6 Charts Comparing Christmas Day for Video Game, Pokemon Card & Sports Card Collectors

On Christmas morning a large percentage of the United States wakes up and opens Christmas presents. For collectors that usually means Santa (spoiler alert: some loved one), bought them something for their collection. A new video game, fresh pokemon card packs, or the latest sports card hobby box, etc.

Is Christmas Day the exact same for each one of these collector groups though?

PriceCharting.com and our sister site, SportsCardsPro.com, are the #1 trafficed price guides/collection trackers for video games, pokemon cards, and sports cards. We can look at the user traffic to see how Christmas Day differs for each type of collector.

All times and charts below are in Pacific Time Zone.

Spike in Traffic on Christmas Morning

Every collector young and old is eager to open their presents to see what they got. The first thing most collectors will do is open the presents.

Soon after the last wrapping paper has been torn and the Christmas tree is barren, everyone asks themselves "Now what?". The answer for card collectors is very different than the answer for gamers.

There is a huge Christmas Day spike in traffic for Pokemon and sports card users. Pokemon traffic is up 152% on Christmas morning vs the previous Saturday. Sports card users are up 85%.

Pokemon Cards: +152% at Peak on Christmas vs Previous Saturday

Sports Cards: +85% at Peak on Christmas vs Previous Saturday

Card collectors open their new packs and see what see they got. Many of them then rush to PriceCharting or SportsCardsPro to find the value of their new cards.

How much is that full art Charizard GX card worth? Is my new Tom Brady blue rainbow tiger stripe prizm worth anything?

Gamers on the other hand, start playing their games.

There is a small spike in traffic in the morning, but the rest of the day is actually less traffic than a typical Saturday. The Christmas Day peak, at 11am for gamers, is actually 3% below the previous Saturday.

Video Games: -3% at Peak on Christmas vs Previous Saturday

Surprise, Kids Wake Up Earlier Than Adults

The peak in traffic for each type of collectible is different too.

Kids are notorious for waking their parents up early to open presents. I don't have survey data to prove it, but I'm very confident the average present opening time is earlier for households with kids than households without kids.

The average pokemon card collector is younger than the average retro gamer (video game collecting focuses on retro while Pokemon and sports cards focus on new releases). Sports cards is a mix because there are lots of kids into sports cards, but lots of adult card collectors too.

For Pokemon cards the peak in user traffic is 9am. For sports cards it's 10am. And for gamers it is 11am.

This matches up with the ages. Pokemon card collectors are checking their card prices sooner than the average sports card collector, who checks earlier than the average gamer.

Christmas Traffic Declines As Day Continues, But Not the Same Amount

After the peak in traffic, users decline for all collector types.

Pokemon shows a very steady decline with traffic down every hour from the peak. From 9am to 6pm, traffic declined 38%. Still much higher than the previous Saturday but a steady decline as people move onto other Christmas Day activities unrelated to card collecting.

Pokemon Card Users: -38% From Peak to 6pm

Mean while, sports cards have a much smaller decline in traffic and actually increase during some hours of the day instead of a slow and steady decline like Pokemon.

Sports Card Users: -14% From Peak to 6pm

What explains the difference? NBA and NFL games on Christmas Day.

It is really popular for sports fans to check card prices during games. They might buy a card for a player having a great game. Or sell a card for the rookie who got benched. On a typical day, the peak in traffic on SportsCardsPro is during the evening games.

Both the NFL and NBA have nationally televised games scheduled on Christmas Day. The NBA has five games starting at 9am with the Hawks vs Knicks and finishing with the Mavericks vs Jazz ending around 9:30pm. The NFL has two games, a 1:30pm kickoff and a 5:15 kickoff (ending a little after 8pm).

The chart below overlays the game start and end times with the traffic data.

Sports Card Traffic With NBA and NFL Games Overlayed

You can see traffic hold relatively steady while the NBA and NFL games are both being played (1:30-8pm). Then traffic starts declining in the last hour with only one NBA game. Followed by a steep decline after that last game ends.

Summary of Christmas Day for the Average Collector

Gamer: Slower start to unpacking then add some new games to their collection. Then start playing them. Traffic is very similar to the average day.

Pokemon Card Collector: Open new packs early in the day and check the prices on their new cards. Quickly move onto other Christmas activities.

Sports Card Collector: Open new packs in mid morning. Check the prices on those cards. Then start watching pro sports on TV and check card prices until the games end.

Dark Theme on PriceCharting

We've added a dark theme option on PriceCharting. You toggle it on or off from the "My Account" or "Create Account" drop downs in the upper right corner of every page.

For logged in users it will look like this:

Dark Theme Is Off. Check to Turn On.

Dark Theme Is On. Uncheck to Turn Off.

For logged out users it will look like this.

The preference is stored on your device instead of your account because users have different preferences on different devices. Maybe you prefer light theme on your desktop during the day, but like dark theme while you shop for games in bed in the middle of the night.

Once you set the preference it will be persist across all your visits until you change it.

Add & Share Photos Of Your Collection

You can now add photos of your collection directly to PriceCharting and share your collection with the world.

We've added the ability to add up to 8 photos of your collection. To start:

Click the "+ photo" link on your collection page or visit the add photos page.

Choose the photos you want to add. You can "delete" existing photos too.

Submit the new photos.

The photos will show up on your collection pages as a thumbnail. Click on any thumbnail to see the full size photo.

If you choose to share your collection with other people, they will see your collection photos too.

You've put lots of time and money into your collection, your collection room, and the way you display your collection. Inspire other people. Add a photo today and share it with fellow collectors.

PriceCharting Has YuGiOh Card Prices

We've added YuGiOh cards to PriceCharting's trading card section.

You can find prices for cards in 200+ YuGiOh sets and add any of those cards to your collection including rare 1st edition cards like Exodia the Forbidden One ($1,800+) and Blue Eyes White Dragon ($1,600+).

All our tools work with YuGiOh cards like the Collection Tracker, Lot Calculator, ebay Deal Scanner, and all other tools.

To quickly find the value of a YuGiOhCard, search by the card number. Like "LOB-001", "DAMA-EN002", etc. You can also search by the card and set name.

PriceCharting Has Premium Features for Retailers

PriceCharting has had a Pro membership for several years. Pro gives users access to improved tools on the site. These tools were focused primarily at collectors. Another core user on PriceCharting is retailers. We've added a second premium membership with tools focused on retailers.

The same "Pro" tools are still available in the new "Collector" tier. We just changed the name.

New Features Just for Retailers

Demand Reports (or Most Wanted List)

See a list of the most wanted items on the site. Which games or trading cards do people have on their wishlists? You can filter the results by category and even console/set.

This tool will help you know what games are hot and should sell quickly. You can click "Sell Yours" button next to any item and quickly list your item for sale. If your price is good, we'll email everyone with that game on their wishlist and let them know it's available.


See Historic Sales Volume

The historic price charts on every item page will show the historic sales volumes. You can see if supply changed and better understand the reasons behind price changes.

The volume shown in the total volume across all conditions and the data goes back to February 2021.

Retail susbcribers can also sort the Hot Item lists by sales volume as well and see which games are selling the most and which had the biggest change in sales.

Existing Features Only Available to Retailers

• Download all price points (for games and trading cards)
• Download UPC & Amazon Unique ID (ASIN)
• Access to Gamestop Buy/Sell Prices
• Access to our Suggested Buy/Sell Prices
• Full access to eBay Lot Bot
• Full API access to all data

We hope these new features are helpful to you. If so, please subscribe today (you can easily upgrade a current subscription too). Your support helps keep PriceCharting online.

Thank you for using PriceCharting. Please leave any feedback in the comments below.

Collection Total Cost/Profit & Category Level Details

You can now view your total collection cost and total collection profit. AND you can view category level details so you know how much your video games are worth, vs your Pokemon cards, vs your Magic cards.

The cost and profit are visible on all collection pages.

To see the collection value by category, you need to filter the results to a specific category.

* Click "Sort Filter"
* Choose the category from "Category" dropdown

See Cost & Profit by Console/Set

You can also view console/set level details to see how much your Nintendo DS or Pokemon Evolving Skies cards are worth.

* Sort by category first
* Choose the specific console/set in the "Filter by Console" section

Cost & Profit Are Private

The cost and profit values are only visible to you. If you share your collection with someone else they will only see the value and the number of items.

View your collection today and try out these new features.

UPDATE: Local Currency Supported Too

Thanks for suggestions from users in comments, we've added support for your local currency.

The cost will always be in your local currency since you are adding that value manually. The value and profit will be converted to your local currency.

Let us know if you have any feedback or new feature ideas by using the comments below.

Price Index Charts for Trading Cards

Trading card prices rise and fall over time as certain sets become popular or interest ebbs and flows for a hobby. We've added a tool that let's you see how the value of a trading card set is changing over time.

The SP 500 or Dow Jones stock indexes tell you if the stock market is increasing or decreasing in value overall.



Our trading card indexes tell you the same thing for a particular set of Pokemon or Magic cards.

For every trading card set, you can see a chart showing the current average and median price for every card in that set. You can see how the prices change over time as well. Is Pokemon Base Set becoming more popular? Has interest in Pokemon McDonald's 2021 set dropped since launch? Are Magic Beta cards hot or not?

The indexes include only the base cards, no parallels and the index only considers ungraded cards. You can read more details about the indexes and how they are calculated.

The index includes the average and the median by default but you can toggle either on or off. You can also touch/hover on any point on the chart to see details about the price at that particular point in time.

We decided to show both the average and the median because they show different summaries of a set's popularity/value. The median means the same number of cards are more expensive and less expensive than the median price. The median isn't impacted heavily by value changes in the most expensive cards. The average price is more volatile and will go up and down more when the most expensive cards increase or decrease in price.

We hope this tool is helpful for your trading cards collecting.

Retro Collectibles are Outperforming Your Stocks. Here are 5 Insights Why.

Author: Brady Haugh

Pokemon cards. Nintendo games. Football and Baseball cards. Magic the Gathering sets. You may have heard friends bemoan how they wish they had held onto a holographic Charizard Pokemon card a decade ago, as they’d surely retire from selling it today.

These once scoffed-at retro collectibles are experiencing a financial heyday that are rewarding their owners with upside that has meaningfully outperformed most financial markets in the past few years. COVID has forced us to find new hobbies to keep us occupied during isolation, and in the process has ushered in a tidal wave of new cash-infused collectors into the retro collectible markets, spiking prices for collectible items of all shapes and sizes.

So, if you haven’t been paying attention, here’s your chance to catch up, perhaps just in time to hop on the bandwagon…

Before we get to the insights… a quick background on collecting.

So what exactly are retro collectibles? The answer to that is… just about anything that evokes a sense of nostalgia. That being said, there are a few major categories in the retro collectibles market including sports cards, video games, comic books, and vintage branded memorabilia from companies such as Disney. These categories are some of the most popular, and each boasts a swarm of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of passionate collectors across the globe actively buying, selling, discussing, and evaluating each day.

Most collectors started off small, perhaps nostalgic for a Nintendo game played as a kid, or through a group of friends that all collected and traded the same Pokemon cards. Collectors often quickly evolve into a multitude of unique collecting pursuits. Some will aim to complete a full set - perhaps to collect every game ever made for the Super Nintendo. Others will aim to collect just the “grails” - the rarest and most valuable collectibles - like an original Honus Wagner baseball card which sold for nearly $7M. Most collectors construe their own collecting passion project and hunt their items down online or in-person at local or national swap meets. Often it takes years to finish a “set.”

Insight #1 - The demand for collectibles has skyrocketed during COVID.

The isolating nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many individuals to re-evaluate their daily pursuits, or perhaps just encouraged them just to clean out their home, and in the process a swarm of new collectors have emerged. PriceCharting, a site used to view price trends for all types of collectibles, has witnessed an explosion of growth: a 250% increase in monthly active users compared to February of 2020, the month before the pandemic truly began.

Many of the new collectors are simply picking back up collections that they’ve started in the past, equipped with the newfound time and cash to pursue them further. Moreso, the pandemic has witnessed the rise of many new content creators who have driven viral spikes in the many unique collectible markets (have you heard about the $300K Pokemon card?), and their shocking headlines have captured the attention of curious onlookers who have since entered the hobby themselves.

Insight #2 - While common collectibles have earned solid price growth, top-end collectibles have gone to the moon.

As this new wave of collectors has entered the markets, they’ve brought with them a new treasure trove of capital. Retro collectibles by definition have a fixed supply; they’re not making any more 1992 original copies of Little Samson (one of the more expensive Nintendo games with a $5,000 price tag). Yet there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of new collectors hoping to one day add it to their collection to help complete their full set. This phenomenon has put pricing pressure on nearly every single collectible item, from common items up through the grails.

According to PriceCharting’s historical price indices, average collectible video game prices have grown by 56% when compared to the month pre-pandemic. Average trading card prices have followed a similar growth in value during the same period. Part of this effect comes from a generation of collectors that have grown up and now boast a bit of disposable income to spend on the more expensive pieces of their collections. On top of the generational component, COVID has added an additional positive pricing pressure entirely.

This index includes the average price of all retro video games, across all systems

If we isolate the pricing effect just to the top end games we see an even more dramatic trend, where price growth for top-end NES games in 18 months averaged 59% from Feb 2019 - Aug 2021, and price growth for top-end SNES games averaged a whopping 119% increase:

This index includes the avg. price for the basket of top-10 most expensive standard release games from NES and SNES consoles:

Console	Game	Feb 2020	Aug 2021	% Change (18 mos)
NES	Bonk's Adventure	$424	$741	75%
NES	Little Samson	$1,107	$1,761	59%
NES	Flintstones	$752	$1,370	82%
NES	Zombie Nation	$286	$574	101%
NES	Kid Klown	$275	$570	107%
NES	Panic Restaraunt	$537	$881	64%
NES	Power Blade 2	$416	$889	114%
NES	Dragon Fighter	$292	$571	96%
NES	Bubble Bobble	$285	$474	66%
NES	Cowboy Kid	$247	$398	61%
SNES	Hagane	$385	$1,010	162%
SNES	Aero Fighters	$524	$887	69%
SNES	Pocky & Rocky 2	$289	$582	101%
SNES	Final Fight Guy	$185	$473	156%
SNES	Harvest Moon	$151	$376	149%
SNES	Earthbound	$164	$329	101%
SNES	Castlevania Dracula X	$180	$323	80%
SNES	Mega Man X3	$150	$287	91%
SNES	EVO	$131	$340	160%
SNES	Mega Man 7	$124	$286	131%

While one might think that this intense pricing pressure might die down once the world opens back up and collectors return to normal hobbies, it’s likely that won’t be the case, as a new generation of collectors has emerged, and they have new tools to better integrate their hobby into their daily lives.

Insight #3 - Social media has created new, sustainable communities within the collectibles realm.

Did you know that you can now watch YouTube videos of guys that livestream their experience hunting down collectibles at garage sales (see American Arbitrage)? Did you know that there are eBay “resellers” that create YouTube videos about how they buy and then “flip” collectibles for big profits (see Phoenix Resale)? These social influencers have created devout sub-communities within the collecting sphere, and they’ve earned a full time living and then some doing it.

Collectors are eager to see these behind-the-scenes views into life as a full time hobbyist, eager to share in the thrill of the hunt for rare items, and they additionally gain insights that they bring to their own pursuits.

It’s not just YouTube that collectors are leveraging, however. Instagram has become a hotbed for collecting activities. Many collectors use Instagram as their primary platform for sharing new acquisitions, discussing rarities, congratulating other collectors on finds, and leveraging the platform even for buying and selling. Popular retro gaming account @supersparkster recently hosted a “claim sale” - where the seller posts a photo of a collectible and its price, and the first to comment “claim” wins the right to purchase it - and users “claimed” each $200+ item literal moments after each post went live.

Insight #4 - Authentication services have enabled investors to enter the arena.

One of the primary tipping points of growth within coin collecting occurred when private companies emerged to authenticate and grade collectible coins. These grading services would encapsulate the coins in a nearly unbreakable plastic “slab” which would include a numerical grade of the coin’s quality. Nearly overnight collectors gained a new trust in online dealing, and began to purchase more expensive slabbed coins remotely, without needing to see the coin in-hand. These grading services trimmed out the risk of purchasing a counterfeit, and the relatively objective grading standards enabled collectors to quickly compare one coin to another with just a single number. Once a hobby dominated by in-person transactions, coin collectors could suddenly “hunt” for their missing coins with confidence online.

These same grading services have emerged in nearly all other collectible spheres. For retro video games you have WATA and VGA. In sports cards you have PSA and Beckett. Comics have CGC. Other players existg or are quickly emerging in other collectible domains. These services have enabled online transactions to flourish, particularly in the top end of the collectible markets, and it enabled larger institutional money to enter the arena with heightened confidence.

A factory-sealed Super Mario video game for the original Nintendo system recently sold for nearly $2 million. This magnitude of sale could have never occurred without authentication and grading services. Even premier auction houses have begun to partner with grading services, most notably Heritage Auctions partnering with WATA to authenticate and grade all of their retro video game items up for auction.

Insight #5 - There are easy ways to enter the collectibles market, but it’s critical to leverage free tools to avoid making costly mistakes.

There are two unique forces in the retro collectible world: the incumbent collectors and the more nascent investors. To an extent collectors are naturally engaging in investment, and to an extent investors are themselves curating a collection. As the collectibles industry continues to mature and grow, new tools have emerged to help conflate the two spheres: collectors now have tools like PriceCharting to help understand the value of their collection including its individual pieces, and investors now have many online services like VinoVest (for wine) or Rally Rd (for buying shares of collectible grails) available to help them acquire unique collectibles at higher investment-grade price points.

An old coin collecting adage applies very cleanly to the newcomers in the collectibles market: “always buy the book before you buy the coin.” It’s critical to learn the nuances of the hobby before throwing my money at it. These days online collector tools are now readily available, and it would be a critical mistake not to consult them when evaluating a transaction. Make sure to at least understand an item's trading volume, pricing swings, even historical trending before you lay down your hard-earned cash.

So hey, go buy yourself something rare and interesting. Once you get hooked, it’s far more fun than traditional investing. And with the right research, it might even pay out more too. To start, go see what your old games or sports cards are worth - you might be sitting on a gold mine!

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Alice POS Integrates with PriceCharting

Alice POS has added PriceCharting price integration into their point of sale software for video game stores.

You can easily integrate our price data to streamline buying, trading, and selling games. Alice POS can help you manage inventory, handle rental/repair, process trades, and integrate with varous eCommerce solutions.

If you run a game shop, checkout Alice POS and see if it's right for you.

Premium Collection Features: Sort & See Change In Price

We've added a few new tools to PriceCharting collections. Some of these are available to all users and others are available to premium users only.

• Up/Down Arrows Showing Collection Items that Changed in Value
• Sort Collection by Change in Value
• A Collection Dashboard showing more charts and summaries of your collection

Up/Down Arrows in Collection
You can see the up/down arrows in the example at the top of this page. Every user can see a colored arrow indicating if the item increased or decreased in price recently. Any change in value greater than $1 in either direction will show the arrow.

All users can see these on the first 30 items in their collection. Premium users can see the indicators on every item in their collection.


Sort Collection by Change in Value

This feature is only available for premium users. You can sort your entire collection by the recent change in value. See which items increased or decreased in value the most and understand why your collection value is changing.


Collection Dashboard

This feature is only available for premium users. You can see a special dashboard for your collection showing more charts of the items in your collection, like a graph of the most popular consoles/sets, tables show your most valuable items, and the change in value vs last year.

If you collect games and trading cards, this is a good way to see a summary of both categories at once.

Most of our content is totally free to all users, but we do have some bonus features available in Premium accounts. You can see a list of these features and decide if you think they are worth it for you. Any subscriptions do support the site and help keep it running.....so a big "thank you" in advance for any new subscribers and existing premium users.

PriceCharting Has Added Magic Cards

We've added Magic cards to PriceCharting.

You can browse card lists for every Magic card set including standard, foil, and extended art cards.

You can search for Magic the Gathering cards by card and set name and quickly find your card out of the 50,000+ Magic cards we have in the database.

We're keeping track of the ungraded and graded values for each card. Whether you collect Magic or play Magic, you can find the values that matter the most to you.

The Alpha, Beta are definitely the sets with the most expensive cards. Other popular sets are Unlimited, Revised, and Arabian Nights.

You can add MTG cards to your collection to keep track of what you own and add to wishlist and keep track of you are looking to add.

Retro Video Game Prices Are Up 42% In Last Year

Retro game prices are up a lot in the last year. The average retro game* is up 42% since February 2020 and up 9% just last month.

Games for some consoles are up even more. GBA is up 52%. N64 up 61%. PS1 up 45%.

Even newer games are increasing in price. Gamecube is up 81% in a little more than a year. PS2 is up 38% and Nintendo DS is up 30%. Even the Wii, with tons of shovelware games and many million+ sellers, is up 22% on average.

So what's going on with the game market that's causing these huge price increases?

It all started with COVID lockdowns but it has morphed into something else.

In March 2020, the entire USA went into lockdown due to COVID. People were stuck inside and couldn't enjoy activities that involved other people. No concerts, sporting events, restaurants, movies, etc. These were all things that people spent money on but now they couldn't and people had a lot more free time. Many people turned to video games instead. It's indoors and can be played alone or online with others - the perfect COVID activity. More than half of American's turned to video games during lockdowns and sales were up 12%.

Some of these new gamers (or gamers with more disposable income), bought retro games and enjoyed a bit of nostalgia (those good old days when there was't COVID and constant mask wearing). Unlike new games, supply for retro games does not increase if there is more demand. Nintendo isn't making more Super Mario 3 or Earthbound cartridges. With increased demand and fixed supply, Econ 101 tells us that prices will increase and they did.

Retro game prices increased 22% between February and August 2020.

But then things slowed down. More parts of the US allowed more activities, opened schools, allowed in-restaurant dininig, etc. Some states even lifted all COVID mandates and were back to normal. More people had more choices where to spend their money and some people stopped spending it on games.

From August to December 2020, prices increased only 2.5%.

Then in January prices started spiking again. Up 2% in January. Up 2.5% in February. Up 3.8% in March and up 8.9% in April.

With the COVID vaccine rolling out to more people and more states allowing citizens to resume pre-lockdown activities again, you would expect prices to continue holding steady or maybe even decline if demand dropped enough.

What has caused this accelerating increase in prices?

All assets are seeing price increases. Homes prices are up 11%. Stocks are up 30% (even after 25% declines in first months of COVID). Office space sold for record prices. NFTs, Pokemon, Sports Cards, etc. Almost every asset class has seen record sales and/or large price increases.

Investors are looking for places to invest because interest rates are at record lows and all Americans received stimulus checks that many plan to invest. More demand for investments is driving up prices.

And video games are being caught up in the madness.

People are not spending $660,000 to open and play Super Mario Bros. They are buying it as an investment. Some people are buying games because they think they will be worth more money in the future.

Price increases can lead to more price increases. For example. A collector who owns a bunch of games might hold off selling for a while because the prices will be higher next month. This lowers supply and increases prices.

Or a game store might increase their prices now because they don't want to sell out today and see prices increase 10% next month. This accelerates the price increases based on expectations.

This second round of price increases is driven by mainly by cheap money, investors, and speculation.

What happens next?

Prices could climb even higher as the cycle continues. Or higher prices could become the new normal but prices stabalize. Or prices could plummet as the bubble bursts on the investors. Or countless other scenarios.

Whatever happens to the prices, at the end of the day you will still own some fun games. Enjoy playing them, enjoy collecting them, and don't worry about the short-term fluctuations in price.

Please leave your feedback and thoughts on the gaming market in the comments below.



* Retro game: This includes every commercially released, standard game for NTSC NES, SNES, N64, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, GBA, Genesis, Master System, Saturn, Dreamcast, Sega CD and Sega 32X. It does not include variants of the same game.

Quantity Supported in Your Collection

You can now enter the quantity of a particular game/card you own.

Choose the quantity in the collection view and the total value will update on the next page refresh.

Each copy you have must include the same items (Loose, CIB, New, etc). If you own 5 loose copies and 1 CIB copy of a game, you would need to enter those on two different entries.

Let us know if you have any questions or other features you want to see.

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No More UK Support on Marketplace

England has changed many of their shipping requirements starting in early 2021. All sellers are required to create an account with UK VAT (value added tax) collection service and pay VAT fees prior to shipment. The sellers on our marketplace are mostly individuals and small brick and morter stores that might sell one item to UK in a year. It is not worth it for them to deal with this hassle and time consuming forms for one sale.

We do not have immediate plans to collect VAT taxes as a marketplace either. UK sales are a very small portion of the marketplace and it is not worth the development time or cost to implement VAT taxes for the small volume. We will devote our development resources to other tools on the site like tools for all collectors, PAL gmae price guides, and more.

Sorry if this change impacts you. There are definitely costs to burdensome regulations and ,unfortunately, this is one of them.

We've Added Strategy Guide Prices

We now have strategy guide prices on PriceCharting.

The initial list includes all Official Nintendo Player's Guides and some of the more valuable Brady and Prima guides too.

Feel free to add any missing guides to the site and we'll start track sales and prices. Be sure to include the publisher in the name of the guide. For example "Super Mario 64 [Brady]" and "Super Mario 64 [Prima]".

Thank you to all the users who requested this feature over the years.

PriceCharting Has Added Pokemon Cards

We've added Pokemon cards to PriceCharting.

You can browse card lists for every Pokemon card set including standard, reverse holo, and holo cards.

You can search for pokemon cards with the card name and/or number and quickly find your card out of the 10,000+ Pokemon cards we have in the database.

We're keeping track of the ungraded and graded values for each card and boy, howdy can it make a difference in value. Charizard 1st Edition for the base set is worth almost $300,000 when it is PSA 10 and worth $6,500 when ungraded.

The Pokemon Base Set definitely has the most expensive cards.

Do you own some Pokemon cards but your not a pro in Pokemon card identification? Read our "how to determine what Pokemon card you have" guide and get started.

How to Tell What Pokemon Card You Have: Set, Number, Edition, & Foil

You have some Pokemon cards sitting around and you've heard they can be pretty valuable, but you don't know if your cards are rare or common or even how to tell what card you have. What is "reverse holo"? What is "first edition"? And what the heck is "shadowless"?

This guide will help you determine which Pokemon cards you have so you can look them up and know the value.

How to determine Pokemon card numbers?
Fast way to determine Pokemon card?
How to determine Pokemon card sets?
How to determine Pokemon card editions?
How to determine Pokemon card versions? (Base, Holo, Reverse Holo)

How to determine Pokemon card numbers?

The card number is written on all Pokemon cards. It isn't obvious though. Look in the bottom right or bottom left corner of the card. You will see two numbers.

The first number is the card number for this specific pokemon card. "36" in the example above.

The second number is the number of cards in that set. "114" in the above card.

So this card is number 36 out of 114.

Sometimes cards will have numbers higher than the maximum. These are called "Secret Rare" cards and they are some of the most valuable Pokemon cards.

Fast way to determine Pokemon card?

The number and name are usually unique. So with the card number method above and the name of the card, you can usually search for the card and find the exact one you have without worry about sets.

For example, Bergmite #36. Search for that card on PriceCharting and you'll find the card is for Steam Siege set.

You only need to determine the version - standard or reverse holo - to know the exact card you have.

You can use the search box below to find your cards with this method.

For cards that don't have unique name and number combinations you will need to look up the set using the steps below.

How to determine Pokemon card sets?

Several times a year, new Pokemon cards are released in different sets. Names like Vivid Voltage, Team Rocket, Sun & Moon, etc.

Each set has a unique logo printed on the card and a unique list of cards. To determine the set, you locate the logo on the card. It's right above the lower border of the card.

Below is an image showing the logo on a card.

Then look up the logo in a list of Pokemon set symbols.

The only set that does not have a logo is the Pokemon Base Set. It is the first set of Pokemon cards and the most valuable. If you don't see a logo on your card, that's a good thing.

How to determine Pokemon card editions?

Some early Pokemon card sets have "1st Editions" and regular editions. 1st Edition was the first printing of the card and there are fewer of them and they are worth more money. A 1st Edition Charizard could be worth $300,000 in top condition, while a standard Charizard is worth $6,500.

Look for a "1st Edition" logo on the card. The logo is usually near the corners of the Pokemon artwork.

See an example below.

The Pokemon Base Set has another "edition" that other sets don't have. It's called "Shadowless".

Some time after the first edition, Pokemon cards started being printed with drop shadows behind the artwork. But there was a period between first edition and drop shadows being added where there was no shadow. These cards are more rare than the standard versions with the shadow, but less rare than the 1st edition.

See examples belows of the shadowless and standard editions.

Standard

Shadowless

How to determine Pokemon card versions?
Base, Holo, Reverse Holo

Most Pokemon card sets have different versions of the cards. There are "Holo", "Standard", and "Reverse Holo".

Standard: There are no shiny parts on the card. When you tilt the front of the card light doesn't bounce off in different ways on different parts.

Holo (Foil): The Pokemon artwork is shiny. Parts of the artwork reflect light differently when turned at different angles.

Reverse Holo: The part outside the artwork is shiny. Parts of the background will reflect light differently at different angles.


Differences in holo or non-holo can be hard to differentiate in photos, but here are some examples below.

Holo Pokemon Card Example

Non Holo (Standard/Base) Card Example

Reverse Holo Card Example

Non-Holo (Standard/Base) Card Example

Now you know how to identify your Pokemon cards. Checkout PriceCharting's values to see how much your pokemon cards are worth.