When did the old Dragon Ball Carddass sets come out?
Summary
Dragon Ball Carddass started in 1988. The first set arrived in November 1988 and the fourth in April 1990, sold from vending machines in Japan at 20 yen a card. Bandai reissued the designs of those first four sets in 2008, so each of them exists in an original printing and a reprint.
The first four sets
A Bandai press release from December 2008 gives the release month and story coverage of the first four sets. Each set had 42 cards.
| Set | Released | Story covered |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 1988 | Early Dragon Ball, from training with Master Roshi to the fight with King Piccolo |
| 2 | July 1989 | Later Dragon Ball, from the World Martial Arts Tournament to adult Goku against Ma Junior |
| 3 | November 1989 | Early Dragon Ball Z, centered on Raditz's arrival and the Saiyan story |
| 4 | April 1990 | Dragon Ball Z, from Goku against Vegeta to the first half of the Namek arc |
The same release says Bandai sold 2 billion Dragon Ball Carddass cards in about ten years from 1988. In a 2021 column on the official Dragon Ball site, a Bandai staff member put the count at about 1.5 billion as of summer 1995. He also said double-sided prism cards started with set 12, citing Super Saiyan 3 Goku (set 20, No. 154) and Super Saiyan Gotenks (set 21, No. 172). Dragon Ball Carddass was paused in September 1997.
The 2008 reprint box
Carddass Dragon Ball COMPLETE BOX vol.1 premium set came out on December 26, 2008, for 10,500 yen. It reprinted the designs of sets 1 through 4 with modern printing: 168 reprint cards, four new hologram cards, a binder, and a guidebook.
What followed Carddass
The official column lists the lines that came next: the Dragon Ball card game series (2003), Data Carddass Dragon Ball (2005), Dragon Ball Heroes (2010), and IC Carddass Dragon Ball (2015). The English Dragon Ball Z trading card game was made by Score Entertainment, not Bandai. Heritage Auctions described a 2003 uncut sheet from that game as a piece of "the first Dragon Ball TCG."
Sources
- DRAGON BALL OFFICIAL SITE column on Carddass (2021)
- Bandai press release (December 8, 2008)
- Heritage Auctions Lot 36048 (Score Entertainment, 2003)
Details are as published on these pages on the date above and can change. Check the official page before you buy or submit.