I have been collecting trading cards for over 20 years and I have never seen the interest in Pokemon cards explode as it did in 2020. With this new wave of excitement around Pokemon cards and their sudden spike in value, one of the most common questions I seem to be asked lately is – Are Pokemon cards a bubble?
As a whole, Pokemon cards experienced a bubble in 2020. The general value of Pokemon cards overinflated before dropping in market value. However, the bubble produced exposure for Pokemon cards simulating the market and potentially creating a steady increase in market value moving forward.
If you came to this article because you were worried about the value of your current Pokemon cards or wanted to know if now was a good time to get into the trading card game, then I should be able to help dispel some of the confusion you might be facing.
With the demand for Pokemon cards seeing an all-time high, prices skyrocketed, and collector cards became scarce as people bought them up.
This bubble caused a lot of excitement around Pokemon cards due to the spike in market value, but will collectible cards continue to rise and hold in value?
Here is some interesting information you should know about if you are interested in the future of Pokemon cards.
Are Pokemon Cards in a Bubble?
We have seen a huge spike in interest in Pokemon cards. However, the growth in Pokemon’s popularity is less than it was in 2016 when it reached an all-time high.
The 2020 Pokemon card bubble began to see interest drop as we moved into the new year of 2021.
If we look closely at this trend’s data, we can see that the interest in “Pokemon cards” is the highest it has ever been even though overall interest in “Pokemon” was the highest in history in 2016.
Between 2017 and 2020, the interest was fairly stable without any major changes.
If we compare the interest in buying and selling of Pokemon cards of a United States-based audience, we notice that the interest in buying Pokemon cards in 2020 surpassed that of the trend in 2016 by at least 50% (shown in the graph below).
We also notice that the trend in selling Pokemon cards surpassed its previous record.
Through these data points, we can start to get a better understanding of where the future of Pokemon cards may be heading and if this Pokemon bubble is something we should be concerned about.
It’s important to note the fact that despite everyone seeming to have found a new excitement for “Pokemon cards”, the popularity of “Pokemon” saw almost little to no growth during this period of time.
Even more telling is the large growth in interest around the “buying” and “selling” of Pokemon cards in particular.
From the graphs above we can see before the year 2020, the trends were not on the rise before the unexpected spike in growth. Although markets are complex and fickle things, all signs seem to point towards the rise in Pokemon cards being a bubble.
However, that doesn’t mean the bubble is going to burst as you might initially think. Although we commonly talk about bubbles with the assumption that all bubbles “pop“, that isn’t always the case and Pokemon cards be a great example of this.
Understanding the Bubble Effect of Pokemon Cards
We keep seeing and hearing the term bubble mixed with Pokemon. What exactly does this mean? What is the Pokemon Bubble?
The term “bubble,” in an economic context, generally refers to a situation where the price for something—an individual stock, a financial asset, or even an entire sector, market, or asset class—exceeds its fundamental value by a large margin.
Investopedia
We have seen this take place with the rapid increase in the value of Pokemon Cards.
However, the uptick in sales is believed to have been triggered by the pandemic lockdowns across the world.
This newfound interest in Pokemon cards was noticed in 2020, and the popularity has continued to build, but let’s not forget we saw a very similar trend in 2016 after the interactive game “Pokemon Go” was launched.
Pokemon Go certainly hasn’t gone anywhere, but the interest in the game plummeted and often sees less than 5% of the interest it once held in 2016.
Even though there has been speculation that the current trend is due to the pandemic, it did get its push from the release of the Pokemon Sword and Shield game which came out in November of 2019.
The Current Value of Pokemon Cards
When you research the value trends of Pokemon cards, you notice that there can be long periods where the interest has diminished, and card values stay pretty consistent. When a new game has launched the interest in the product begins to climb as newbies begin collecting cards.
The majority of highly valued cards are from early card sets. The most expensive card as of today, May 22, 2021, is the Umbreon Pop Series 5. Pokemon Prices notes the lowest price is $2999.95. While according to Mavin, the highest-paid price was a whopping $31,999.99 six months ago.
The second-rarest and most expensive card, according to Pokemon Prices, is reverse foil EX Dragon 88 TV Reporter for $1,040.89. This card is extremely rare due to a printing error.
If you are interested in the value of your Pokemon cards, you can check out what they are worth on Pokemon Prices. This site is updated hourly, so you are always getting the latest information. It lets you type in the card you are interested in and it will take you to the value trend for that particular card.
What are the Most Sought After Pokemon Cards?
Old Sports Cards shares “20 of the Most Expensive Pokemon Cards Ever.” It is reasonable to say that these are also the ones people search for in collections the most. Let’s look at three of these cards to get an idea of what they are and what makes them so special.
- The Pikachu Illustrator Card: Produced in the late 1990s during a contest, with 39 copies given to the contest winners along with a certificate of authenticity. It is difficult to know how many are still in existence today. One of these cards sold for more than $200,000 in 2019.
- Pokemon World Champions Master Card: Produced for a contest that started in Orlando, Florida, in 2004 and ended in 2010 in Hawaii. Thirty-six contestants received one of these cards, making them some of the rarest of all Pokemon cards. One of these cards sold for more than $21,000 in 2019.
- Pokemon EX Deoxys Rayquaza Holo Gold Star:This card was produced in 2005. What makes it special is the shooting star next to the name Rayquaza. A mint condition Holo Gold Star Rayquaza sold in May of 2021 for just over $19,000.
As you can see, not all of these are all that old. There is usually something that makes the most sought-after cards stand out. This could be a printing error as seen with the EX Dragon 88, or often it is that so few were produced.
Researching the rare cards and comparing them to ones in your collection could be very profitable. This is especially true if the card is in mint condition.
Are Newly Released Pokemon Card Values Rising Too?
It is interesting to note that not only are the vintage Pokemon cards being noticed as valuable. There are quite a few new cards that people are scrambling to get a hold of. According to Infinite TCG Player cards from
- Shining Fates,
- Sword and Shield,
- Champions Path
- Cosmic Eclipse
Cards from these game sets are trending right now. Most of these packs were first distributed from 2019 to 2020. So, if you are wondering if buying a pack of newly released cards would be a good investment, the answer is that it could be a very good one if the pack you purchase has one of the sought-after cards.
Even if you buy a new pack of Pokemon cards at the store and there is not a rare card in it, it doesn’t mean the value of those cards won’t rise with time.
Are Pokemon Cards a Good Investment?
Should you run out and buy Pokemon cards? If you are interested in Pokemon, it could be a great investment. Pokemon has been around since the 1990s and though there are times that the market drops off, interest in Pokemon memorabilia picks back up eventually. This is usually due to a new Pokemon game being released by Game Freak.
Even though the current bubble trend is on a downward slope, this could be a short valley in value graphs. This is because new games are scheduled for release in 2021 and 2022. Nintendo has announced the titles of:
- Pokemon Brilliant Diamond: release late in 2021
- Pokemon Shining Pearl: release late in 2021
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus is due to be released in early 2022.
Knowing the popularity of previous Pokemon games it is acceptable to predict that the release of these new games will help keep the inflated values of vintage Pokemon playing cards in an upward trend.
However, as with any collectible, one should collect because they enjoy it, as there is no guarantee the market value will hold. What is valuable today could quickly drop in value overnight.