Upper Deck Debuts Digital Trading Cards

Remember trading cards? You know, the little collectible cards with athletes and stats on them? Anyone? Beuller?

Well, Upper Deck, leading purveyor of the cards since 1988, is hoping to give the lagging American pastime a second life with its new "Evolution" series. The new cards feature little LCD screens that play a 60 second highlight reel of the featured athlete. With an outlet for recharging and a fold out cover, the new cards look more like a deck in themselves than the stackable sheets of yore.

CEO Richard McWilliams explains the new series like this:

“From the onset, it was important to us that this new insert was a trading card first, otherwise it would just be a video player. The cards are built like our premium booklet trading cards with a video monitor built into the card. The beauty behind these cards is that they are self-contained. You don’t need any other gadgets or a computer to play them. You simply open the cover and press play."

Enough to pry your little brother from his new Nintendo 3DS? Yeah, we didn't think so either. Maybe they could slap Angry Birds on it.

[CrunchGear]