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Pika- Pika- Pikachu!

The school summer holidays have coincided with the height of the Pokemon craze – with swap-shops being set up as regular events across the country.

Gloucester Citizen reporter Sala Lloyd threw herself into the fray at one of her local events and turned from novice into… well, still a novice, as she left the trading floor with a handful of duds.

She fought for good trades among her handful of cards (lent by Woolworths) as she mingled with youngsters who only reached waist-height.

But intimidated by the “pressure-cooker” atmosphere she made her pitch by collecting cards with nice pictures on but admitted being fleeced by the more savvy youngsters.

Describing her adventures she wrote:

A little lad spotted a Rocket in my hand and sidled up.

“I’ll swap you all my cards for your Diglett,” he asked, trying to stay calm.

I had no idea what a Diglett was and quite fancied impressing the assistant manager by doubling his pack, so I agreed.

The boy gleefully snatched it shouting: “No swap backs!”

I did feel a bit of a mug when one little girl fleeced me of several valuable “Fossils”, grinned at me and pronounced: “I like trading with you cos you’re nice”.

The trading, she said, was intense among the experts but always good humoured.

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