Pokémon Cards Are a Rich Man’s Game Now. We Let It Happen
Alright, boys. We gotta talk about the scam that Pokémon has become.
You see these Prismatic Evolutions Elite Trainer Boxes? MSRP is supposed to be around $50. That’s what Pokémon wants you to think they’re worth. But guess what? Distributors, the real scalpers, are selling them to local game stores for $95 before they even hit shelves.
Ninety. F*ing. Five. Dollars.
That means your LGS isn’t just marking them up because they feel like it. They have no choice. The buy-in price is already so high that they’d have to sell at a loss to hit MSRP. And you know who’s fine with this?
Pokémon. The distributors. The entire system built to squeeze us dry.
Pokémon is becoming an investment scam.
Let's be real. Pokémon isn't for players anymore. It’s for:
Investors treating it like a stock market.
Scalpers hoarding boxes in their basements.
YouTubers cracking packs for clicks.
The people actually playing the TCG? They don’t matter. Distributors don’t care about them. They care about controlling supply and milking every last cent from the FOMO crowd.
And the worst part? We let it happen.
Distributors are the real scalpers, but nobody talks about it.
For years, we blamed the eBay resellers and the guys camping out at Walmart. But the real scalping is happening before the product even reaches stores.
Distributors are hoarding, marking up, and forcing LGSs to play along or get cut off.
This is price-fixing on a massive scale, and Pokémon lets them get away with it because they already got paid. They sell to distributors, and then it’s out of their hands. After that, it’s a feeding frenzy.
Pokémon could stop this. They could enforce fair pricing. But why would they? They know we’ll still buy, no matter how bad it gets.
And that’s the part that really stings.
Local Game Stores are getting choked out and nobody cares.
LGSs are the lifeblood of the TCG scene. They run tournaments. They build communities. They keep the game alive.
But guess what? Pokémon and their distributors are actively trying to kill them.
Jacking up buy-in prices so high that only big stores can afford them.
Forcing LGSs to sell above MSRP and take the blame.
Stream sellers getting early allocation and great deals while LGSs starve.
How the f*** is an LGS supposed to survive when they’re forced to buy at 2x MSRP for 20 EBTs, just to compete with some dude who’s selling Prismatic Evolutions packs for $15 all day on TikTok? Yes, that’s a real example.
They can’t.
And when the LGSs are gone, and all that’s left is scalpers and big-box retailers, guess what happens? Prices stay high forever.
And we let it happen.
We’re buying into the hype.
Let’s call it what it is. Most people don’t buy Pokémon cards to play anymore.
Most of us buy because:
✅ We don’t want to miss out.
✅ We convince ourselves the next set will be different.
✅ We chase the rush of cracking packs like degenerate gamblers.
But playing the game? Ha. That’s a joke. You’re not buying an ETB because you need the cards. You know the pull rates are an absolute joke. You don’t care. You’re buying it because you want to feel like you won the lottery.
And distributors know this.
They saw what happened with Base Set Charizards, with the Logan Paul bubble, the scalping madness during COVID.
And instead of fixing the problem, they said, “F* it, let’s lean in.”
That’s why every new set is "hyped to the moon."
Because at the end of the day, Pokémon isn’t selling cards.
They’re selling a dream.
And we keep buying it.
"Just print more”, the trap we keep falling for…
For years, people thought the solution was simple: “Just print more product.”
Guess what? That’s exactly what distributors want.
When Pokémon prints more, distributors don’t have to lower prices. They can raise them.
Why?
✅ Because they control most of the supply.
✅ Because increased supply means they get to decide who gets what.
✅ Because they use every wave of new product as another chance to milk stores dry.
We saw this with Evolving Skies. We saw it with Celebrations. Every time Pokémon prints a new wave, distributors mark up even higher, using excuses like “demand is still high” or “our costs have gone up.”
The problem isn’t supply. The problem is who controls the supply.
And it sure isn’t us.
Nothing will change, because we’re addicted.
This is the part where I laugh. Because even though we’re all pissed, even though we all see what’s happening…
It doesn’t matter.
We will still pay.
We will still chase the hype.
We will still convince ourselves, “Maybe this time, it’ll be different.”
But it won’t. It never is.
And Pokémon knows that.
They could release a “Premium Nothing Special Edition” ETB for $200, and we’d still line up, foaming at the mouth.
Because at the end of the day, we are the reason this keeps happening.
And the worst part?
We know it.
TL;DR:
Pokémon isn’t a TCG. It’s a luxury brand now.
Distributors are the real scalpers, but nobody calls them out.
Local Game Stores are getting crushed.
Pokémon could fix this, but they don’t want to.
We keep feeding the system, so nothing will ever change.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go buy some cards before the price triples again.
