How Do You Play The Pokmon Trading Card Game
Besides for collecting cards, people can also play against each other in the game.
In the game, each player assumes the role of a Pokémon trainer who battles his opponents Pokémon.
To begin, players choose heads or tails and flip a coin to see who goes first.
If there are more than two players, dice can be used instead.
Cards are shuffled so each player starts out with seven cards.
They then play one basic Pokémon on the field.
This is the one who attacks and receives damage from the opponent.
The player going first cannot use an attack in their first turn.
Players can have up to five basic Pokémon on their bench in a round.
Each player draws a card, which has corresponding offensive and defensive powers to fight against the other players card.
There are different types of strategies and turns in the game, including playing new basic Pokémon, developing existing Pokémon, playing Trainer cards and Energy cards.
At the end of a turn, a player can retreat their Active Pokémon, by switching the basic Pokémon they have on the field with one that is on the bench.
Some attacks have effects but do not do damage to certain Pokémon.
A Pokémon that has received enough damage will be knocked out.
The player who did the ultimate damage gets to draw a prize card.
To win the game, one player must have drawn all six prize cards.
Another way to win is by knocking out all of the opponents Pokémon, or if the opponent has no cards left to draw.
Psa 10 Base Set Holo Shadowless Charizard: $420000
There are a lot of factors that make this card worth so much compared to any other Charizard card. Specifically, the lack of a shadow means it isn’t just a first edition, it’s the first print run of the first edition. While most base set cards have a shadow on the right side of the art frame, the very first cards Wizards of the Coast printed lacked it, giving them an extra level of value.
Second, though shadowless Base Set Charizards are fairly common and number in the thousands, a PSA 10-graded one are incredibly rare. Only 56 have ever been identified by PSA.
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These Charizard cards have become one of the prime reasons for the Pokemon Card trend of the past two years, with YouTuber Logan Paul opening one as recently as February 2021 that was estimated by auction site owner Ken Goldin to sell for upwards of $500,000. In auction it tends to sell for significantly less, though: last year one sold for $264,000 through Heritage Auctions. In March 2022, Charizard broke its own record, and sold in a PWCC auction for a new high of $420,000.
Get The Cards Condition Graded By The Psa
Lets say you find your old cards and come face-to-face with a 1st Edition Chancey card worth up to $3,500. Sweet!
Now, how do you sell it?
Your first step will be to temper your expectations. Although auction sites will list estimated values of thousands of dollars, the resale value at that moment in time could be 10x more or less than that.
In addition to checking TCGplayers, a good way to rapidly appraise your cards value is to browse recently sold listings on eBay. You can do so by searching for your card, clicking Advanced, and checking the Sold listing box.
Looks like one recently sold for ~$1,875 CAD, or roughly $1,500 USD. Not bad.
This particular Chancey was both encased and graded by a company called the PSA, or the Professional Sports Authenticator. The PSA grades the condition of rare trading cards on a quality scale of 1-10, with 10 being known as Gem Mint. Cards graced by Gem Mint status arent just free of manmade scuffs theyre free of the most microscopic factory defect.
Generally speaking, most cards handled by children before retiring into a shoebox will score a PSA of 7 or lower, selling for about 5% to 10% of Gem Mint price.
Unfortunately, the news gets worse any card worth over $500 will likely need PSA grading, and the PSA is currently so overwhelmed that theyve temporarily suspended most services.
Therefore, youre left with three options:
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The Masked Royal Prize Promo: $18000
This is undoubtedly one of the most recent rare cards, featuring the Masked Royal character from Pokemon Sun & Moon and released as recently as 2017. This is essentially a promotional card that was given out to players in an invitation-only prerelease in Tokyo for the new Shining Legends set, where only 100 copies were made.
Even though this is a relatively normal card by most standards, this short print run means itâs incredibly hard to get, especially since it was handed out in such a restrictive event. As a result, there are actually preserved tweets of players first opening it in places like Pokeboon, while Japanese trading sites like Miyabi Hobby have past listings of the card at Â¥2,000,000, which currently is equal to around $18,000 USD.
Find The Year Your Pokemon Card Was Made
Look at the bottom of the card and find the year it was printed. Thats the first key indicator when identifying your card.
For example, the Base Set Pokémon Cards have 4 different print runs while looking almost identical each time. Of those sets, the UK 4th Print Base Set identifies as 1999-2000, which is the key indicator to separate those cards from the rest.
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Why Are Pokemon Cards Suddenly Popular Again
Pokemon card collecting has always been popular, as evidenced by the 34 billion cards now in circulation.
But even the makers of Pokemon cards were caught off guard when demand began skyrocketing in mid-2020. In addition to being fun, addictive, and nostalgic, collecting Pokemon cards during the pandemic even promised a potential form of economic relief each $4 booster pack could contain a Charizard GX SV 49 worth $1,800.
Soon, celebrities and influencers picked up on the resurging popularity of Pokemon cards. In early October, Logan Paul live-streamed an event where he opened a rare box of cards worth $200,000 in front of his 22 million subscribers. Pokimane and other influencers quickly followed suit, offering a Pokemon-flavored version of the ever-popular unboxing videos.
Things came to a head on October 13th, 2020 when rapper Logic bought a first-edition, holographic Charizard for an eye-watering $220,574.
Family Dollar And Dollar Tree
Family Dollar is a surprising yet reliable spot to purchase Pokémon trading cards.
This is a great option for collectors who want to increase their quantity at an affordable price.
There is not much variety available, but you can purchase the assorted packs for about a dollar.
You can also find Pokémon cards at Dollar Tree, but you must go to the in-person location since they are not available online.
TCG Player is a great option for people looking for high-quality collectors cards.
This website is for serious gamers.
You can choose to order items on presale and put certain collectors cards on hold.
As the leading online collectibles website for the gaming industry, TCG connects buyers and sellers on a global scale.
Again, since most orders are not fulfilled by TCG themselves, and rather by independent sellers, the quality of the cards cannot be guaranteed.
However, the website has a great reputation for exceeding customers expectations and appealing directly to serious gamers who will not accept anything less than perfection.
You can find a lot of Pokémon cards on the website, including retired sets, single cards, limited edition booster boxes, and more.
This website is great for serious players because it offers specific search options for people looking for a certain type of card.
You can search by set name, card type, rarity, energy type, price, and much more.
These cards can be a bit pricier because they are often rarer, collectors cards.
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Best Sites To Buy Pokemon Magic And Other Trading Cards Online
Bet you can find almost every one
With a rising interest in trading card collecting, especially when it comes to Pokemon trading cards, many people are turning to the internet to find the newest cards for their collection. No matter what type of trading cards youre looking for, there are lots of websites out there selling them for great prices.
Theres always the option of buying trading cards from a site like eBay. However, youll have to be careful there as its much more likely to end up with fakes. These sites we listed below are great places to buy your cards instead, so you know youre buying from a reputable seller and will get some pristine cards.
Misprinted Fossil Krabby: $2200
While misprints might be irritating for the normal player or casual collector, for the hardcore they can be very big money. If a card runs through the printer wrong, is miscut, has a typo on it, or anything else, it can increase the value significantly. One great example of that is this Fossil Krabby,
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.
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Looking Up How Much My Pokemon Cards Are Worth:
If you get too many results that include cards NOT like yours, use the checkboxes to pick the ones just like yours. Choosing a few comparable items by using the checkboxes gives you a much more accurate estimate of what your Pokemon card is worth.
What to do next:
Once youve gone through and searched for the value of your Pokemon cards using the mavin.io price guide, you have several different options:
If the Pokemon cards are valuable: You can either hold onto the cards, perhaps get them graded if theyre really valuable, and hopefully see them appreciate in value over time. Alternatively, you sell it to a local card shop without getting ripped off since you know its worth. Lastly, you can sell it yourself on eBay to get a competitive price. Read our guide to selling on eBay.
If the Pokemon cards are worthless: A card doesnt have to be worth money to be considered valuable. Each card has sentimental value to someone: where they got it, the deck it was a part of, that time you used it to battle so-and-so a lot of people tend to hang onto them because of the memories. If you want to get rid of your Pokemon cards, they could be worth some memories to a relative or a stranger. Put them on Craigslist, take them to a card shop, donate them, or pass them along to your kids or a relative. Theres still a lot of fun to be had in those dusty Pokemon cards youve been hanging onto!
Cheapest Places To Buy Pokemon Booster Boxes
Pokemon booster boxes are highly sought after and vary greatly in price. They are a great addition to your Pokemon collection and include a mix of 10 random cards including a rare or higher rarity card.
There are also specially marked booster boxes that contain a virtual booster, which can be redeemed online at the Pokemon TCG Online Shop.
Below are some of the cheapest places to buy Booster boxes and packs, as well as detailed information on third-party retails and private sellers.
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Tsunekazu Ishihara Signed Gx Promo Card: $247230
These cards were given to employees at The Pokemon Company to celebrate its founder and president Tsunekazu Ishihara’s 60th Birthday.
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We don’t know exactly how many of these cards were produced, but one specific copy of it fetches a much higher price than the others. In April 2021, Goldin Auctions sold a copy of it that had been signed by Tsunekazu Ishihara himself for an eye-watering $247,230. The wildest thing? It wasn’t even PSA 10-graded, and managed to sell for that much with just a nine rating.
Reasons Not To Invest In Pokemon Cards
Theres a potential upside to investing in Pokemon cards, but as with all unique investments, the cons deserve to be heard:
- Pokemania may end soon. As with any investment, hype, and influencer marketing drive up the price of investments. So, prices may quickly deflate.
- Appraisal is difficult and expensive.If you plan to invest in a card worth $5,000+ one day in the future, youll have to pay PSA $300 just to reappraise it and if the markets hot enough to sell it, theres a chance the company will become overwhelmed again and suspend services, jeopardizing your timing.
- Cards could get lost, stolen, or damaged.Pokemon cards only hold their value if they remain in 100% pristine condition. If a PSA 10 Charizard drops to PSA 9 while its in your possession, it loses 80% of its value.
- Demand for rare collectibles is extremely fickle. Sure, demand for rare Pokemon cards may be high right now, but it could easily disappear overnight as young investors and collectors turn to something else. The same thing happened with Beanie Babies, some of which sold for $10,000 in the late 90s and are worth less than $10 now.
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Best Place To Buy Pokmon Cards
Though some trends fade in and out, Pokémon cards seem to be a constant for the youth of the world.
Students can be found trading their cards at recess or competing in duels with crowds watching.
Beyond the game, though, Pokémon cards have come to amass quite a following from collectors hoping to make a profit.
Rare cards increase in value over time, with some cards appraised at over $375,000.
It comes down to what youre looking for.
If you want a few cards with high value to make a profit on resale, then online marketplaces like Troll and Toad and TCG Player might be your best option.
If youre a Pokémon card player looking for some extra, low-cost cards to add to the gameplay, stores like GameStop and Sams Club will be perfect for your needs.
All these stores seem to vary in their selection.
Keep reading for a list of places where you can buy Pokémon cards, online and in-store, and figure out which place is right for you.
Pokemon Card Set Symbols
Use this handy guide to look up Pokemon card set symbols, set names, and set years.
The most common way to organize Pokemon cards is by set. To identify the set, look for a little symbol at the bottom of the card, next to the card number. There are a bunch of these set symbols 5-6 sets are released every year, each with a different set symbol, and theyve been printing cards since 1999!
The following table is a complete list of Pokemon card sets, sorted by date the newest sets are at the top the oldest are at the bottom. If I missed something, let me know if the comments! I want this to be THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR POKEMON CARD SETS!
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Where Is The Best Place To Buy Pokemon Booster Packs/boxes Online
There are more places selling Pokemon booster packs online than there are physical stores.
This is because Pokemon cards have risen in popularity so much that selling them in-store has become a risky business for store owners.
There have been incidences of physical fights breaking out between customers over the last few packs and boxes left on the shelves, and customers lining up overnight for stores to open and stampeding into shops to buy the newest and latest editions.
Online stores have no such issue, so many physical stores are moving onto online-only sales for Pokemon cards, Target has already made this move and there are rumors that Walmart will be next.
Therefore there is a massive market for Pokemon cards online, however, some of them are not worth your time or money. The following stores are verified sellers of genuine Pokemon Booster boxes and cards.
To check out the current prices and availability of Pokemon Booster Boxes, click here to view the selection on Amazon.
Prices For Pokemon Lost Origin Pokemon Cards
Pokemon Lost Origin card list & price guide. Ungraded & graded values for all Pokemon TCG Lost OriginPokemon Cards., historic prices, and past sales.
Find out how to identify your pokemon card using card numbers, sets, foil, and editions.
Prices are updated daily based upon Pokemon Lost Origin listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. Read our methodology.
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Psa 10 Torchic Gold Star Holo Ex Team Rocket Returns: $50000
In the early-to-mid 2000s, popularity in Pokemon was waning. “Pokemania” was on the way out, and that meant a lot of the Pokemon TCG expansions at the time suffered from lower sales and smaller print runs. With Pokemon back on top again now, cards from that era often see higher values than cards older than them. A great example of this is the Gold Star Torchic from EX Team Rocket Returns.
Gold Star Pokemon showcase Pokemon in their shiny forms and have the Pokemon breaking out of the frame as an early example of the many alternate styles the TCG would later experiment with. Why Torchic specifically is worth so much is anyone’s guess, but with only 17 verified PSA 10 grade copies out there, the PSA values them at $50,000 each. Actual auction prices are a bit lower though, as in 2020 PWCC Auctions sold a copy for $25,400.
