Pokemon Daisuki Club

Article tags: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, Japan, Organized Play

Established in late January 2004, the Pokemon Daisuki Club was a Japanese Pokemon fan club that encompassed the video games, anime, TCG, and all aspects of the Pokemon franchise. For many years, it existed alongside the Pokemon Card Game Players (PCGP) Club, which was a membership club specifically for players of the Pokemon TCG established in 2003.

The Pokemon Daisuki Club still persists to this day, though it no long distributes exclusive promo cards.

Membership

Registration for the Pokemon Daisuki Club was done online, and had an annual fee. Prior to 2008, players could also register via physical mail.

*Web capture of the registration page from 2008*

Club members would receive a membership card in the mail after registering, which contained their member number used for events.

*Front of a 2008 Daisuki Club membership card*

*Back of the card with the membership number*

Prior to 2008, Daisuki club membership cards could be registered and earned through different means. They could also be upgraded by participating in various activities, such as those in the Shogakukan magazines.

*Initial, Blue version, and completed membership cards*

*Reverse of the 3 Daisuki club membership cards*

Unlike these older cards, the 2008 and onward membership cards would not upgrade themselves, but players would be able to earn ranks via the Action Point (AP) system.

Upon registration in mid-2008, Daisuki Club members would receive a cardboard pamphlet with a sealed back of 3 promo cards. These 3 cards were the Magnezone, Dusknoir, and Pikachu given out in the cancelled Battle Road 2008 Spring tournaments.

Magnezone (093/DP-P Japanese Promo)

Dusknoir (094/DP-P Japanese Promo)

Pikachu (095/DP-P Japanese Promo)

*Inside of the pamphlet with the sealed pack*

Pokemon Card Game First Classroom 2005

In the summer of 2005, the Pokemon Daisuki Club launched a series of online quizzes via the Daisuki Club’s website, known as the “Pokemon Card Game First Classroom”. There were 8 quizzes in total, and they were about rules, battle strategy, and deckbuilding.

*Button on the Daisuki Club’s website in Feb 2005 linking to the quizzes*

Between July 1 – August 1, 2005, if a club member answered all 8 quizzes correctly, they would be entered into a lottery to win one of 10,000 copies of a Pokemon Fan Club promo card.

Pokémon Fan Club (096/PCG-P Japanese Promo)

Since the quizzes all allowed multiple attempts, this wasn’t too difficult. Winners would receive their prizes via mail, affixed to a small cardboard insert.

Action Point System

When the Players Club was eventually sunset near the end of 2007, the Pokemon Daisuki Club would take over distribution of exclusive promos for Pokemon TCG players. This would be done via system known as “Action Points”, which were similar to the Players Club’s EXP system.

The Action Point System would eventually be discontinued on August 31, 2010, and would end a decade-long tradition of membership club promos.

Similar to the Player’s Club’s EXP system, players would earn Action Points (AP) by participating in tournaments, playing at their local stores, contests, quizzes, and other activities.

While it’s unknown the exact amounts of AP that was earned from each activity, it is known that playing at official tournaments like the Battle Road events or at Official Gym stores would earn AP.

Additionally, there were certain products that could be purchased, such as the Leafeon vs. Metagross Expert Deck. This preconstructed deck game with a CD players could use to play the first version of the Pokemon TCG Online, known as “Pokemon Card Game Network”, and if the player registered their Daisuki Club account with it, they would received 1000 AP.

*Leafeon vs. Metagross Expert Deck w/ Pokemon Card Game Network access*

Action Point Rewards

Players who accrued enough AP would acquire new ranks, with rewards at each rank. They would then receive these rewards via mail.

Because the Daisuki Club’s AP system started in 2008, a few of the promos it distributed caught the tail-end of the DPt-P promos. Since DPt-P promos were discontinued with the launch of the Pokemon TCG LEGEND’s L-P promos, there was a very limited time to accrue enough AP for the DPt-P promos. During 2008, the AP system only went up to Super Rank.

Below are the ranks and the points required for each. Normal – Silver ranks did not have TCG prizes, and instead distributed “Trainer Items” like notebooks, stickers, and other merchandise

Rank	AP required	DPt-P promo	L-P Promo
Normal	0
Bronze	200
Silver	400
Gold	1200	Pikachu (016/DPt-P)	Pikachu (019/L-P)
Super	3200	Cresselia (045/DPt-P) Darkrai (046/DPt-P)	Cresselia (020/L-P) Darkrai (021/L-P)
Hyper	5200		Raichu (044/L-P)
Special	7200		Espeon (053/L-P) Umbreon (054/L-P)
Master	8600		Master’s Scroll (055/L-P)

Due to there being less than a year to accrue AP before the Daisuki club, the DPt-P version of Pikachu, Darkrai, and Cresselia are far more rare than their L-P counterparts. The Super Rank prizes of Darkrai and Cresselia in particular are exceedingly rare since they required a lot of AP during a year when the main AP distribution event (Battle Road 2008) was cancelled due to a bomb threat.

Gold Rank

At 1200 AP, the gold rank was the first rank that awarded Daisuki Club members with a special promo card. During 2008, players were rewarded with a Pikachu Promo, which was also packaged with a non-promo Upper Energy card from the Japanese Bonds to the End of Time (released as Rising Rivals in English).

Pikachu (016/DPt-P Japanese Promo)

*Inside of the Gold Rank DPt-P pamphlet*

If players reached Gold Rank in 2009 or later, they would receive the L-P version of the Pikachu promo, which was bundled together with a promo L-P lightning energy, also given away in the 2009 Gym Challenge events. The cardboard pamphlet was exactly the same.

Pikachu (019/L-P Japanese Promo)

Lightning Energy (014/L-P Japanese Promo)

Super Rank

At 3200 AP, the Super Rank prize featured 2 exclusive promos: Darkrai and Cresselia. This was the highest rank reward for Daisuki club members in 2008. Due to the difficulty in getting to 3200 AP before the DPt-P promos stopped being distributed, these 2 cards are the rarest promos in the Daisuki Club promo series, with far fewer copies being graded by PSA than even the more well-known top-rank Master’s Scroll promo.

Cresselia (045/DPt-P Japanese Promo)

Darkrai (046/DPt-P Japanese Promo)

*PSA Population report showing the DPt-P versions*

*PSA population report for Master’s Scroll*

Players who reached Super Rank in 2009 and onwards would receive the L-P version of these promos. The sealed card packet would also include the cosmos holofoil Psychic and Dark basic Energies from the 2009 Gym Challenge events.

Cresselia (020/L-P Japanese Promo)

Darkrai (021/L-P Japanese Promo)

Psychic Energy (015/L-P Japanese Promo)

Darkness Energy (017/L-P Japanese Promo)

Hyper Rank

Added in 2009, the Hyper Rank introduced a new rank for Daisuki Club members who reached 5200 AP. These members would receive an exclusive Raichu Prime promo card. Included with this was the same L-P promo Lightning Energy that had shipped with the Gold Rank Pikachu promo.

Raichu Prime (044/L-P Japanese Promo)

Lightning Energy (014/L-P Japanese Promo)

Special Rank

Daisuki club members would reach the Special Rank at 7200 AP. Unlike the other 3 higher ranks (Super, Hyper, and Master), this rank was not named after one of the in game Poke Balls (they were called Super Ball, Hyper Ball, and Master Ball in the Japanese video games).

Members who reached this rank received exclusive Espeon Prime and Umbreon promo cards, as well as the cosmos holofoil Psychic and Dark basic Energies from the 2009 Gym Challenge events, which were identical to the Super Rank’s reward.

Espeon Prime (053/L-P Japanese Promo)

Umbreon Prime (054/L-P Japanese Promo)

Psychic Energy (015/L-P Japanese Promo)

Darkness Energy (017/L-P Japanese Promo)

Master Rank

The final and highest Master Rank was achieved at 8600 AP. Members who reached this rank would receive the exclusive Master’s Scroll promo card. Unlike the previous promo cards, this card was sealed by itself, and didn’t include other cards in the pack.

Master’s Scroll (055/L-P Japanese Promo)

AP System Discontinuation

In June 2010, it was announced that the Action Point system was terminated on August 31, 2010. Members who had reached Silver Rank or higher received rewarded corresponding to one rank above their current rank.

This meant Gold Rank members would receive the Hyper Rank reward, Hyper Rank would receive the Special Rank rewards, and Special Rank members would receive the Master Rank reward.

Below is the full text of the announcement from the Daisuki Club website:

【ポケモンだいすきクラブメンバーの皆さまへ】
ポケモンだいすきクラブカード終了のお知らせ
2010年6月21日（月）　株式会社ポケモン
いつも『ポケモンだいすきクラブカード』をご利用いただき、ありがとうございます。
『ポケモンだいすきクラブカード』は、2010年8月31日（火）をもちまして、サービスを終了することとなりました。これまでご愛顧いただきました皆さまに、心より感謝申し上げます。
本当にありがとうございました。
『ポケモンだいすきクラブカード』はサービス終了となりますが、「ポケモンカードゲームネットワーク」は2010年9月10日（金）に一時休止させていただき、2010年秋よりリニューアルし、「ポケモンだいすきクラブ」ホームページ上にて展開させていただきます。また、ポケモンカードゲームファンの皆さまには、ポケモンカードゲームをよりお楽しみいただけるサービスを2010年秋から予定しております。
なお、これまで獲得されましたPCGアクションポイントにつきましては、8月31日（火）までのポイントを有効とし、到達ランクのひとつ上の賞品をプレゼントいたします。
（プレゼントはシルバーランク到達以上の方に発送）
「ポケモンだいすきクラブ」は、メンバーの皆さまにもっとポケモンを好きになっていただけるようなサービスを提供できるよう、心を新たに取り組んでまいります。引き続き、「ポケモンだいすきクラブ」をお楽しみいただけますよう、お願いいたします。
◎PCGアクションポイントのプレゼント（賞品）の応募と発送について
■PCGアクションポイントのプレゼントは、2010年8月31日（火）まで応募いただきますと、ご指定いただいたプレゼントを2010年9月30日（木）までにお届けします。
■プレゼントの応募をいただかなくても、到達したランクよりひとつ上のランクのプレゼントを、今までご応募いただいていなかったランクのプレゼントも含めて、メンバーの方のご登録いただいている住所へ、2010年10月15日（金）までにお届けします。
■トレーナーアイテム、ケータイ待ちうけなどのパソコンや携帯電話から受け取ることが出来るプレゼントは、到達ランクまでのものをプレゼントいたします。
受け取りは2010年8月31日（火）をもちまして終了させていただきます。
Daisuki Club termination announcement

[To all Pokemon Daisuki Club members]
Notice of the end of the Pokemon Daisuki Club Card
June 21, 2010 (Monday) Pokemon Co., Ltd.
Thank you for using the “Pokemon Daisuki Club Card”.
The service of “Pokemon Daisuki Club Card” will be terminated on August 31, 2010 (Tuesday) . We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has patronized us so far.
We’re really thankful to you.
“Pokemon Daisuki Club Card” will be discontinued. The “Pokemon Card Game Network” will be temporarily suspended on September 10, 2010 (Friday) , and will be renewed from the fall of 2010 on the “Pokemon Daisuki Club” homepage for development. In addition, we plan to provide a service for Pokemon card game fans to enjoy Pokemon card games from the fall of 2010.
Regarding the PCG action points that have been earned so far, the points up to August 31 (Tuesday) will be valid, and a prize that is one rank higher than the achievement rank will be presented.
(Presents will be sent to those who have reached the silver rank or higher)
“Pokemon Daisuki Club” will make a new effort to provide services that will make members love Pokemon even more. We hope that you will continue to enjoy the “Pokemon Daisuki Club”.
◎ About application and shipping of PCG action point gifts (prize)
■ If you apply for the PCG Action Point gift until August 31, 2010 (Tuesday), the specified gift will be delivered by September 30, 2010 (Thursday).
■ Even if you do not apply for a gift, you will be sent a gift that is one rank higher than the one you reached to the address registered, including gifts of a rank that you have not reached. It will be delivered by Friday, October 15, 2010.
■ Gifts that can be received from PCs and mobile phones, such as trainer items and mobile phone waiters, will be given up to the achieved rank.
Receipt will end on August 31, 2010 (Tuesday).
Translated announcement