What is this hold Pokemon has on my son?

Sometimes I wonder, what is it about Pokemon that my son finds so fascinating? He and his friends can play for hours, with the cards, the video games, their imaginations...the characters have different attributes, strengths, health points and more. I can't keep it all straight. I try to play and I just glaze over after about 5 minutes. I can't keep all the information straight, and I would prefer to going back to playing Candyland. Does this make me a bad mom? I don't know. Do any moms get this game and play it with their kids? I've seen a few girls into Pokemon, at the Pokemon regional championship in Wisconsin Dells this past year, there were probably 10-20% girls, (and women), the rest were boys (and men). Is it something with the way our minds work? I know men and women are genetically very different, I've seen it in my own kids. Pokemon "battles" bring out something in my son...is it like 30 years ago when my brothers played Cowboys and Indians, (which no one can play anymore, because like everything else, it isn't politically correct). So my brothers would play cowboys and indians, and my sister and I would play "ranch" where we put our Barbie dolls (don't get me started on Barbies and girls sense of self worth...) onto my sister's horse statues and pretended they lived on a ranch.
My sister was always "Pam" (popular girl's name, for sure).
Now, years later, as grown women, my sister has her own horse, and I have low self esteem. Coincidence? I think not! So, my son loves Pokemon, even though I know it's marketing and big companies trying to get our money...I can't help but marvel at how much joy he gets from playing the game with his friends. And it helps him work on his social skills, that's for sure. Also, he reads the cards and memorizes the facts and statistics, so it can't be all bad, right?
Right?
Oh, as always, check out my CafePress stores, CreativethoughtTshirts.com, and FreshGreenTees.com. I'm adding lots of new designs, and really trying to get things going. My best seller is this Barack Obama yard sign, so it will be interesting to see how the whole presidential nomination and election shapes up!