Holo vs Reverse Holo Pokémon Cards: What Is the Difference?

On a holo Pokémon card the foil sits inside the artwork box, and on a reverse holo the foil covers the rest of the card while the artwork stays plain. That is the difference between holo and reverse holo: they are two printings of the same card, with the same name, collector number and rarity symbol. Which cards come in which finish depends on the set, and the rules changed when the Scarlet & Violet Series arrived in 2023.

The difference at a glance

CGC, which certifies collectable cards, describes a holo as a card where only the Pokémon's art box has the holographic shine. It describes a reverse holo as a card with foil across the whole card except the art box. PSA describes the Legendary Collection reverse foils the same way, with the entire front shiny apart from the artwork. Pokémon itself calls reverse holos "parallel foil" cards and says they have a foil pattern surrounding the card artwork.

There is also a third finish, the standard print, with no foil at all. Most commons and uncommons exist as a standard print and a reverse holo. Tilt a card under a single light and watch where the shine moves. On a holo it moves across the picture, on a reverse holo it moves everywhere except the picture, and on a standard print it does not appear.

Recognise the finish on real cards

The table pairs real English cards with their other finish. Card names, numbers and rarity wording come from Pokémon's TCG Live drop rate lists, which mark a "parallel" version against every card that has one. Those lists describe the digital game, so the printed physical set may differ, and a single card should be checked against a photo of the printed card before you rely on it. The table does not include photographs. Each card can be looked up by set and number.

Meowscarada 015/198 is the plain Meowscarada, listed as a rare with a parallel version, not a Pokémon ex. Two further checks help on modern cards. Pokémon prints the set code at the bottom left of a Scarlet & Violet Series card in a black box with white text, and on a parallel foil card it reverses this to a white box with black text. A card that shines across the picture and the border alike is neither finish: CGC describes full art cards as completely holographic, and they sit in the higher rarities.

Why the set and era matter

Reverse holos have not always existed. PSA describes the reverse foils in Legendary Collection, released on 24 May 2002, as that set's biggest innovation. One was made for each of its 110 cards, and one came in every booster pack.

Up to the end of Sword & Shield, a rare could be printed without foil. Pokémon's TCG Live lists for those sets use two separate rarities, Rare and Holo Rare. Evolving Skies Pinsir (001/203) is Rare and Jumpluff (004/203) is Holo Rare, so "rare" and "holo" were separate questions. The same lists show no parallel version of V or VMAX cards such as Leafeon V (007/203). Pokémon's support page says packs from sets before Scarlet & Violet guarantee at least one reverse foil.

Scarlet & Violet changed the rule. Pokémon announced on 9 December 2022 that, from that series on, every card of rare or higher would be foil and each pack would carry three guaranteed foil cards. Its support page now describes a pack as four commons, three uncommons and three foils, at least one of them rare or higher. So a Scarlet & Violet rare is foil as standard, and its reverse holo is the second version. Pokémon also says the new grey border lets the foil peek through on rare cards.

Some sets change the reverse holo itself. Pokémon says the Scarlet & Violet parallel pattern is reminiscent of the tile designs of Paldea, and that Shrouded Fable used a new pattern of its own around the artwork. Prismatic Evolutions added Poké Ball and Master Ball parallel cards, where a ball shows as you turn the card, and Pokémon says the Poké Ball is rare and the Master Ball rarer. Black Bolt and White Flare each have three parallel foil sets, two of them with a rainbow Poké Ball or Master Ball pattern. Everything on this page is about English cards. For Japanese cards, check against the Japanese set itself, and our Japanese vs English guide is the place to start.

Finish, rarity and collector number

A card's identity is made of separate fields, and a listing needs all of them. The collector number at the bottom of the card, such as 015/198, says which card it is. The rarity symbol beside it says which rarity tier it belongs to. From Scarlet & Violet onwards, a set code at the bottom left replaces the old expansion symbol and tells you the set. The finish says which printing you are holding.

Pokémon says the circle, diamond and star symbols for common, uncommon and rare also mark rarity on parallel foil cards. So a reverse holo carries the same number and the same symbol as its standard or holo version, and neither field tells you which one a seller has. Finish is not a rarity. A reverse holo common is still a common, and a reverse holo of a rare is still a rare. Nobody outside the printer knows how many of each finish were made for a given set. The symbols themselves are covered in our guide to Pokémon rarity symbols.

Include variants in a binder or master set

Collectors do not agree on one rule for variants, so this guide uses one stated convention: a slot for every collector number in every finish Pokémon lists for that card. Under it, a Scarlet & Violet common, uncommon or rare gets two slots, and a double rare or anything above gets one. An Evolving Skies Holo Rare gets two (holo and reverse holo), and so does a plain Rare (standard and reverse holo).

Counted that way on Pokémon's TCG Live list, the Scarlet & Violet base set has 258 numbered cards. Of those, 186 (105 commons, 60 uncommons and 21 rares) also have a parallel version, which makes 444 slots before promos or stamped cards. These counts follow the TCG Live list, and the printed physical set may differ, so check any gap against the printed card. A Prismatic Evolutions binder needs further slots for each Poké Ball and Master Ball version you decide to include.

Keep each reverse holo in the pocket next to its other version, in number order, so a gap is obvious at a glance. The first page of a nine-pocket Scarlet & Violet binder would run like this:

• 001/198 Pineco, standard
• 001/198 Pineco, reverse holo
• 002/198 Heracross, standard
• 002/198 Heracross, reverse holo
• 003/198 Shroomish, standard
• 003/198 Shroomish, reverse holo
• 004/198 Breloom, standard
• 004/198 Breloom, reverse holo
• 005/198 Cacnea, standard

Promos, stamped cards and how far people take a master set are covered in our guide to Pokémon master sets.

Choose the correct version when buying singles

A listing that says "Meowscarada 015/198" has not told you which Meowscarada you will get. Before you buy, check that the listing gives you each of these:

• Language, stated in words, not assumed from the photo.
• Set name and full collector number.
• The finish in words: standard, holo, reverse holo, or Poké Ball or Master Ball where the set has them.
• A photo of the actual card, ideally tilted so the foil shows.
• For a Scarlet & Violet Series reverse holo, a clear view of the set code box at the bottom left, which should be white with black text.
• A condition description that covers the surface as well as the corners and edges.
• For a graded card, the variety wording on the label. PSA calls the Legendary Collection reverse holos "reverse foil", so it may not be the wording you expect.

When we open, our singles listings will be under Pokémon singles.

If the finish is clear but the symbol next to the number is not, our guide to Pokémon rarity symbols is the next page to read.