Starting out: a beginner's guide to collecting Pokémon cards

1. Set a budget

Pick a monthly amount you won't miss, and treat it as the most you'll spend. Packs are a gamble on what's inside: most hold common cards, and that's normal. A budget keeps opening packs fun.

• Decide the amount before you walk into a store.
• Count supplies in it: sleeves and a binder are part of collecting.
• If you go over one month, spend less the next.

2. Pick a goal

A goal tells you what to buy and what to skip. Most collectors start with one of these:

• Open for fun. You enjoy the surprise. Buy booster bundles or single packs at MSRP, and enjoy whatever comes out.
• Complete a set. You want every card from one set. Open some packs, then buy the cards you're missing as singles. Buying singles is usually far cheaper than opening packs until you find them.
• Collect a favourite. You want every card of one Pokémon, or one artist's work. Singles are the main way to do it.
• Play the game. Start with a battle deck like the 30th Celebration Battle Deck ($19.99 MSRP). Add a Build & Battle Box ($21.99) when a new set comes out.

Not sure which box fits your goal? Our what-to-buy guide compares them all.

3. A simple first $50

Here's one way to spend a first $50 at MSRP, by goal. Prices are before tax.

In the first row, the money left over goes on a pack of sleeves and a few toploaders for your best cards.

4. Protect your cards from day one

Cards bend, scratch and fade easily. A few cheap supplies prevent almost all of it.

• Every card you care about goes in a sleeve. A snug "perfect fit" inner sleeve first, then a standard outer sleeve for the best ones.
• Your best few go in a toploader or a magnetic holder. These rigid holders stop bends.
• Cards you flip through go in a side-loading binder. Avoid ring binders for your best cards: the rings can dent them.
• Bulk goes upright in a storage box, sorted by set, somewhere cool and dry.

Our Protect your cards guide covers sizes and double-sleeving in detail.

5. Where to buy

• Big retailers. Target, Walmart, Best Buy and others sell at or near MSRP when they have stock. Our drop guides explain how each one sells new releases.
• Local game stores. A good place to buy, play and trade. Prices on hot sets can sit a little above MSRP, which is normal for a small shop.
• Card vending machines. Many grocery stores have them. Our machine guide and machine map explain how they work.
• Singles. Buy them from a local store, or from a marketplace with buyer protection, from sellers with a long history of good reviews.

GFEA's free drop alerts tell you when stock lands online, and our maps show what collectors reported near you. Check any price against the MSRP on our Products pages.

6. Avoid the common scams

• Prices far below normal. A sealed box at half the MSRP is almost always fake, resealed or not real at all.
• Payments with no protection. Never pay a stranger with friends-and-family transfers, gift cards or crypto.
• Fake drop sites and links. Type the retailer's address yourself instead of tapping a link in a DM.
• "Mystery" repacks. Re-packed bundles from unknown sellers are often mostly bulk.
• Fake cards. Our fakes guide shows the checks that catch most of them.

The same habits work for other trading card games too, from Lorcana to One Piece to sports cards.

Glossary

Products

Sealed

product still in its factory packaging: packs, boxes, tins.

Booster pack

one pack of random cards from a set.

Booster box (display)

36 packs in one box.

Booster bundle

a small box of 6 packs.

ETB (Elite Trainer Box)

Usually 9 packs (it varies by set), plus sleeves, Energy cards, dice and a storage box.

Blister

packs in a plastic bubble on a card back, often with a promo.

Tin

a metal tin with packs and a promo card.

Collection box

packs plus promo cards and an item such as a poster, binder or figure.

Build & Battle Box

a launch-weekend box with packs and cards to build a deck.

Promo

a card that comes in a product or event, not in packs.

Cards and rarity

Set

a group of cards released together, with its own symbol.

Set number

the number at the bottom of a card, such as 25/191. It identifies the card within its set.

Secret rare

a card numbered above the set's total.

Holo

a card whose picture shines.

Reverse holo

a card where everything except the picture shines.

Full art

the artwork covers the whole card.

IR (Illustration Rare)

a full-art version of an ordinary Pokémon card, with the artwork running edge to edge in a special art style.

SIR (Special Illustration Rare)

a rarer, textured full-art version of a Pokémon ex or Supporter card in a special art style, often the most wanted in a set.

Alt art

an alternate artwork of a card that also exists with standard art.

Hit

any rare card you're happy to pull.

Chase card

the most wanted card in a set.

Pull rate

how often a type of card turns up in packs. The Pokémon Company doesn't publish pull rates. Figures you see online come from collectors counting their own openings, and they vary.

Bulk

common cards with little value on their own.

Condition and grading

Raw

a card that hasn't been graded.

Graded

a card a grading company has checked, scored and sealed in a plastic case (a slab).

PSA, CGC, BGS

three well-known grading companies. Each uses its own scale, usually up to 10.

NM (Near Mint)

a card in very good shape, with almost no wear.

Centring

how evenly the picture sits within the borders.

Buying and selling

Singles

individual cards bought or sold on their own.

MSRP

the list price, what a retailer normally charges before any sale.

Scalper

someone who buys up stock to resell it far above MSRP.

Restock

when a store or machine gets more of a product.

Drop

when a product goes on sale, online or in a store.

Resealed

a pack or box that was opened and closed again to look new.

Repack

a bundle put together by a seller, not the maker.