Sometime last year, in mid 2016, I discovered a unique card set being made in the South American country of Peru. This card set had a visually stunning aesthetic of showing the full body of the Pokemon on the entire card -- a concept barely seen here in the United States since the Topps cards of the 2000's. Topps cards weren't as valuable or playable as the regular Pokemon TCG, but collectors loved them still for the unique art. Occasionally showing the Pokemon in different poses than the usual Ken Sugimori drawings, Topps cards were unlike other cardsets. Sadly, Pokemon lost popularity in the States and Topps didn't make many cardsets after that.
These are what Topps cards looked like in 1999:
So, you can imagine, when I first saw 3Reyes Pokemon cards, I was transported immediately to the days of collecting Topps cards.
3Reyes Pokemon Cards
As you can see, the visuals are stunning on the 3Reyes cards, bright and colorful, and with unique art (note the Gumshoos and Umbreon) unseen on Pokemon cards today. This cardset and it's expansions fascinated me, and so I started out the journey of researching the cards online, to find out where I could buy them to add to my collection. Not an easy task. I found the writing written on the wrapper listing an official website for the cards, which turned out to be a facebook page. This page was awesome, and all in Spanish, but it had photos of all the cards and most importantly: CHECKLISTS.
3Reyes is nothing if not prolific. To date, (October 2017) there are 1,837 different 3 Reyes cards. If you count some error cards (Dartix/Vikavolt, Venusaur/Mega Venusaur) that might put it up to 1,840.
These hundreds of cards span 5 expansion sets, which have roughly over 300 cards in each set.
Daunting, even for the most hardcore Peruvian. Almost impossible if you are an American collector!! So, I set out with my trusty Google translate button and decided to find people willing to send me 3Reyes cards in trade. Easier said than done. Most people on the trading groups on Facebook ignored me. But one young man took pity on me, and knowing some English, helped me get my first cards from Volumen 1. Then a girl offered to send me cards if I paid through Western Union her cost for the cards and shipping. Then a very kind man offered to buy 3Reyes if I bought him American Pokemon cards, and we swapped, which I did.
Thanks to the kindness of these 3 awesome Peruvian Pokemon collectors, I have built a medium sized 3Reyes collection of my very own. I posted pictures of my cards on social media and my friends loved them. Soon, 3Reyes cards were popping up on Ebay, and I was buying them. So were my friends in Canada and other countries! The art and simple beauty of 3Reyes cards was so nostalgic and riveting, we simply had to have them.
Imagine if TPCI or Topps had resurrected the style. They would have sold very well, I believe, if adults like me with a small amount of disposable income had seen them, and if kids could be introduced to them. But those companies never did, so thank goodness 3Reyes dreamed up it's own wonderful alternative. I love these cards, bootleg or not, fake or not, unofficial or not, these are great examples of one countries' way of giving the people what they want -- beautiful Pokemon at a great price, and so unique. Basically, free promotion for Pokemon as a whole product and mindset as well.
I hope you will enjoy my blog and the beauty of the cards as much as I do, they are really gorgeous to look at and great compliments in any binder. I hope to complete the entire set someday!
If you want to write to me or send me 3Reyes cards (I'll send back US pokemon cards to your address!) you can reach me here:
Chica
PO BOX 1006
Simi Valley, California
93062-1006
USA
Many thanks for your time in reading my blog. I hope it can be of use to people looking to discover more about this wonderful collection.
Viva Peru y Tres Reyes!
-- Chica
