This Is the Exact Number of Unique Pokémon Cards Out There
Spoiler: Trying to catch them ALL will (probably) lead to a gruesome and untimely death.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) was originally released on October 20, 1996, in Japan, and later released in English on January 9, 1999. Since then, there have been countless sets and expansions to this ever-changing TCG, with tons upon tons of different cards to collect and admire. But just how many of these cards exist in the world? How many unique types of Pokémon cards are out there, and how many different cards exist in total? The answer might be surprising to hear dependent on different guesses—but it’s certainly a lot.
Amount of Pokémon cards
By the numbers, the short answer is that there are a ton of different unique cards. In terms of just the base expansions of TCG, there are a total of 92 unique English expansions and 85 unique Japanese expansions. There have also been lots of different unique promotional sets that all come from different sources. One example is the Black Star Promo sets, which are usually released every time a new generation of Pokémon is added to the TCG. In total, there have been 8 Black Star Promo sets released in English (7 in Japanese). Additionally, there are 10 POP Series promotional expansions, 10 McDonald’s promotional expansions, and 20 unique promotional sets that are labeled ‘special.’
What about the cards themselves? There are also a lot of cards in general—an enormous amount, in fact. As of April of this year, there are 6,959 Japanese cards and 9,110 English cards for a staggering total of just over 16,000 total unique Pokémon cards that have been manufactured in the past 23 years. And as of March earlier this year, statistics report that over 43.2 billion cards have been sold worldwide to all kinds of customers. Now, imagine trying to collect that many unique Pokémon cards—such a feat would be nearly impossible for any serious collector to process.
The short answer to “how many Pokémon cards are out there” is a lot, sure—but the long answer is also still a lot. That number will probably continue to climb as time goes on, but the number of truly valuable cards within the TCG will still be subjective to the fans. Maybe this is one time where we probably shouldn’t try to catch ’em all.
(featured image: The Pokémon Company)
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