Pokémon “fans” are rushing into supermarkets to loot the shelves, when stores were victims of burglaries this week.
More than 25 years after “Pokémania”, Japanese pocket creatures continue to fascinate all ages, often for the better, sometimes for the worse. Collectible cards are in the sights of speculators, who do not hesitate to empty entire shelves to resell the boxes on the internet for much more than their price in stores, or single cards whose value can reach summits.
With the release of the new Pokémon card expansion called “Prismatic Evolutions”, stores once again faced adults who were sometimes more immature than their children. Scenes of stampeding are circulating on social networks. We are a long way from the carefree childhood…
With Pokémon Pocket I rediscovered the world of cards and it has indeed become the western
It’s not a myth that the darons jockey for the opening at 8 a.m. to grab as many items as possible (that was this morning for the new collection) pic.twitter.com/9HlEvRGWOf
— Scipion (@Scipionista) https://twitter.com/Scipionista/status/1880323068721352834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Stores robbed this week
Sunday January 12, 2025, a specialized store was robbed in Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère). The thieves had no use for the crate or any other product except the Pokémon cards. Dozens of boxes were shipped, damage estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 euros. The manager confides to our colleagues at France Bleu that the rarest cards are hidden in safes, and that security will be increased.
-At the start of the week, two young people tried to steal binders full of rare cards from a store in downtown Riom, in Puy-de-Dôme. One of the thieves was caught by the seller, the second by the police. They had 4,000 euros worth of cards in their hands, according to La Montagne.
And it’s only the beginning of the year. The theft of Pokémon cards has been in the media several times in 2024. A collector was robbed of 147,000 cards, with damage estimated at 620,000 euros. In July 2024, a man was arrested in Yvelines with loot of 540,000 euros in stolen cards. In Haute-Savoie, thieves intercepted a package containing 20,000 euros worth of cards in August 2024. The list is long.
Head-turning prices
If Pokémon cards are so confusing, it’s because of the completely disproportionate value that some of them can achieve. Rare cards exceed a hundred euros each, and can rise to several thousand euros.
Completely crazy auctions have seen copies go for exorbitant prices: the most expensive card in the world, a collector’s Pikachu, was acquired by American influencer Logan Paul for more than 5 million euros. In another era, Pokemon fans fought to be the best trainers, now they fight to be the richest.
New mobile Pokemon card game breaks records
Interest in Pokémon cards among the general public has also been renewed with the release of the mobile game Pokémon TGC Pocket, downloaded more than 60 million times in the space of a month after its release at the end of 2024. This is the second biggest launch in history for a phone game, behind… Pokémon GO, a true global phenomenon of summer 2016.
Pokémon TCG Pocket is a free game, in which it is still possible to spend real money to acquire collectible cards more quickly. A “free-to-play” which would have generated around $180 million in revenue in its first month.
