Definition of "Promo"...

[Shakespeare]

Looking through Promo Page postings. There seems to be some confusion of what is a promo. Some people think reprints like league give a ways are not promos. My personal definition is if it didn't come in a booster it is a promo.

The LONE exception is the 1st edition Pikachu promo (WotC #1). This card was inserted into limited number of Jungle 1st edition boosters.

I welcome input on this reasoning. I consider Rumble & Southern Islands sets as promos under this rule...

 

[omahanime]

I agree with you on Rumble & Southern Islands. If you don't call them promo, what are they?

 

[Light Venusaur]

^I call those mini sets (like the POP1-9 (& maybe a 10-if we're lucky) cards).

 

[Shakespeare]

Mini sets are promos then Light Venusaur?

 

[DNA]

My personal definition is if it didn't come in a booster it is a promo.

The POP Series came in (mini) boosters; would they then be, by that definition, not promos? (I consider them promos but that's just me.)

I think your definition is actually pretty good; I think another one might be if it isn't in some sort of widely released or mainstream set. I don't know about the Southern Island set but I do consider Rumble promo cards. I'd consider the POP cards as promos as well.

And of course anything with a black star set icon is a promo.
I think we might be able to hammer out some sort of a concrete definition here...

 

[jennrummymeister]

I would say if it did not come in a booster pack or a theme deck then it is a promo. There might be some exceptions to the rule. For example, how do you want to classify the non-holo version of Mew 111/110 from Holon Phantoms? To me, it could be a promo, but I find it convenient to add him to the Holon Phantoms set. Pokemon and Nintendo are lazy and should have done a better job of documenting all of the extra cards they released through blisters and events, and took charge of defining promos.

 

[Shakespeare]

Good example, POP cards did come in packs... Foiled again (no pun intended)!
Anyways I will post Rumble cards here. We do have the Southern Island "mini set" here too!

 

[viper.fox]

It's hard when it comes to the english side of things since both Wizards and TPCi are pretty terrible at cataloging or classifying cards. There are a lot more cards out there that I'd consider 'variant' before promo any day. I know I wouldn't poke that mess with a six foot pole, that's for sure. I will say regarding POP cards: the POP series cards I'd consider promotional. They may come in boosters, but if you were being pedantic they'd be a substitution set. Substitution sets are not part of the main release block, thus are promotional in my books.

When it comes to the Japanese ones, it's so much easier. Promos fall under a year category instead of one huge "Whoever-Runs-TCG-Now Black Star" list. 1996~7, 1998, 1999, 2000 etc. For the "un-numbered" promos from 1996 through to 2000, there is an official listed ordering for them, and that's by time of release during that year. Afterwards, it was a numerical system (P, ADV-P, PCG-P, DP-P, DPt-P, L-P and now BW-P) which doesn't always flow exactly to a number order due to releases being varied, but otherwise keeps things orderly and very distinct in what is a promo or not.

Decks are considered promotional, as they're essentially substitution sets and 99% of the time are original cards exclusive to those decks or kits. Substitution sets are not part of the main block, and get shoved under the deck roster in the official catalogues and are thus: promo. Rumble set? Promo. Southern Islands/Tropical Islands? Promo. BW Beginning Set? Promo. And so on.

PCL certainly made things easier on a pedantic order freak, that's for sure.