Are There Any 9 Letter Words In Scrabble
The North American Scrabble Players Association releases an official NASPA Word List for competitive play in Canada and the United States. And yes, its got lots of 9 letter words that start with the letter C too. For example, theres the CABDRIVER who CHITCHATS over the CACOPHONY of rush hour traffic.
Pokemon Cards Arent Just Popular Theyre Valuable
Its almost impossible to understate how wild the interest in Pokemon cards has been the past year.
If youd like to go and buy the latest release, forget about it. Cards are such a hot commodity that sets not even released yet are already sold out.
The Pokemon Company had to issue a statement saying the high demand and global shipping constraints were making it tough for fans to get a hold of cards, and it was printing more as quickly as possible.
In the US, department store Target stopped selling the cards saying it needed to protect its staff from fans desperate to snap up whatever crumbs of stock were available.
And the really expensive ones? Theyre breaking records, sometimes literally hours after new ones have been set.
This holographic Charizard from the first-ever set sold for $US369,000 last December.
An ultra-rare Illustrator Pikachu card sold for $US375,000 in February.
Ehren Roebuck started buying and selling Pokemon cards 10 years ago as a side hobby after falling in love with playing the game.
But the explosion in interest in the past year means hes now considering making it his full-time job. Roebuck says the boom is kind of like the boom in cryptocurrency.
There are so many different people into Pokemon, Roebuck said.
Theres high-profile lawyers, theres dentists and accountants, boys, girls.
The Value Of The Pokemon Franchise
The Pokemon franchise as a whole is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, having grossed over $90B in revenue.
For comparison, the Hello Kitty, Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises have grossed $86B, $70B and $32B respectively.
Think of all the Star Wars, Hello Kitty and Harry Potter merchandise, licensed products, movies, etc. that have hit the market…
Pokemon has out-sold them all.
… and keep in mind, Pokemon is not the oldest media franchise â not by a long shot. The first ever Star Wars movie was released about 20 years before anything from the Pokemon franchise ever even hit the consumer market.
Only about 10% of the Pokemon franchise’s revenue has come from its trading cards. The Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game was released the same year as the Pokemon trading card game and has grossed roughly the same amount.
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Where To Buy Vintage Pokmon Cards
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If youre looking for a hidden gem that isnt Amazon, Im sorry to disappoint! Its the go-to place for beginner collectors.
That isnt to say that once you get involved in the online Pokémon community, you wont find private sellers who have access to some wonderfully rare cards. You absolutely will.
But you can start with Amazon, especially if youre just dipping your toes in the water.
My favorite Pokémon card sellers on Amazon are:
What Are The Biggest Scams To Look Out For
I won’t go too deep into these topics right now, but these are the biggest things to look out for if you want to get into buying Pokemon cards.
Loose booster packs
This is not really a scam, but as mentioned in the section about weighing booster packs: buy individual booster packs at your own risk. You should assume they were weighed or measured in some way and that means there is a good chance there are no special cards in them.
Booster boxes that are not sealed
Something that really could be a scam is an unsealed booster box. Original booster boxes come sealed in see-through plastic wrap.
If you buy what should be a brand new, unopened booster box but it isn’t wrapped in clear plastic wrap, it should be a huge red flag. Somebody could have weighed all the packs, taken out the good ones and replaced them with other dud packs.
Fake cards
As inevitably happens with things that are as popular and valuable as Pokemon cards… there are a lot of fakes on the market.
The safest way to get real cards, booster packs, booster boxes etc. from the latest sets is to buy directly from the official Pokemon store. If you don’t live in the US, you will have to find a trusted reseller.
For individual cards and older booster packs and boxes, you will just have to gain a lot of experience and learn the nuances of real Pokemon products and then make educated purchases, ideally with a means of recourse if it turns out you were scammed .
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Lugia 1st Edition Neo Genesis
- Release Date: 2000
- Grading: BGS Pristine 10
- Pokemon card value at auction: $144,300
Similar to Mewtwo, Lugia was an iconic Legendary for many children who grew up with the series in the 00s. So it should come as no surprise that its debut as a Pokemon card was a major hit.
While a 1st Edition Lugia broke records by selling for a mind-blowing $129,000 in 2020, a Beckett graded 10 version of the item sold for $144,300 at a PWCC auction in May 2021. BGS grades a lot harder than PSA, making this pristine Pokemon card one of only three in the entire world.
Espeon And Umbreon Gold Star Pop Series 5
A pair of Gold Star Pokémon cards from one of the most valuable Pokémon sets of all time
Sold for $22,000 in February 2021
Gold Star Pokémon cards are among the most valuable sets of Pokémon cards in existence and command an incredibly high value as a result. The cards are named after the gold star that appears next to the Pokémons name at the top of the card, which signifies that the card features alternative-colour artwork different from the common version. Only 27 Gold Star cards were released from 2004 to 2007, making them some of the rarest Pokémon cards available.
While all of the Gold Star Pokémon cards are rare, only appearing once in approximately every 88 booster packs for certain Pokémon TCG expansions, the very rarest are the Eeveelutions – the many evolutions into which basic Gen 1 Pokémon Eevee can evolve. And the rarest of the rarest are the original Japanese-language versions of the cards offered to members of the Pokémon Players Club, who could spend points earned by participating in official organised play and tournaments to obtain exclusive cards.
While Eeveelutions Flareon, Jolteon and Vaporeon could be acquired in the EX Power Keepers set released in 2007 via the Pokémon online store, their psychic and dark elemental siblings Espeon and Umbreon could only be picked up by players who collected enough Pokémon Players Club points. The Espeon 025/PLAY card required 40,000 EXP points earned, while Umbreon 026/PLAY was even most pricey at 70,000 points.
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Chapter 2 Of Learning Pokemonthe Pokemon Tcg Buyers Guide Booster Packs Boxes And Decks
Learning Pokemon TCG is a series of blogs and videos that teaches you everything you need to know to start playing! This series is updated regularly to ensure all information is accurate.
Once you know how to play the Pokemon TCG, the next step is to buy what you need to do it! One of the best, and sometimes most overwhelming, elements of Pokemon is the massive amount of cards available.
If youre looking for a fast and easy way to try the Pokemon TCG, we recommend buying a couple of theme decks. These are pre-constructed, ready-to-play decks that allow anyone to start playing right away.
While theme decks are incredibly convenient, they are only the beginning of what is available to play the game. In this chapter, we cover everything you need to know to decide how you want to collect the Pokemon TCG!
How To Play Pokmon Tcg
- How does evolution work in the Pokémon TCG?: Learn how to evolve your Basic Pokémon into powerful Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokémon.
- How do status conditions work in the Pokémon TCG?: Confused about Confusion? Feeling Burned by Burned? We run through how status effects work and how to get rid of them.
- How to win the Pokémon Trading Card Game: By defeating your opponent’s Pokémon or forcing them to run out of cards, the different roads to victory in the Pokémon card game.
- Is there a Pokémon card game app?: Take your battles online with the digital version of the Pokémon TCG.
That’s without mentioning the great sense of nostalgia a lot of players feel when they go back to a world and series of games they enjoyed when they were younger. With Pokémon in one form or another so familiar to millions of people, figuring out how to play the Pokémon TCG is a cinch – at its heart, it’s the same as the video games you already know.
Even so, learning to play a competitive collectible card game of any kind can be a confusing task for total newcomers. So to start you on your journey to discovering what for some has been a lifelong hobby and for others is an old friend worth getting reacquainted with, we’ve put together this handy step-by-step guide to how to play the Pokémon TCG.
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Misprinted Fossil Krabby: $2200
Yes, you read that right. Krabby is the star of one of the rarest Pokemon cards of all. By all accounts, this crab-based Water-type isn’t exactly a battling superstar. The fact that one version of its Pokemon card is so rare is a bit of a fluke, as its price comes down to a relatively simple misprint of the card.
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The difference between these multiple miscuts and a normal card is that part of a fossil symbol to the bottom-left of its art is missing. This seemingly minor difference has driven up the price of these cards immensely, and despite going for under two dollars in its normal state, Pokemon Prices has the card record of a misprint selling for over $2200 dollars.
Pokmon Topsun 1995 First Edition Charizard
The Pokémon Topsun cards are slightly different from all the cards mentioned above. Back in 1997, you were able to purchase a pack with gum that included two cards featuring Pokémon. These cards are the first-ever Pokémon cards printed.
The reason Charizard is the most valuable is due to its cracked ice pattern holo background and its rarity. PSA has seen 79 of the cards and graded only 16 as being PSA 10 condition. According to PSAcard.com, the cards are known to go for up to $10,000.
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When Opening Booster Packs Why Do People Move Some Of The Bottom Cards To The Top
If you watch “opening” videos on YouTube, you will notice that people usually move a few cards from the bottom of the booster pack to the top.
Fans of opening booster packs call this the “card trick”. It is done because Pokemon booster packs are always packed with cards in a specific order, and the rarest card is often the fourth card from the bottom. When you move the less-rare cards from the bottom to the top, the last 2 cards you uncover become the rarest â usually most sought-after â cards from that booster pack.
It’s just a psychological thing that makes opening booster packs a more fun experience.
As of writing this post, there are 892 unique Pokemon.
That means that counting from the day the first Pokemon cards were ever released on October 20 of 1996, a new Pokemon is invented about every 10 days.
Can You Play A Game With Pokemon Cards Or Are They Just For Collecting
You can play a game with Pokemon cards.
The official game that was designed by The Pokemon Company International is called “The Pokemon Trading Card Game” .
That said, there are a lot of people that never play the game and just collect the cards.
There is also an official online version of the game. As of writing this, it available for Windows, MacOS, and in the App Store and Play Store, but it cannot be played on smart phones .
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Full Set Of First Edition Holo
Released along with the rest of the cards in 1999, the holo-foil cards are rare editions of the first cards. They have a certain look to the background of the card, that is what gives the card the holo-foil look.
Given the rarity of obtaining all of these cards, it is quite at the feat to get all of these cards together. But maybe you might win the lottery if youve liked the look of them as a child.
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Holo Gold Star Rayquaza: $4500
Rather than many cards on this list, this Shiny Rayquaza from the EX Deoxys set is a rare Pokemon card thats mostly just mythical pull from a standard set. During this expansion, Pokemon with a Gold Star in your deck, making them just as powerful as they are gorgeous with unique colors and art exiting the frame.
Costs can vary massively, but spaces like Troll and Toad price the card at just under $4500. It simply combines all the great aspects of a standard card in the perfect combination, and the rarity of it in packs of this small expansion set make it one of the most valuable original Gen 3 cards, and one of the first major shiny cards to hit record prices before other shinies would catch up.
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Why Is Ash Forever 10 Years Old
The protagonist of the long-running anime series, Ash Ketchum, has been 10 years old for more than twenty years now. This fact has inspired many comical memes and funny running jokes about his apparent inability to age, but it does actually serve a purpose.
The makers of the Pokémon anime keep Ash at the same age so that younger viewers the target audience can relate to the character in the show theyre watching. Despite the fact that time passes in the show, Ash will most likely remain 10 forever.
Most Expensive Pokemon Cards Of All Time
Initially released in Japan in the 1990s to accompany the Pokémon video games, the Pokémon Trading Card Game has transformed into one of the most popular trading card games of all-time.
Because of the red-hot popularity of the franchise, some of the most expensive Pokemon cards can sell into the six-figure range
That may sound shocking, at first, but given that Pokémon is a worldwide phenom, there is a vast, passionate collector base around the globe just waiting to get their hands on these prized cards.
From trophy cards, to First Edition Pokemon cards, to lesser-known rarities, the value of these cards is quite impressive.
And in this guide, we take a look at the 50 most valuable of them all.
Lets jump right in!
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Super Secret Battle No 1 Trainer
The answer to “What’s the rarest Pokémon card of all time?”
Sold for $90,000 in July 2020
Its unlikely youve heard of Super Secret Battle No. 1 Trainer, and extremely unlikely youve ever seen a copy in person. When it comes to rare Pokémon cards, there are very few cards rarer than this.
No. 1 Trainer is a holographic promotional card awarded to finalists in the Secret Super Battle tournament held in Tokyo, Japan in 1999. To earn a place in the competitions finals, which were held in a secret location, players had to first win a regional tournament. Their prize was the No. 1 Trainer card, which granted them access to the finals.
The cards text translates to: The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament’s champion is recognised here, and this honour is praised. By presenting this card, you may gain preferential entry into the Secret Super Battle. The card features the Japanese logo for the Pocket Monsters Trading Card Game, along with artwork of original generation Pokémon Mewtwo by illustrator Hideki Kazama.
This is a card so rare and valuable that Indiana Jones probably had to escape a crumbling temple with it at some point. Its counterpart cards No.2 Trainer and No. 3 Trainer, similarly awarded to winners in Japanese Pokémon tournaments during the late 1990s, are almost as rare and valuable.
The Anatomy Of A Pokemon Card
There are many different types of Pokemon cards, and their layouts/designs have changed throughout the years, plus their are also one-off and unique Pokemon cards that look completely different from regular cards, so there is no simple, definitive guide for the anatomy of a Pokemon card…
… but since this guide for absolute beginners, here is a very basic anatomy of a basic Pokemon card.
Just keep in mind that as you learn more about Pokemon cards, you will run into cards that look completely different from ones like this and that there is much more to a Pokemon card than just what is shown here.
There are also trainer cards and energy cards, but we won’t get into them in this post.
If you want to learn more about the different type of cards and what everything on them means, I highly recommend you download and play the official Pokemon Trading Card Game Online, even if only for research purposes. Their tutorials very quickly teach you everything you need to know.
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