Pokemon Investment

 The valuation of high-grade and vintage Pokemon cards since 2004 has grown, according to CardLadder by over 3400%. Compare that to the Standard and Poor 500 stock market index, which has grown by a “mere” 483% over the same time period. The overall value of Pokemon cards has grown this year 28%, compared to “only” 13% by the S&P 500. AJ Scaramucci of Treasure Trove.com says he has already turned down an offer of over $3 million for the Tales of Suspense #39 and, though Treasure Trove has no plans to sell the comic or the Pikachu Illustrator card, he believes these sort of collectibles are vastly undervalued and expects the Pikachu Illustrator card due to the same type of rarity as that of artworks by masters from the 18^th and 19^th centuries to reach a valuation of $100 million sometime in the future.

Pokemon Valuation

 

Remember Logan Paul’s Pokemon card which sold for over $16 million (See “Logan Paul’s Pokemon TCG Pikachu Illustrator Card Becomes Most Expensive Trading Card Ever Sold”)? It went to AJ Scaramucci, who calls himself a “venture collector” and is, according to the September 11, 2026 issue of The Hollywood Reporter, a partner in the Treasure Trove website, which bills itself as “a holding company structured to hold and compound elite culturally-significant real-world collectibles” and spent $2 million in cash on a CGC 9.8 copy of Tales of Suspense #39 (first appearance of Iron Man) earlier this summer. Like many other Pokemon collectors, Scaramucci got interested in collecting the cards during COVID though he apparently had no interest in the game when he was younger and, like many of today’s collectors, has no interest in playing the game but sees the cards, comics and other epherema as artistic and cultural items he expects to grow in value over time.

One Piece TCG

 We are unable to secure a steady supply of English One Piece cards but have found a source for Japanese packs, the same place we are getting our Japanese Pokemon cards. We should start getting in some next week.

Pokemon

 We currently have Pitch Black, Chaos Rising, Perfect Order and destined Rivals booster packs in stock, as well as a limited quantity of Japanese Pokemon packs. We also have a few Destined Rivals ETKs left and expect to get in more First Partner Series 3 boxes later this week.

We do play Pokemon from 6 to 8, generally a tournament, on Wednesday night and 1 to 3 on Saturday afternoon.

Pokemon Destined Rivals

 We should have a restock of Pokemon Destined Rivals ETKs out on the shelf Friday.  Price will be $89.99

Pokemon

 For those of you looking for boxed Pokemon sets, we still have a few First Partner St 3 in stock as well as several of the Battle Decks. Limit 1 per purchase please.  We also still have booster packs in stock as well.

Appraisal

 Every once in awhile we get someone wanting us to look at a collection of something and tell us how much it is worth. If we are interested it in buying it from you, we will gladly do so.  However, in general the only things we are currently interested in purchasing are RPGs (role playing games) , boardgames, comics, and Magic cards and not bulk collections of the last two.  For Pokemon cards, we will only offer store credit.

If you want us to look over your collection and tell you what it is worth, we charge $50 per hour to do so.  Going through a collection and determining its value is time consuming and the time we spend doing so is worth something.

We will gladly look at a few cards or comics and tell you what, in our opinion, they are worth for no charge but collections are a completely different matter.

Proxies

 Just a reminder that proxies are not allowed in tournaments or any sanctioned events at the store.  They are forbidden by WOTC in any sanctioned Magic event and the same goes for Pokemon and Konami. You can play them in your own casual play but if we find you using them in tournaments, we will ask you to remove them from your deck.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

 Calling all Pokemon Trainers in the area.  Bring us in cards showing the pictured 10 Pokemon on them and you will earn a limited edition Cinderace Pokemon League foil card.

Packing slips

 

1.      This is one I have asked for before  I doubt I will see any change.  With every new release, Wizards of the Coast and, to a lesser extent, Konami and The Pokemon Company send us a boxful of promotional materials to use promoting that set. Pokemon sends us dice sets, stickers, promotional cards, and activity cards but no indication as to how they want us to use them.  Similarly, Wizards sends us a box filled with assorted promo cards, posters, pins and this time dice and dice bags with the list of items in the kit and their assorted uses posted on the Wizards website. For pity’s sake, put a list in the box that we can use when we open it to see what we are supposed to get and how Wizards wants us to use it. If that is not feasible (and it should be given that whoever packages the kits manages to get the correct items into it almost all of the time), then how about putting a slip of paper with a QR code printed on it taking us to the page listing the items. If it is too much trouble to change the QR code each time, then keep the link static and change the listing of promotional items on the page as each new kit releases.

Allocations

 

1.      Every brick and mortar retailer with which I have spoken reports getting allocated on Pokemon product while online retailers and streamers seem to have plenty of booster boxes to crack open on camera and to sell. Given that the brick and mortar locations are the ones running events which keep people playing, maybe making sure they have the product which their records indicate they can sell. Given the amount of demand for each new product release, getting new product into the hands of influencers instead of into the hands of stores selling the product would seem to take precedence. I doubt I will see any change

Customer

We had a couple of reminders this week regarding how long the store has been in business.  One customer brought his grandson in to buy Pokemon cards and told us he remembered bringing his son into the store 25 years or so ago to buy Pokemon here.

Another customer in his early 20s told us he remembered coming into the University Avenue location with his parents and falling asleep in a chair while they played D&D in one of the game rooms at the old location.

Pokemon

 Got in a small stock of Pokemon tins today.  Limit 1 per customer so decide if you want the larger or smaller tin as we do not expect these to last the weekend. We still have Chaos Rising boosters in stock as well.

Pokemon Stickers

 while quantities last, buy Pokemon and get a free sheet of Pokemon stickers. We have Chaos Rising and Perfect Order booster packs in stock

Trades

 If you bring in a large quantity of cards, games, comics, etc to trade/sell, it will take us a while to get through them so if we are busy, we will ask you either to leave them here for us to go through or to bring them back later.  It is also a good idea for you to call us ahead of time to see if we will make you an offer on the items and save you a trip.  Since we are currently reworking our comic room, we are not looking to to buy any back issues until July.  Boardgames we are currently overstocked on as well. We are always interested in role playing games, Magic and Pokemon cards. However, it is best to bring in small numbers of Magic and Pokemon, say 5 to 10 cards so we can get through them quickly and may you an offer.

Prismatic Evolutions 2

 Got a few complaints on social media and a couple of 1 star reviews on google because of our price on the Prismatic Evolutions set. We would love to price them at the same price Game Stop and Wal-mart has them at and if anyone has a contact with the companes they buy prokemon from so that we can get them at the same cost, we would love to get them.  Unfortunately, we have to buy them at what our distribution system offers them at  and that is not a price that allows us to sell them at the same price that Game Stop and Wal-mart do.

Prismatic Evolutions

 We managed to get in 4 of these.  Our distribitutor offered them to us and we said "Sure".  No idea if or when older Pokemon product will come back into stock.  We do expect to have the Chaos Rising set available for purchase on May 22.  Not sure  as to quantities though so we will be limited people to 1 Elite Trainer Kit per purchase.

Fake Pokemon Cards

 There are large numbers of fake Pokemon cards out there.  We have a few on display in our case, just so you know what to look for.  The easiest "tell" is an off center back on the card.  A real Pokemon card will have the border the same width all the way around. The texture of "foil" cards is also a giveaway. If the filing ir really smooth, it is likely a fake.  also, if the card text does not make sense, it is likely fake. We had a customer bring in a foil Charizard card this weekend and the text referred to burning the opponent's elves. Of course, there are no elves in Pokemon 

Ascended Heroes

 We have Ascended Heroes booster packs back in stock, along with Perfect Order booster packs.  Ascended Heroes are $14.99 and Perfect Order are $6.99. We are not limited quantities on these but are not selling booster boxes of them either. You ae welcome to buy a booster box quantities but will not receive a discount on them, except in the form of Castle Cards or Prefered Customer discounts.

Pokemon Cards up 170%

 should you cash in your stocks and invest in Pokmeon Cards?  Well, the value of Pokemon cards over the past year has increased 170% but Scott does not expect them to hold their value over the long term .  Of course, Scott also counseled parents back in the late 1990s not to expect Pokemon cards to hold their value over the long term so take his advice with a grain of salt.