Pokmon Vs Card Series
The Japanese Pokémon VS Series Cards stand out first because these cards were double the price of normal cards. Add to that its lack of common circulation in the US and you have a subset of Pokemon that has proven hard to find.
What’s it worth? If you can nail down the Japan-only cards like Bruno’s Steelix you can command prices of around $100 based on rarity and condition, and well over $200 for a full set.
Black Star Ishihara Gx Promo Card
Sold in April, 2021 for $247,230
As a gift to top-level employees, Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of The Pokémon Company, gave out an estimated thirty copies of this card during his 60th birthday party at the 2018 Pokémon World Championship.
As of this writing, only eight copies have ever been submitted to PSA for grading, making this one of the rarest Pokemon cards in existence.
Making this particular example even rarer is the fact that Ishihara personally signed it as well.
The artwork on the card is fantastic and the “60 Congratulations!” and GX attack of 1060 damage are nice touches to help commemorate his 60th birthday.
Ishihara has been instrumental, to say the least, in building the Pokémon brand by contributing to the development of multiple video games and even initiating the creation of the Pokémon Trading Card Game itself.
Take The Time To Study Their Worth
As Pokemon re-enters mainstream culture with the release of new video games and movies, expect to see an uptick in buying and selling activity of old cards. But interest doesnt pick up overnight.
Its not binary in that sense, Pratte says.
Instead, its a more gradual process where each new Pokemon-related release reminds twenty- and thirty-somethings of their childhood: the crinkling sound of ripping open a new pack of cards followed by a strong whiff of ink as they shuffle through the set, hoping to find something rare.
But as you rummage through your collection, remember that theres no rush to purge now. Spend some time with your cards. See if theyre valuable. Consider getting them authenticated. Then decide if theyre worth selling.;
After two decades, Pokemon and its card-collecting hobbyists arent going anywhere anytime soon.
Adam Hardy is a former staff writer for The Penny Hoarder and specializes in stories on the gig economy. Hes a University of South Florida graduate, who studied magazine journalism and sociology.;
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Pokemon World Championship Master Key Trophy Card
Sold in August, 2020 for $26,900
The Pokémon World Championships are where the best of the best meet each year to battle it out for money, prizes, and the title of Pokémon World Champion.
Players who earn enough points in qualifiers and smaller tournaments receive a special invitation to compete in the three-day event held in rotating locations.
The first tournament kicked off in 2004 in Orlando, Florida, but in 2010 the competition made its way to the Hilton in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii.
Just thirty-six contestants participated in the 2010 event and each received a copy of this beautiful foil card in a special case.
With so few of them ever produced, they are among the rarest Pokemon cards, and command huge prices if and when they do surface for sale or auction.
Pokemon Japanese Champion’s League
Sold in April, 2021 for $30,000
Beginning in 2000, Champion’s League and Battle Roads tournaments offered contestants throughout Japan the opportunity to battle it out amongst the best of the best.
In 2000 and 2001, there were two Champion’s League tournaments, one in the Spring and another in the Summer.
From 2002 to 2006, however, there was a reduction to just one Champion’s League tournament per year.
And before the 2005 tournament held in Tokyo, no trainers received any kind of promotional card.
However, the top four ranking players in each age division of the 2005 tournament received this promotional stadium card, making it the first Champion’s League promo stadium card.;
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Pokemon Japanese Topsun Holofoil Blastoise
Sold in October, 2020 for $20,100
The 1995 Japanese Topsun cards are some of the most interesting early Pokemon cards and were distributed in packs of apple-flavored gum by Top-Seika.
Collectors could find these cards in one of three versions: blue-back, green-back, and prism holofoil.
While 150 different characters appeared on the blue-back and green-back cards, only 16 received a prism holofoil version.
Though these Topsun cards contain a trademark date of 1995, most collectors agree that the company did not distribute them until 1997.
And that makes sense because even the official Pokemon Trading Card Game didn’t debut in Japan until 1996.
The Blastoise prism holo is one of the most desirable Topsun cards and features the same imagery used for the cover art of the Pokemon Blue videogame released on the Nintendo Game Boy in Japan in 1996.
Selling Pokemon Cards: Expert Tips And Takeaways
- Look for rarity indicators such as the type of Pokemon, set symbol and shadow box and, of course, the holographic reflection.
- Pratte recommends getting your cards authenticated and graded if you know theyre worth at least $100 eachand especially if you plan to see them. For cards of lesser value, the cost of getting it graded could exceed the potential selling price of the card.
- Dont fret if you dont have ultra-rare cards. Even some of the lesser-known cards in the base set are worth about $20 each as long as theyre in good condition.
- Be prepared to haggle. Getting them graded can definitely help prove your cards are legitimate, but youll still need to back up their worth with quotes from other buyers, PSAs price guide and other sources when negotiating to get the best deal.
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Pokemon Korean First Edition Charizard
Sold in March, 2021 for $40,000
Unlike some of the other first edition Pokemon cards distributed in different regions and languages in 1999, the Korean version did not debut until a year later in 2000.
Still, they can fetch colossal price tags on the open market just like the other first edition sets.
Not surprisingly, the Charizard is the most desirable of the Korean first edition series.
How Do You Play The Pokmon Trading Card Game
There are lots of ways your kid can learn how to play the trading card game. The best way to learn is with a Trainer Kit. It comes with;two ready-to-play decks that will walk your kid and a friend through the game step by step. Once your kid is used to this one, you can get started with a theme deck. There are also great resources online where your kid can learn how to play: The Pokémon website has a virtual tutorial, but you can also find game rules and guidelines for each generation online. When in doubt, tell your child to ask one of his friends who already knows the game to teach him.
Read more:
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The Rarest Pokmon Cards
The rarest and most expensive Pokémon cards youll need to save your pocket money for
In the Pokémon world, if you want to be the very best, you gotta catch em all. This feat is getting increasingly challenging with the total number of Pokémon now at an insane 898, and if you want to collect every single Pokémon card, there are currently over 10,000 individual cards youll need to obtain.
While collecting that many cards sounds like a difficult task to begin with, some of them are incredibly rare and with rarity comes high costs. The most expensive card in the world cost the buyer $360,000 at auction, so you may need to win the lottery before attempting to finish off your collection.
If you want to find cards organically, booster packs are the way to go. The rush you get when you reach the end of the pack to find a shiny is hard to beat. So, instead of spending your paycheck on one of the rare cards below, it may be worth purchasing a couple of booster packs to see if you can pull a sought after Charizard card, or maybe just a card that features one of your favourite Pokémon.
Here are some of the rarest and most expensive Pokémon cards youll need to save your pocket money for.
Pokmon Cards: What Parents Need To Know
Your kids obsessed with Pokémon cards, but you have no idea what to do with them or where to start. Heres what you need to know.
So your kid has traded in his toy trains and cars for Pokémon cards but you dont know what hes talking about half the time. What is Pokémon? Whats a booster pack? Whats a trainer? And who is this Pikachu fellow hes always mentioning? Your kid will probably always be one step ahead of you in his Pokémon knowledge, but this guide is a good start.
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Ex Dragon Frontiers Charizard Gold Star
Sold in November, 2020 for $30,300
Released in November 2006, the EX Dragon Frontiers set marked the fifteenth main expansion of the EX Series.
Of the 101 cards in the set checklist, there are two rare Gold Star cards: Charizard and Mew .
With the odds of pulling a Charizard thought to be roughly 1 in 144 packs, many collectors never had the fortune of pulling this card from a pack, giving it a reputation as one of the toughest Charizard pulls of any set.
Featuring a stunning image penned by the gifted hands of Masakazu Fukuda, the eye-appeal of this card is also tough to match as the powerful creature breathes fire onto the edge of the card.
Ex Deoxys Gold Star Rayquaza
Sold in December, 2020 for $45,100
Among the most powerful of any Pokémon, Rayquaza is a large, serpentine creature that gained a considerable boost in notoriety after serving as the box art mascot for the Pokémon Emerald video game.
EX Deoxys was the 24th set in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and its symbol is that of a shooting star.
The set consisted of 108 cards, three of which come with a gold star variant, including the Rayquaza Holo.;;
You’ll notice that next to the “Rayquaza” name in the upper-left, there is a foil gold star that sets it apart as the gold star variant.
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Pokemon Japanese Tropical Mega Battle Number 2 Trainer
Sold in October, 2020 for $50,300
Held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village from 1999 to 2001, the Pokemon Tropical Mega Battle gave the best players from the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe the chance to test their skills against each other.
To be invited, players had to first win a local tournament in their respective regions.
During the final match of the Tropical Mega Battle, each player received the same 90 cards that they would use to make their own 40-card deck to battle for the championship.
If a player were fortunate enough to make it far enough through the competition to finish in second place overall, he or she would receive this number two trainer card.
Sticking with the tropical theme for the cover art, an image of Exeggutor, a dual-type grass/psychic Pokemon that resembles a palm tree, sits in the middle of the card with text below it that reads:
“The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament’s runner-up winner is recognized here, and this honor is praised.”
Trophy Pikachu Trainer Number 1 Card
This card was given to those champions coming out of a qualifying round during the first Japanese Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament. That qualifying round was held on the first of two days at the at the Makuhari Messe convention center in China on June 14 to 15, 1997. It represents the first of the legendary “Trainer” Cards given to competition winners and has a value to prove it.
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Snapshot In The Wild In Pokmon Go Explained
The arrival of the New Pokémon Snap Celebration event in April 2021 saw a new type of challenge having to Snapshot in the wild.
To perform this, you must take a picture of a creature on the catch screen. So tap on the Pokémon which has spawned in the wild, and before you throw a ball to catch it, tap the Camera icon at the top of the screen.
Now take a picture, accept the image, and the quest step will be complete.
To clarify you cannot take a Snapshot of a creature which has been caught it has to be just discovered in the wild and not yet in your collection.
Note if you are doing a quest which requires multiple of a certain type or number of wild creatures, remember you can just snap this same Pokémon over and over to complete the entire step. Feels like cheating, but it sure saves time!
Note that creatures who can photobomb such as Smeargle do not appear when performing Snapshots in the wild. Instead, you must take them elsewhere
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Tropical Mega Battle: $10000
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, an annual Pokemon Trading Card Game tournament was held in Honolulu, Hawaii. At this 1999 event, just 12 of these Tropical Mega Battle cards were produced to be distributed to some of the lucky 50 players who attended the event, meaning the remaining number of mint copies is especially low all these years later.
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Showing a Psyduck having a nap in a hammock on a tropical island, this legendary Trainer Card sells for a whole lot of cash thanks to its rarity. In fact, according to the Telegraph, a mint-condition version of the card once sold for $10,000, making it a prime example of how valuable Pokemon TCG prize cards can eventually be.
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Best Pokmon Tcg Cards From Shiny Charizard To Surfing Pikachu
Strategic depth: Medium
Publisher:Wizards of the Coast
Some Pokémon cards stand out just a little bit more than the rest – either due to your own childhood nostalgia from playing the video games and memories of picking up the basics of how to play the Pokémon TCG, because theyre especially popular or powerful, or simply because theyre really beautiful cards thanks to the extraordinary art of the Pokémon TCG illustrators, showcase with alternate artwork and full-art cards. Rare and powerful cards are what everyone’s looking for, a range of unique legendaries to fill out your deck.
It’s not easy though. With thousands upon thousands of cards and would-be Pokémon trainers each having their own preferences for types, Pokémon and abilities, it’s hard to pin down what makes the best Pokémon cards – do you measure the success of a card by how well-known it is or how far it carries a competitive pro player in the Pokémon TCG World Championships?
Everyone has their own list of favourites, but one thing is certain: the most important thing about a card is the ability for players to have fun with it. That could be by collecting it, playing casual matches with friends or even securing a place in the next round of a major tournament. Every card you choose to include in your deck makes it unique, and if its important to you – for any reason – thats as good a reason as any to include it.
Japanese Super Secret Battle Number One Trainer
Sold in July, 2020 for $90,000
With just seven examples of this card graded by PSA, the 1999 Pokemon Super Secret Battle “No. 1 Trainer” promo card is one of the rarest Pokemon cards in existence.
Held between July and August 1999, the regional Super Secret Battle events gave school kids ranging from third graders to eleventh graders the opportunity to compete for a chance to be crowned champion.
Upon winning, the champion of each regional tournament would receive this item card as a prize.
Designed by Hideki Kazam, the card features a holographic image of Mewtwo on the left and a Pokeball on the right that make it instantly recognizable.
Across the bottom, the card reads;The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournaments champion is recognized here, and this honor is praised.;This proves that the person who possesses this card participated in the Secret Super Battle Best in Japan Deciding Match.
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Pokemon Japanese Summer Battle Road Mew Victory Orb Trainer Card
Sold in December, 2020 for $60,000
The Battle Road Summer 2005 tournament spanned across nine different Japanese cities between July 10 and August 14, 2005.
As a prize, the top three competitors from each age division of the regional tournaments received one of these Victory Orb cards that feature Mew and the artwork of Takumi Akabane.
Previous Victory Orb cards from the Battle Road Summer tournaments in 2003 and 2004 did not feature Mew so many hobbyists believe this one to be an aesthetic upgrade.
The Japanese text below the artwork translates to:
“Victory Orb can only be used by official tournament winners. Look at the top 7 cards of your deck, then return them to the top of your deck in any order.”
Holographic Shadowless Blastoise: $2475
Out of the three final-evolution Kanto starters, it’s Blastoise who has the least valuable Shadowless holographic card, reaching heights of $2475 on Pokemon Prices. We say “least valuable”, but that’s still a lot of money for just the one card, and its hardly far behind its sibling Venusaur.
That’s if Blastoise is still in mint condition, of course, which is a big ask considering these cards are over 20 years old. Carrying the powerful Water-type move Hydro Pump, this version of Blastoise was a pretty impressive card to carry in your deck back in the day, but at this point its still a solid collectible card.
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