Gordon Pires
There was a time when pocket money meant two-Rupee coins, afternoons were spent racing toy cars across living room tiles, and the ultimate playground currency was a shiny Charizard card pulled from an Rs 10 pack. Eventually, adulthood took over. Desks replaced playrooms, spreadsheets replaced card albums, and childhood treasures were packed away into old boxes. Yet, a quiet trend is catching on. Adults across Goa and beyond are opening those long-forgotten boxes and buying back pieces of their childhood. Whether it is Pokémon and One Piece trading cards or Hot Wheels cars, childhood hobbies are no longer just for kids. The Trading Card Game (TCG) scene has evolved far beyond simple schoolyard trades and flexes. Today, it has become a popular hobby that blends strategy, art, and competition. Finding a rare authentic card or holding a professionally graded card brings a unique joy that connects childhood memories with adult strategy.
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This surge in collecting comes from pure passion. Dheer Sakaria, founder of Collector’s Den in Mumbai, remembers getting back into Pokémon three years ago while rewatching the anime. He bought a single Japanese Pokémon 151 booster pack online, only to hit incredible beginner’s luck. “It turned out to be a ‘god pack’ with full-art cards of the entire Venusaur and Blastoise lines. To check if the cards were genuine, I even tore open the very first card—a basic Zubat,” Dheer laughs. “That single pack was enough to get me hooked.” He notes that while high demand has caused booster box prices to jump from Rs 15,000 in 2023 to over Rs 25,000 today, dedicated Indian vendors are working hard to keep the local community supplied. Alongside Pokémon, card games like One Piece have also taken off. The trading market has grown so active that a set of three rare, TAG-graded ‘Gem Mint 10’ cards, featuring popular characters like Charlotte Pudding, Portgas D Ace, and Sabo, can fetch auction bids reaching Rs10,000 in online market spaces. Walk down the toy aisle of any local supermarket, and you are just as likely to see an adult carefully searching through the racks as a young child. Hot Wheels die-cast cars, once driven over sofa cushions, are now prized display pieces. Putting up a neatly organised display of classic cars or modern racers on a room wall adds a splash of playful colour to adult homes. For local collectors, the personal connection runs deep. Vinoy Bijoy Nath, a collector from Verna, who runs the die-cast handle @ motokast, points out that growing up in India during the late 1990s and 2000s meant toy cars were a rare treat. “We would admire them in stores, but usually had to walk away empty-handed.
As adults, earning our own money, we can finally buy the cars we dreamed about as kids,” Vinoy explained. “The challenge has completely flipped. Back then, the problem was not having money; today, collectors buy up stock as soon as it arrives. The hunt is much harder now.” Having kept every single car since 2012 in mint condition, ranging from hundreds of sealed carded packs to detailed loose desktop displays, Vinoy finds the best part is sharing his collection with others. “My collection is about having models people instantly recognise. When someone names their favourite car and I can actually hand it to them, seeing their excitement is the best feeling.” For Roshbon Paul Cardozo from Chinchinim, the obsession reignited through a friend’s collection and a love for motorsport details. What pulled him back was the release of the F1 Premiums, starting with Max Verstappen’s #1 Red Bull RB20. Having started with a 1:72 Hongwell model as a kid, Cardozo finds that hunting today feels earned after searching through multiple stores. However, the rise of adult collecting has also brought fresh hurdles. Miriam Noronha from Cuncolim started fresh in 2024 after losing her childhood 2009 collection to space constraints while pursuing other hobbies. “Back in 2024, it was a Batmobile that caught my eye, and that’s when I decided to start collecting die-cast again from scratch,” Miriam shares. “Display space felt much easier to manage this time around.
But compared to earlier years, hunting has become nearly impossible due to the surge in adult collectors and resellers. Landing hyped castings like Porsche, Nissan, or Ferrari on the pegs is a constant challenge today. In a world filled with phone screens, holding real cards or unboxing a toy car offers a refreshing break,” Miriam adds. Paired with active local collector groups, adults are finding new ways to connect. Rediscovering your childhood isn’t about refusing to grow up, it is about keeping the spirit of fun and curiosity alive.
