Nintendo Revolutionizes Trading Cards

In the past, if you wanted to add functionality to your trading cards, you could stick them in the spokes of your bicycle to get a great tick-tick-tick sound as you rode. Now Nintendo is giving card traders something more high tech to do with their acquisitions. The new e-Reader turns paper trading cards into electronic games for the Game Boy Advance.

Like swiping a credit card, sliding a special card through the e-Reader allows the encoded contents to download to the Game Boy Advance unit. The cards also enhance game play on Nintendo GameCube.

The e-Reader, with a suggested retail price of $39.95, includes a set of cards with one classic NES game, either Donkey Kong Jr.-e or Pinball-e, and a sample pack of five e-Reader cards. The sample pack includes the Manhole-e Game&Watch game, one Animal Crossing-e card, which connects to the Nintendo GameCube, and three cards from the Pokémon-e: Expedition series. Additional e-Reader card packs will retail from $1.95 to $4.95.