When TCG Machines took home the Bow Valley College Innovation Award at the 2025 Calgary Small Business Awards, it marked a major milestone for a Calgary company that started with a simple question between roommates.
Today, TCG Machines designs and manufactures desktop machines that automatically sort trading cards for hobby stores and collectors around the world. Their technology helps businesses process massive volumes of cards far faster than sorting them by hand, saving significant time for trading card retailers and collectors.
For Founder, President and CEO Graeme Gordon, the idea behind the company came from his own experience as a longtime trading card enthusiast.
“I am a big nerd,” Graeme said. “I play magic cards and have played magic cards my whole life since being a very small child.”
The company officially launched in 2015 after Graeme found himself stuck at home recovering from an injury while transitioning between engineering jobs. During that downtime, he decided to organize his personal trading card collection, which included roughly 20,000 cards.
“It was not fun,” he said. “It was a really kind of grueling monotonous task.”
A conversation with his roommate, who was an electrical engineer, changed everything.
“He jokingly said, ‘You should design a machine to do that,’” Graeme said. “And that was the inspiration for the company.”
Turning an idea into a fast-growing business
Before founding TCG Machines, Graeme worked in oil and gas equipment design engineering. Moving into trading card technology gave him the opportunity to work in a much different environment and industry.
“With TCG Machines, we’re designing and building relatively small machines,” he said. “They sit on a desktop and they sort trading cards. The absolute worst-case scenario is you bend a card.”
He added that working in the tabletop gaming industry has also made the work especially rewarding.
“Our end customers are stores that sell games and cards to people,” Graeme said. “It’s a very social and fun centric space to be in.”
Over the past year, the company has experienced explosive growth. TCG Machines started 2025 with 15 employees and now has 37 staff members, with additional positions actively being recruited. Their machines have also expanded from operating in seven countries to more than 20 worldwide.
“Our collective fleet of machines have now sorted over 850 million cards,” Graeme said.
The company is also preparing for its next phase of growth with a move into a new 15,000-square-foot building in Calgary.
Alongside expanding operations, TCG Machines is also developing new technology aimed at entering the sports card market, which Graeme says represents a major opportunity for the business.
Recognition, community support and encouragement to apply
Winning the Bow Valley College Innovation Award gave the team a chance to celebrate years of hard work and innovation.
“It’s the first time we have been publicly recognized for anything,” Graeme said.
Although Graeme and his business partner Dan were unable to attend the awards gala because they were in Germany attending one of the largest tabletop gaming trade shows in the world, he said it was meaningful to have members of the team there representing the company.
“It was really nice for them to be at the dinner and gala and be able to be recognized for all the hard work they’ve been putting in for the last several years,” he said.
Graeme also wanted to recognize organizations that played an important role in helping TCG Machines grow over the years, including Alberta innovates and the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).
“Both of those programs have been tremendously helpful for us,” he said.
For entrepreneurs considering applying to the 2026 Calgary Small Business Awards, Graeme encourages them to take the opportunity, even if they are unsure whether they will win.
“Even if you don’t win an award, just going through the process, maybe becoming a finalist, getting exposed to different people that are doing similar things to you,” Graeme said. “I would just heartily recommend anyone thinking about it, just go for it.”
To learn more about TCG Machines, visit: tcgmachines.com.
Your business could be the next one to take home a Small Business Award! Applications are now open for the 2026 Calgary Small Business Awards. Apply today: https://calgarychamber.com/small-business-week/calgary-small-business-awards/
