Transcription
[Music] Hi, my name is Pumpka Amy. If you don't know me, I go to a lot of Pokémon Trading Card Game events. So, if you're about to go to your first Regional or International Event, then let's pack our bag together so that you have absolutely everything you're going to need for that event and more. Okay, let's get started.
First off, you're going to need a big backpack. I use this one; it's a travel backpack, and honestly, it's just got loads of pockets. It opens really nice and wide from the top, and it would be difficult for anyone to steal anything off of me without me knowing. Now, I know that we always want to think the best of everyone, but unfortunately, the reality of it is that you have a lot of expensive cardboard on you, and if someone was wanting to get to your bag, you want to make it as difficult as possible for them. There are also some brands that do theft-proof bags specifically for TCGs, if willing to spend the money. I wasn't; I got this from a charity shop. Then, those are a fantastic option too.
Now, the first thing I'm going to do—I have my bag completely empty aside from the front pocket, cuz I didn't want to unpack this—so I'm going to show you what I keep in the front pocket of my bag. So, in the very front, I have a pocket for pens. Having pens to sign match slips or write cute notes for friends is essential. I always keep multiple pens so that I can give them out to friends if they forgot one, but it's frustrating to have to ask for a judge every single round just to sign your match slip. So, I'd recommend taking lots of pens in an easy-to-reach place, which is why they go in the front pocket for me. I also use this as a little makeup stash, and I keep gum. Gum is incredibly important; uh, it's a long day, and you may, uh, fall prey to some bad breath situations or need to politely offer it to somebody else. Please make sure you take some gum—again, easily accessible pocket. So, I also keep stickers in my front pocket, just for anyone that I meet who I may want to give a cute sticker to.
Next, obvious Trading Card Game essentials: your deck box with your deck inside, readily freshly sleeved. Now, this would be a bit of a faux pas in the Trading Card Game world. Ideally, I would want this second one completely empty or full of spare sleeves. That's what I typically do; is I have one deck and one batch of spare sleeves. Speaking of sleeves, after we put those in the bag, there we go. I take a minimum, minimum of two sets of sleeves; that is one to play the main tournament in and one for day two, minimum. And that is if you reach day two; if you don't, that's perfectly fine. But I will take two sets of sealed sleeves. Now, I tend to bring a third as a backup for friends, but also in case there is any sort of printing error in your sleeves, or just you do just have a bit of a bad shuffling day, you ruin a set by accident, and you need extras. I just feel like it's always best to have them as easily obtainable as possible. You don't want to fail a deck check; you need to make sure that your sleeves—it's your responsibility to make sure that your sleeves are in good condition throughout the tournament—and so I always take backups. I very rarely need them, and they are going to be useful for future tournaments, so there's no harm in grabbing some extras. We are sponsored by Dragon Shield, so if you'd like to support my content and what I'm doing here, then please use our affiliate link in the description. It is so helpful and again, really helps the channel to progress.
So, after, after we've packed those, they're in the bag now. Don't forget your playmat. Now, I usually put mine in a playmat tube, and my playmat tube fits in multiple places in my bag. I either can put it in this pocket here, and I'll attach the top of the playmat tube to this carabina so that, again, if anyone were just like to pass by and try and take it, they wouldn't be able to as easily because this is next to my back; or my playmat tube actually fits in this bag perfectly well because of the style of top opening it's got; it can fit all the way in. So, this again is a traveling backpack, and that's really helpful, I find. So, don't forget to pack your playmat. I usually put it in a tube because, again, this is just a much more safe way of your keeping your investment nice and clean and tidy.
After that, we need to think about our dice. You're going to need dice and tokens for the entire tournament. Now, it's also incredibly important that you have your burn counter, your damage counter, and a V-star token. Your V-star token can be anything; it can be handmade, it can be a piece of paper with V written on it, but it's so important, and if the rules change in the future and we have GX or EX powers or anything like that, whatever that token is to display that you've used that one-of ability or move, you need to make sure that you have it. It's your responsibility. Never discount the fact that burn and poison could be there in the tournament being represented as well. Make sure you have them; you can get penalties for not having the right equipment with you. It's very important. Also, I currently have this incredibly heavy dice bag, and I don't want to be carrying it around all day. So, what I tend to do is instead get a new one, and I just got a new one from Pokémon Center Japan, which is super, super cute, rather than my homemade Vaporeon one. So, I usually grab my new dice bag and I go ahead and fill it with just around about the right amount of tokens that I need, a couple of coin flip dice. Again, I always keep a pen in my dice bag as well—I'm so bad at the pens—um, and then just enough damage counters to do me for the day. I tend to take spares for friends, um, if I need to, but I'll take the light plastic ones, whereas the others that I prefer to use are the metal ones, cuz they're shiny and I'm a magpie. So, I'll go ahead and put my new dice bag in my backpack as well.
Again, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but deodorant and smelly substances—sometimes we need a top-up. Those halls can get incredibly hot, and again, if you need to politely offer some to somebody else or ask if they'd like to use some of yours, please just be willing to share with everyone if you can, because it just makes everyone, everyone's experience better. So, I always make sure that I bring one for myself and one that I can offer to others.
Next up, don't forget your charges. Make sure you have a charger bank, fully charged. You never know how much you might need to use your phone or how much it might take a toll on your charge to be getting your pairings all day long. So, make sure you have charges and a charger bank that's fully charged because you may have nowhere to charge your phone throughout the day. Also, if I finish my round super early, I like to play on my iPad. So, I'm an iPad kid; leave me alone. Uh, I also take a face mask. I know this might be controversial, but personally, I'm chronically ill, and I need to make sure that I am being, uh, courteous to my own health but also others. So, if I feel like I'm not doing very well or if I feel like I'm going to either catch a cold or spread a cold, I know to pop this on, and I feel a lot better for it. So, that's my personal opinion; it's totally fine if you don't want to do that. I pack one as a just-in-case.
Also, don't forget your money. Now, I'm hoping you're not going to use this—this guide is specifically tailored to making sure that you're prepared for your Regional; you don't end up spending extra money on things you don't need—so we're going to pack the purse, but I'm going to hope we're not going to need it, unless there's a Pokémon Center, in which case we're done. And I always pack a friend for the table. I'm going to take a Sleepyrat this time, so he's going to be with me; he always goes in the top of the bag so I can get him out with my deck box at the beginning of a game.
Now, this is the most important segment; I'm going to talk about this entire video, so listen up: snacks. Snacks, snacks are the most important thing you're going to need. Now, this is how to do it on the cheap; this is how to make sure that you're not breaking your bank. You need to take—now listen to me, listen to me—you need to take about a day's worth of food. So, if you, for example, do not get a moment to leave that Convention Center for a second, if you are playing absolutely every single round and potentially some overtime, you need to make sure that you are fueled. Sometimes there is no lunch break; sometimes you will need to snack. Now, some convention centers may not allow food in; personally, I've never yet experienced this, and I've been to many Regional and International events. But if you do need to step outside for two seconds, it's still going to be more time-efficient to get something out of your bag than have to struggle to find a food vendor who is going to charge you a lot of money, and the food is not going to be that good nor filling. So, take snacks; take practical snacks, things that you are going to be able to throw away with ease, that can be your rubbish, can be stored in your bag if need be and not be smelly, or take a bag to put them in. Make sure that you are keeping well-stocked with sweet foods, savory foods, and of course, a refillable water bottle. Uh, this is my absolute savior at events; I swear by them. Please, I beg of you, take plenty of liquids for the day. You can usually get these refilled at the venue in some way, or it's still going to be cheaper to try and sustain yourself on what you have with you. I usually take this and then maybe one kind of fancier drink, like some iced tea or something, but I usually take water plus and then like an energy drink. Awesome; Advanced GG is what is my energy drink of choice. I'll take some powder with me, and then we're good. But please, I beg, if you take a day's worth of snacks, if you have children, make sure you have enough for all of them as well. And, uh, also take a change of clothes if you have children if you're taking them to Regionals. Now, I know we never like to think that our kids would have an accident, but it's a very exciting day; toilet breaks can be far and few between, and you never know; it could be as simple as they've spilled food down themselves and really don't want to play the rest of the tournament with that down their shirt. Please, I beg, if you take a discrete change of clothes, underwear and all, for your kids. Honestly, I've been in a situation where I've dropped water all down myself, and I needed a spare top. I luckily had one in my bag, so I even do it for myself, just in case. I just take a small vest top—super discreet, super easy—but again, very, very discreet and nice.
Uh, the other thing I'd recommend taking is a small binder if you're going to take one at all with your trades and your essentials in. Now, I never ever like to encourage people to change last minute; however, I bought this binder specifically for my next event because I wanted to take a small binder of trades and also some essentials in case I do make some silly decisions and change my deck last minute. I don't want to be lugging around a gigantic binder with all of my usual trades; I'm going across the world potentially for an event; I want something discreet and small and easy to fit in my bag which isn't going to hinder my back or my day. So, I'm taking a small binder, and I'm filling it with specifically things I'd really like to trade or some essential trader items or anything else other people might need; stadiums—anything I think that, oh man, I bet someone's going to ask me for an Arven—it goes in the binder just to make sure that I'm covering my own back as well as potentially helping my friends.
The next thing that I personally bring are fidget toys. Now, I bought this giant bag of fidget toys because I get very anxious during my games, and I like to be able to squish them. So, I have this little shark friend who I'd be able to, to just, just hold and squish if I need to, and I bought this big bag because I wanted to be able to give them to friends as well. So, during the last event I went to, if anyone was anxious, I offered them a little squidy friend; nobody said no; everyone wanted a little squidy friend. So, those really helped. I personally always take a few of those with me. Again, I know that's like an obscure one, but personally, that is how I do.
Now, the next thing is I always take a notebook. I always take a notebook which has pages which you can rip out. Now, if I do decide to take notes in any of my games, I have my plethora of pens in the front of my bag, but I also have pages to rip out. Whenever I start a new game, I rip out the previous page, leave it in my bag. Cuz you must have a blank notepad for the beginning of your game. So, I always take a notepad, and I always make sure it has easily removable pages. Easily. If you have long hair or bangs that could get in the way, take a hair tie and hair clips, or maybe just pack some anyway to help out your friends. The amount of times you get a little bit stressed and think, oh my hair is just driving me mad, you can at least pin it back, and you have that sanctuary of having all your hair out of your face. Tissues and medication are essential; you don't want to have to be running to the bathroom mid-round cuz you've sneezed and it was accidentally a bit bigger than you expected. Some painkillers if you're susceptible to headaches, especially with the lights, and personally, I am chronically ill; I need to have my FIP pens and other important medication. I make sure I keep them in a very noticeable, um, pencil case, uh, my big Pikachu one here, just to make sure that if anyone else needs to retrieve them for me from my bag, it is super easy to communicate where that is.
Make sure that you've submitted your deck list plenty in advance. Personally, I would recommend having it done at least the night before. You never know when oversleeping or an accidental time change, uh, disaster could end up resulting in something really bad. I would recommend having at least some things submitted before you go to sleep the night, the day before the tournament, having your deck sleeved and ready to go. So, if you do wake up late, you can just jump out of bed and get to the convention center.
Now, I'm going to cover a little bit—I'm just going to cheat to you guys about safety at events. Please make sure that you are keeping yourself well hydrated and watered. Never forget, you can call a judge if you need a bathroom break halfway through your game; you can't just leave your table, but you may just politely ask for a judge, and they will help you out and give you a time extension which is necessary for your game. Um, please make sure that you're keeping all of your personal items with you and keep an eye on them. Now, I've got a really large piece of advice about the goodie bag that you get when you go to these events. Now, quite often they'll have a deck box in. Please, I beg you, don't put your deck in the brand-new deck box from the goodie bag that you have received from the event. I've had friends have their decks stolen at events. Now, of course, this is tragic and genuinely upsetting; however, it made it easier for the thieves to do so because their deck box looked like everybody else's; that could have been anyone's deck box. If someone's walking away with that deck box, you wouldn't think anything of it, cuz everybody at the event has one. Make sure that you try and take something at least vaguely unique-looking or recognizable from a distance so that you're able to go, that's my deck box. And even if it's somebody with a similar one or the same one, well, the chances are at least lowered. So, please make sure that you're keeping an eye on your belongings, but also making sure that you can, you know, associate your belongings from somebody else's in some way.
Lastly, I'll leave you with this: please make sure that you're wearing appropriate clothing; you have layers so you can warm up or cool down if you need to. Please make sure that you're being polite and courteous to everyone, even though it's a really loud place. If you have anxiety, don't forget that you can just take a few minutes to yourselves; if you need to go and ask everyone to leave you alone for two seconds, please do so. It's so important that we take a breath and get through the event together so everyone can have as much fun as possible. And if you're worried about the event being too noisy, generally I'd say yes, they are very noisy, but something like Loop earplugs or just regular earplugs can be really helpful. You can't wear them during your games, but there's no reason that you can't calm yourself down between games with a glass of water and a bit of calm. Also, headphones and any chargers you may need for those—again, similar thing—just make sure that you're taking your time and remembering everything you need to make the experience just as comfortable as humanly possible for yourself. Thank you so much everybody for watching; I really hope that was helpful. Thank you for packing your bag with me; I hope that you've got everything you need, and if for any reason you don't, please let me know in the comments so that we can either make a revised video or add some stuff on because it's always helpful to know what other people use to make their experience even brighter. I hope you all have fun at your events and very good luck.