Pokemon Counterfeiter

Pokemon is a widely counterfeited product line as there is not much protection for intellectual properties such as Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh, or other products, found in China where most of these knock offs are manufactured. Fortunately for Yu Gi Oh and Magic, aside from the cards, there is little demand for ancillary products so neither offers much incentive for counterfeiters. Due to the widespread popularity of Pokemon, however, there is a lot of potential profit in making knockoff Pokemon products and, once they get into the US, the source is very hard to track down. Also unfortunately, one of the prime sources of knock off Pokemon products, Amazon, shows very little interest in policing its sellers. Unless Amazon gets a direct complaint from a manufacturer regarding a counterfeit product, the company will not take action.

Fake Magic Cards

Unfortunately we have a spate of fake Magic cards hitting the area  I know of at least one Sword of Feast and Famine bought that turned out fake and have heard rumors of a set of fake Power 9. So far, from what I have heard, the faked cards have all currently had a value of $50 or more.

Given this, it is probably a good time, if you are a Magic player, to refresh yourself with methods used to check for fake cards. The classic method is the Bend test. The Bend test is primarily used to determine if a card is rebacked, i.e. the front of a low value card is peeled off and a copy of a higher value card carefully glued to it. This was primarily done with early versions of Magic when versions of valuable cards were reprinted in other versions like Championship Decks. Most modern fakes will pass the bend test.

A better test is the Light Test. Ideally you should have an LED flashlight but any strong portable light source will work. Dim the lights and press the light up against the card. If you are using an LED and the card is real, the light from all 9 diodes should show clearly through the card as individual points of light. If using another light source, the light should show clearly through the card. If the card is a fake, the light will show through diffused and dimmer.

If you are dealing with a lower priced card, say $2-$20, you are pretty safe regarding its authenticity. Much like with counterfeit bills, counterfeiting Magic cards is not profitable except with higher end cards

Counterfeit Codenames

Czech Games Editions is the latest game company to call attention to the number of counterfeit editions of its best selling game Codenames. Ways to tell if you have a counterfeit copy of the game include misspellings on game cards, flimsier card stock and a Chinese point of origin. Since Czeck Games Editions prints Codenames in the Czech Republic, online sellers shipping from China are likely selling counterfeited copies. If you look at this one, which originates in China, you can see from the provided photos that the components differ significantly from those included in a real copy of the game

Why does it matter?  Because the money spent on counterfeits never gets to the publisher of the game and, without the revenues from sales of their game, the publisher is unable to produce more copies of the game, develop new games or pay their bills.

Increased Counterfeiting

This week's Rolling for Initiative column looks at the growth of counterfeiting in the gaming industry.This had been a problem with TCGs ever since the 1990s, with RPGs since the advent of the PDF and now with boardgames, due to the ease of accessing cheap overseas manufacturing.