I know nothing about Pokémon; it completely skipped me somehow growing up in the 90s. Now, my nephew is asking for Pokémon card packs for Christmas. I looked on Amazon, since I’ll need to ship anyway, but was royally confused by colors and boosters and foils.
He has like a dozen cards now, but wants more to play with friends at school.
What the hell am I supposed to be looking for?
This. Get him a pile of cards from craigslist or a similar 2nd hand side. I’d probably go for private sellers that are just quitting the hobby, so you have a better mix of good and ordinary cards compared to what @iii@mander.xyz described. But I would say especially younger kids can be impressed by quantity far more than quality.