Behold the madness of scalpers rushing to buy Pokemon cards

Picture the scene: You’re up early, you decide to get some shopping done, and you head on down to ye olde supermarket, only to be met by a horde of fidgety dudes at the front door, hungry for a fresh drop of Pokemon cards which can then be scalped online for grossly-inflated prices. That’s the reality which Instagram user tcg_grassi and Twitter user bigcards30 shared over the weekend, as a Walmart in Pennsylvania saw a small mob of folks rush inside the store to score some of that sweet poke-loot.

In a world where digital snake oil via cryptocurrencies have become commonplace even as mining for the stuff slowly burns the planet down, this isn’t exactly an unusual turn of events to see. A previous story about guns, Pokemon cards, and the Target chain stores refusing to stock the merchandise physically may have read like an isolated case, but for various reasons Nintendo’s Pokemon trading card game has become incredibly valuable.

It’s a case of supply being unable to meet demand, and regular jerkasses ruining a hobby for everyone. Kind of sad to see something so pure become so corrupted by scalpers, y’know? It’s even more baffling to see the prices that some of the rare cards will command. For example, a a Blastoise Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Star Hologram card that was part of a test run made by Wizards of the Coast back in 1998 before the Pokemon TCG launched, recently earned $360,000 on auction. That’s mad money!

Heck, even a sealed box of first edition cards can net you over $400,000 when it goes under the hammer. There’s no guarantee how long this Poke-bubble will last though before it eventually bursts and gives people Beanie Baby PTSD, but for now, desperate punters are looking to ride this wave out for as long as they can.

Last Updated: May 24, 2021