When and how did you first hear about and play Pokemon?

I got one of the promotional tapes from Nintendo in the mail and never opened it. It wasn't OoT so it meant nothing to me in 1998. In January 1999 I happened to catch the anime on TV at a friends house. When I got home I took out the promo tape and watched it over and over. A couple of weeks later the cards started showing up around school.

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