Card Show & Tell - May 2026

 After attending my first card show in who-knows-how-long last month, I was on the fence about attending the May 2026 Boise Card Show. Overcrowded rooms, a heavy TCG presence, and mostly new sports (and slabbed) cards pretty much kills the excitement for me. But my son, who's caught the collecting bug (Pokemon), was going to attend and the show was held in Nampa, which is much closer to my house, so I figured, "why not?" Now I remember why I was leaning towards not going. 

  It started off before I even entered the Civic Center. Actually, before I even stepped out of my car. The venue is located on the main boulevard coming into town, with a residential area directly behind it. As I drove into the parking lot, I could already tell that parking there wasn't going to be possible, so I began driving around the neighboring streets. Three blocks later, I still hadn't found a place to park, so I thought maybe I'd just text my son, explain the situation, and tell him I'd see him the next day. Then it dawned on me: there is a gas station across the street from the Civic Center and I was able to park behind it. 

 Once inside the venue, I immediately began to question my decision. The floors were packed, etiquette is no longer a thing, and the tables were mostly Pokemon and other non-sports stuff. The growth in the sports cards market has been hard to grasp, but the explosion in the Pokemon space is completely mind blowing. On the positive, it was good to see so many families in attendance and especially the excitement on so many young faces. 

 I took about $40 in cash and thankfully came back with $25. What did my $15 get me? Glad you asked...

 My first purchases were from a table in which the girl tending it told me that everything in the white boxes were 20 for $5. She went on to explain that the card shop owner she was helping wanted to move a bunch of stuff taking up valuable space. She also mentioned that if you just see one or two cards you like, you can just have them. I dug through the three or four large boxes and found 12 that I was interested in and told her I'd just pay the $5 rather than try to hit the magical 20 number. 

 After wandering around for another 20 minutes or so, I came across a table that looked promising. The dealer had a good selection of old and new, across the three major sports. Noticing the Buccaneers hat I was wearing, he asked if I like Jameis Winston. This isn't my first rodeo, and knowing what was to come next, I replied, "yes, but not enough to pay a lot of money for one of his cards." He then pulled out an autographed gold parallel, with the price tag of $400. No thanks. 

I did, however, find something much more in my price range: a 1997 Pinnacle Inscriptions auto of Trent Dilfer, numbered to 1950. The price: $10. 

After plunking down the ten bucks, I wandered the show floor for probably another 20 minutes before meeting back up with my son. And while this was one of the more disappointing shows I've been to in some time, at least I was able to walk away with the time spent with him- even if it wasn't that much time actually spent together.