S$6.8M for a Pokemon card? Contained in the billion-dollar TCG obsession.

Childhood nostalgia has turn into critical enterprise

S$6.8 million can fetch you a number of issues. A landed property in Singapore, a fleet of supercars, or perhaps a small personal yacht wouldn’t be out of attain.

However some individuals are prepared to splash that type of money on a single Pokemon card.

In 2022, influencer Logan Paul spent that actual sum to get his fingers on the holy grail of Pokemon collectibles—the Pikachu Illustrator card. With solely 39 copies ever made, it’s broadly thought of the rarest and most precious Pokemon card in existence.

After all, a card like this doesn’t simply get slipped right into a binder. It arrived encased in a protecting slab, normal apply for critical collectors seeking to authenticate and protect their prized playing cards. Grading firms like Skilled Sports activities Authenticator (PSA) assess every little thing from centering and edges to floor high quality, giving playing cards a rating that may make or break their worth.

Logan Paul’s Illustrator card obtained a PSA 10 ranking, that means it was in completely pristine, mint situation—as near excellent as a 27-year-old card can get.  He paid much more to maintain his uncommon Pokémon card protected, shelling out S$10,200 for a series and case, decked out in diamonds and gold.

Absurd? Possibly. However for individuals within the buying and selling card sport (TCG) world, it’s critical enterprise—amassing playing cards have developed far past only a childhood pastime.

The brand new digital gold

Pokemon is simply one of many many TCGs on the market—Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering, One Piece, and others have their very own devoted fanbases. However Pokemon stands in a league of its personal: as of Mar 2025, over 75 billion playing cards have been offered, making it the best-selling buying and selling card sport of all time.

It’s all the time had a hardcore base of followers, however demand exploded throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Caught at residence, nostalgia hit laborious, and instantly everybody was dusting off their childhood decks—and within the course of, realised that these cardboard items may truly make them critical cash.

Nearly in a single day, Pokemon playing cards snowballed right into a international phenomenon. Above being mere collectibles, they turned the new digital gold. Auctions routinely hit eye-watering sums, and when you’re questioning concerning the numbers: some Pokemon playing cards have had a greater than 3,000% return on funding since 2004.

Right here in Singapore, the hype is simply as actual. New Pokemon card launches commonly draw crowds within the a whole lot, forming strains that stretch for hours.

Past card shops, conventions are the lifeblood of the TCG neighborhood. They occur nearly weekly, drawing collectors from throughout the island and generally the area.

Strolling into one among these for the primary time, I’ve to confess that I felt somewhat misplaced, not having been a part of the scene earlier than. Everybody appeared to transfer with objective—to finish their units, hunt uncommon playing cards, or brokering trades that may very well be value a whole lot and even 1000’s of {dollars}.

After which there was the sheer scale of all of it. At card conference Collexicon which passed off on Sept 14, founder Fabian Tong informed me the group hit someplace between 12,000 and 15,000 individuals.

Snaking strains twisted round cubicles stacked excessive with PSA-graded playing cards, restricted version releases, and booster packs. Individuals huddled in corners negotiating trades, and conversations oscillated between nostalgia-fuelled debates about favorite Pokemons, and chilly, laborious discussions about market worth.

From the surface, it appeared like insanity. Grown adults queuing for bits of shiny cardboard. However standing there, I type of received it. Once you see how a lot a few of these playing cards can fetch, the obsession instantly feels much less infantile and extra… strategic.

On the similar time, I couldn’t shake the sensation that I’d seen this film earlier than. It was the identical vitality because the NFT and crypto booms—the hype, the shortage, the concern of lacking out. And if historical past has taught us something, frenzies like these don’t final ceaselessly. They all the time come crashing down.

The start of the top?

After I spoke to Fabian, he shared that whereas turnout has been constantly rising at Collexicon’s conventions, the investment-driven frenzy for TCGs has cooled.

“In the course of the pandemic, speculative exercise drove unprecedented demand and costs. On the peak of the surge, grading companies and uncommon card showcases had been in extraordinarily excessive demand. In the present day, the depth has normalised, however these actions stay integral,” he stated.

Different distributors within the scene have observed an identical shift. A lot of them aren’t conventional enterprise house owners to start with, they’re long-time collectors or gamers who stumbled into merchandising not too long ago, turning their ardour right into a aspect hustle—it’s one thing they already love, so why not earn cash off it whereas they’ll?

Clement, the 38-year-old co-founder of The Pokemon Guys, is one among them. He began amassing as a interest in his youthful days, then got here again in 2016 and started livestreaming his card hunts.

By day, he works in logistics and transport, usually flying to the US. It was there that he linked with TCG outlets and suppliers, sparking the concept to begin his personal enterprise and ship playing cards again to Singapore.

Now, The Pokemon Guys is a bodily store the place fanatics can collect to play their beloved decks, whereas additionally immediately supplying sealed card packs to gamers and different outlets—one current order noticed one other retailer buy S$50,000 value of products. When requested if this pattern would final, Clement was candid: the market will all the time fluctuate, up and down.

Willy, 30, co-founder of fellow TCG retailer Capybara Playing cards, shares an identical story. He ran a full-time job earlier than quitting to open his personal store a yr in the past, turning his interest right into a livelihood. Within the final yr, he’s already seen the hype die down, particularly amongst informal entrants chasing tendencies.

When the surge was at its peak, everybody was leaping in, even those that “didn’t know the very first thing about card video games or amassing.” Outlets had been additionally popping up in every single place. However now, he views, the pattern has cooled, and the market is saturated with too many distributors.

Even so, traders haven’t vanished completely. Costs stay profitable, particularly for Pokemon, and a advertising and marketing rep from Idea Grading informed me they’re more likely to stick round—except Pokemon instantly floods the market with new provide.

Some traders will depart with the hype, positive, however many keep pushed by a easy revenue incentive: if the playing cards can nonetheless earn cash, why step away?

Past the income

Traders could come and go, chasing the following huge return. However on the finish of the day, it’s the gamers and collectors—the center of the neighborhood—who hold the TCG scene alive. They’re those buying and selling, battling, and finishing units for the love of the sport, not for revenue margins.

Pink Mora, 35, who handles operations for a luxurious automobile model and cafe in Singapore, has been a part of the Pokemon world since he was 9.

“I began very younger when the English model of Pokemon TCG got here out in 1999,” he recalled. His first card was a primary version Machamp Holographic from the Starter Deck, a tangible piece of his childhood fandom for the Pokémon TV collection.

Now again in amassing after a short hiatus throughout his college years, Pink’s focus is on Charizard playing cards—he’s tracked down 105 variants throughout English and Japanese units—and infrequently hunts classic playing cards for the nostalgia and the paintings.

Pink doesn’t accumulate for revenue. “I’ve spent about S$6,000 since 1999, and my assortment now might be value S$13,000–S$15,000. However I don’t care about grading or slabs. I like to the touch the playing cards, really feel their texture, see the shine with out a plastic case. It’s concerning the pleasure of amassing, not the worth.”

On occasion, although, he admits contemplating the worth of his assortment. “Then I all the time go and ask myself if and can I ever attempt to unload my assortment to get good a reimbursement? Every day, the reply remains to be no.”

“Name it too cliche or sentimental, however I’d love the sensation to be remembered by individuals round me as a real and dependable collector with a narrative for every card on the place and the way I received it a long time in the past.”

And it’s with individuals like Pink that the true spirit of Pokemon endures—those who cherish every card for its story, its paintings, and its place of their reminiscences.

The primary level of Pokemon was to have enjoyable. Past the market fluctuations and hovering costs, it’s the enjoyment of opening a pack, the fun of lastly finishing a set, and the shared pleasure with associates that give the interest its coronary heart.

It isn’t the cash that retains it alive. TCGs could fluctuate in worth, however for Pink and numerous others, each card holds a reminiscence: mornings spent flipping via decks, afternoons in school battling associates, and the quiet satisfaction of holding a card that after meant the world.

Featured Picture Credit score: Pink Mora/ Idea Grading