ℹ️ About Pokeversal

(Original text written in Spanish)

Welcome to Pokeversal ("pv" for friends)! I'm the creator and sole developer of this humble website, which hopes to be a little oasis where Pokémon lovers—especially TCG fans—can relax and have fun. It doesn't matter whether you're a die-hard collector, a pro card player, or a casual fan who simply enjoys the hobby.

My real name is Bruno, but on this site I go by "corviDoc". I'm a historian from northern Spain who, while taking a short course in database administration, started gathering Pokémon data just for fun to test my SQL skills (which I adore). First it was game data, then card data. That was five years ago, and little by little the idea of building a website that could bring together fans from all over the world—no matter where they come from or what they're into—started to take shape. Right now most resources focus on English and Japanese, so I believe people would appreciate a place where they can find what they want in the language they want.

The languages on this site aren't random. I've added every language in which cards exist (except Dutch, Polish, and Russian, because they only got a couple of sets). One day I'd love to speak all 12 fluently. For now, besides my native Spanish, I'm C1 in English, around B2 in French, officially N4 in Japanese (though I'd put myself closer to N3–2 now), and I understand Portuguese and Italian fairly well. If the project keeps growing, one of my goals is to write in any of these languages without needing translators—however long that takes.

Bit by bit I built the site from scratch at my own pace, wrestling with CSS, JS, and more. I didn't start moving at lightning speed until ChatGPT came out (lightning compared with me—I'm pretty clumsy) and especially thanks to Cursor, which saved me a ton of headaches. I always like to do things properly, and one of my virtues (even if it's taken five years) is stubbornness. That kept me from abandoning the project despite the hurdles popping up five at a time (Why are East and West out of sync? Why do sets release in different languages? Why the weird rarity system? And why invent so many special Pokémon like ex, EX—not the same apparently—GX, V, VMAX, VSTAR...?). To stay sane, Bulbapedia was essential and its multilingual pages are simply excellent. They've done an amazing job building a thorough Pokémon library—I can't recommend them enough!

Because my main goal is for users (yes, you reading this—hi, how's it going? :D) to fall in love with the site, I decided not to include invasive ads, tracking cookies, or premium subscriptions. Right now, monetization comes through affiliate links and a simple donation system, always without raising card prices for you. I'm also open to collaborations or sponsorships, as long as they are non-invasive and do not harm the user experience. Here you can donate to help me grow and keep the site running (which isn't easy—right now I have about 180,000 card images in the best possible quality, taking up around 150GB and still growing). And I won't lie, I'd love to be able to dedicate myself entirely to you all through this project. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

For devs: This is really my first project, I'm completely indie, and I chose the technologies based on what seemed to fit all the functions I wanted. I especially designed the site for desktops, laptops, and tablets, although I also put a lot of effort into making it look good on mobile. Still, many animations are lost because of the different hover behavior. This site is built with React + Next.js and Tailwind on the frontend, and Django on the backend. The database uses MariaDB (I absolutely love MariaDB) through DBeaver, with about 55 tables and tons of relationships. The authentication system uses tokens stored on the client (not cookies). I only use essential/preference cookies to remember or infer your language and correctly redirect the root domain (for example, from https://pokeversal.com) to the regional version (es.pokeversal.com, ja.pokeversal.com, etc.); if no preference is available, the default is English at https://www.pokeversal.com. I don't use tracking cookies, ads, or cookie-based analytics.

Tips if you're new here: the site has a level system. Levels unlock more permissions, like posting comments or news/memes/questions. Right now, if you're at a low level you can level up quickly by logging in every day (the Streak System gives +100 activity points for each day in your streak, up to 23 days; if you miss a day, the streak drops by one instead of resetting) or by sending card reports where data is missing. Each new piece of info or error fix earns +200 admin points. There's also an image-upload system*—if accepted (high quality, centered, etc.) you get +2000 admin points. And if you're an exemplary person who helps other users with their questions or spreads happiness around the site, I'll probably give you gift points personally (gift points don't count for the rankings but do raise your level) and maybe even promote you to admin (admins can see certain site metrics—number of users, cards, etc.—and handle reports, card info submissions...).

If you have any questions, you can write to [email protected]. However, we recommend using the "Doubts" section in the news area so that the community can help you and avoid duplicate questions.

Come on in and make yourself at home! The power of sharing is even stronger when it's born from respect and trust! — Regirock, probably.

* Legal notice: All Pokémon card images shown on this website are the property of their respective rights holders. Copyrights and trademarks belong to The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and Game Freak. This website does not own, nor claim to own, any intellectual-property rights over those images. They are displayed solely for informational and reference purposes for the collector and fan community.