According to new figures from the buy and sell platform, interest in Pokémon cards has skyrocketed this year. Between January and August 2024, 52,000 Pokémon cards were sold on Tradera. For the same period this year, the figure is 306,000 cards.
We see a general upswing around collector's items. And with Pokémon approaching its 30th anniversary in 2026, interest is likely to continue to grow, says Thomas Larsson.
”Just paper”
Pokémon first came as video games in the 1990s and has since become a cultural phenomenon with TV series, movies, games, and collector's items. The card game has existed since the late 1990s, and it is the early cards that are generally the most valuable.
At the bottom, it's of course just paper, but it's also something that many played as children and that they now have the means to buy, says Thomas Larsson.
Exactly how much a card costs depends, of course, on how rare it is. But the condition of the card also plays a role in the price picture. A new pack of Pokémon cards costs around 70–90 kronor. Individual, more popular cards are sold for everything from a few tens of kronor to several hundred per card.
More common today
Pokémon is one of the more popular card games where new cards are also released at regular intervals. They can also skyrocket in price very quickly.
Generally, many more limited editions are sold now than in the 1990s. It's something that companies do more often, says Soufian at the game and hobby store Alphaspel.
Since companies themselves decide how large a quantity of a particular edition to release, they also indirectly control the price picture on the secondary market.
Many focus on the fact that it's something monetary nowadays, that if you get the right card, you'll make a profit. But the whole point is that it's a game. I think that's forgotten a bit sometimes. The most fun is when you play with others, says Soufian further.
Marcus Alexandersson/TT
Fact: Expensive collector's cards
TT
Some extremely rare cards from Pokémon have been sold for almost astronomical sums over the years. Some have been available only at special tournaments or for marketing purposes, but among the "ordinary" cards is the fire-breathing dragon Charizard – which in the right condition and edition is valued at over 400,000 dollars. The documented most expensive Pokémon card is the "Pikachu Illustrator" from 1998, which was sold for nearly 5.3 million dollars. Other collector's card games, such as Magic, have also become so popular over the years that some cards have been sold for large sums. The most expensive Magic card to date is a copy of "Black Lotus" which was sold for three million dollars in 2024.
