Magic card players gather to defeat municipal bylaw

A group of gamers in Prince George, B.C., wants to overhaul a civic bylaw that requires all pawnbrokers and secondhand stores in the city to hold high-value items for 30 days before selling them.

The city says the bylaw is intended to curb theft by giving police time to return stolen items to their original owners. But the gamerssaythe rule is having unintended consequences forplayers of a trading card game calledMagic: The Gathering.

"To play the game, you have to have the cards," saidReidarPaulson, a card player and member of Prince George's gaming community.

"Because it's a competitive game, there are cards that are better than other cards."

For almost two years, Paulson has been part of an effort to change the bylaw, allowing an exemption for trading cards.

Magic: The Gatheringis typically played between two competitors who take turns laying down cards. Each card has rules concerning how itis playedand each allows for the devising of various strategies.

There are millions ofMagic: The Gatheringcards currently in circulation and since many of them are duplicates, says Paulson, the Prince George bylaw is ineffectual.

"Normally, [the bylaw] would be fine for things that have serial numbers, things that are identifiable," saidPaulson. "But withMagiccards ... no one card is different from another one, if they have the same name."

Lightning Bolt

Paulson used the commonMagic: The Gatheringcard, Lightning Bolt,as an example. There are thousands ofLightning Boltcards and all are completely identical to their fellows there are no distinguishing serial numbers or markings of any kind.

"If I stole yourLightning Boltcard and shuffled it into a hand of four otherLightning Boltcards, you'd have no way of knowing which is yours," said Paulson, explaining why the bylaw doesn't work for stolenMagiccards.

But the main issue cardplayers have with the bylaw, said Paulson, is the the 30-day hold currently applied to the sale of secondhand items.

Interestingly,Magiccards can drastically fluctuatein value from day to day. Alow-value card, such asLightning Bolt,can be priced at $1 for weeks. But ifLightning Boltis the deciding card in a high-profile tournament victory, its value can sky-rocket to $30, said Paulson. The opposite can also happen, he said.

Paulson argues that the 30-day hold seriously limits a card player's ability to buy and sell at ideal prices.

"That 30-day window is actually incredibly small when it comes to something that bounces around like stocks."

Paulson and his cohort from Prince George's trading card shops successfully appealed to city hall for the bylaw overhaul on Monday, and the process will now move to a public-hearing phase which is to be scheduled for sometime in early 2019.

With files from Daybreak North

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