'Finally a card I can afford': Nvidia announces GeForce-themed trading cards, which are free but you'll need to travel or get lucky to win some for yourself

Nvidia isn't one to shy away from memorabilia. From signed golden graphics cards to selling CEO Jensen Huang's iconic leather coat for charity, it's fond of putting out things for collectors. But I never quite expected today's reveal, a series of collectable trading cards.

Shared to Nvidia's YouTube page, the first set of trading cards "celebrates the graphics cards, tech demos, and games that started it all".

Series 1, the first set of trading cards, focuses on GeForce and has a nostalgic tone to it. We've only seen a brief look so far, but the cards focus on older Nvidia creations like the NV1, GeForce 3, GTX 1080, and even the Medusa demo. Of all the places to start, it's a pretty good one, and an iconic era for Nvidia to look back at.

It's not made clear how many cards are in the pack, or how limited they will be just yet, but I do know I kind of want one. Unfortunately, the only way to get them is by attending live events or winning community giveaways during what Nvidia calls the "Summer of RTX".

The good news here, though, is that you don't have to pay anything to get your hands on the cards. Well, you may have to pay for flights or travel, but you won't be handing Nvidia any cash to get your hands on them.

And the fact that this is called Series 1 implies to me that Nvidia isn't done here, though the RTX era seems less iconic in its visuals than the GTX era. The RTX 5090 is a beautiful card, but aside from their relative size, it's not that different to the RTX 4090, and bizarre box art is far less common on graphics cards nowadays (much to my annoyance).

Though it's a pretty sweet collection, and quite fun, Nvidia has drawn flak in the comment section, and it's easy to see why. The reason why gaming hardware is so hard to buy at reasonable prices right now is because of the explosion of AI over the last few years, and Nvidia has played a major part in that. As one comment puts it, "Finally a card I can afford."

More comments decry the prices of graphics cards while Nvidia is putting out non-graphics cards, but some comments seem to believe that Nvidia is selling the trading cards, which does explain some of the cynicism. I personally think they're mighty neat, but it's easy to see why people are instinctively dismissive of a company that is essentially enabling the technology that is making it harder and harder to get graphics cards, memory, and storage unless you're willing to offer an arm and a leg in return.