How to Start Collecting Pokémon Cards

To start collecting Pokémon cards, decide what you want to collect, then buy sleeves and a binder before any cards. After that, buy singles for the exact cards you want, and sealed packs only when opening them is the point. That order keeps a first collection small and protected.

Choose what you want to collect

There is no default Pokémon collection. The goal decides what you buy, so pick one before you look at any listings. You can mix goals later.

A favourite character is the simplest goal. Pick the Pokémon, then collect its cards across sets and eras in any order.

An artwork goal follows illustrators and card types rather than Pokémon. Recent Scarlet & Violet and Mega Evolution sets include illustration rares and special illustration rares, which show the Pokémon in a scene. The illustrator is credited in small print near the bottom of the card, so an artist is easy to follow.

A set goal means completing one expansion. Decide first if you want the main numbered cards or every card, including those numbered above the printed total. Scarlet & Violet 151 has a printed total of 165, but Pokémon's official list of its cards runs to 207. Our guide to master sets explains the difference.

Language is a separate choice, and a first collection is simpler in one language. Our Japanese versus English guide covers how the two differ.

Playing is its own goal with its own rules. The official rulebook says a deck must be exactly 60 cards, which is a different shopping list from a binder. If the aim is to play, the deck-building guide is the better place to start.

Set a budget for cards and storage

Decide what you will spend in a month, then split it before you browse. The table below is an illustration with made-up shares of 100, so you can scale it to any figure. Change the shares to suit your goal.

Storage comes first in the first month, because it protects every card you buy afterwards. The shares exist to stop one purchase eating the month. They plan spending only and predict nothing about any card.

Decide between singles and sealed products

A single is one named card bought on its own. A sealed product is a factory-wrapped pack or box with unknown contents. Singles get you exactly the card you want, and sealed products get you the opening. Match the format to the goal.

The sealed options differ mainly in what comes with the packs. The Booster Bundle for Perfect Order, a Mega Evolution series set, is six booster packs and nothing else. It is the plainest way to open a few packs.

The Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution Elite Trainer Box holds nine booster packs. It adds 65 card sleeves, 40 Energy cards, a player's guide, dice, a coin and a full-art promo card. Everything sits in a storage box with six dividers. Those extras suit a new player more than someone who only wants cards for a binder.

A booster box, which Pokémon sells as a Booster Display, holds 36 packs of one set. Each Perfect Order pack holds ten cards, a basic Energy and a code card for Pokémon TCG Live. That is a lot of one set for a first collection.

A sensible first month for most people is a few singles from the want list and one booster bundle. That tells you if you enjoy opening packs before you commit to a box of 36.

Your first sleeves and binder

Pokémon cards are what sleeve makers call standard size. A standard sleeve measures 66 by 91 mm, and Ultra PRO says that size fits Pokémon cards. Its standard Deck Protector sleeves come 100 to a pack. When we open, sleeves will sit under sleeves.

Penny sleeves are thin, loose sleeves for standard cards, and Ultra PRO makes its own from 45 micron material. They suit bulk and cards on their way into a binder page. An inner sleeve, such as Ultra PRO's PRO-Fit, is cut close to the card and fits inside a standard sleeve. Using both at once is called double sleeving.

A nine-pocket binder with side-loading pages is a sensible first binder. Nine pockets show cards in rows of three. Ultra PRO's 9-Pocket PRO-Binder holds up to 360 standard-size cards in side-loading pockets. Ultra PRO does not say if that count assumes sleeved cards, so try one sleeved card in a pocket before filling a page. When we open, binders will sit under binders.

A binder is enough for a first collection. For toploaders, boxes and longer-term storage, read our storage guide.

Identify sets, numbers and rarities

The official rulebook labels the parts of a Pokémon card. The card name and HP run along the top. The upper-left corner shows the Pokémon's stage and what it evolves from. The expansion code and collector card number sit at the bottom.

Take Charizard ex from Scarlet & Violet 151. The bottom left of the card reads 199/165, beside the set code MEW EN and two gold stars. Just above is the illustrator credit, Illus. miki kudo. The set total is 165, so 199 is one of the cards numbered above it.

Pokémon's official list of cards for 151 gives the key to those stars. Two gold stars mean special illustration rare. The same list prints Charizard ex at 006 as a double rare and at 183 as an ultra rare. Check any card the same way, by set code and then number. Which code belongs to which set is in our set symbols guide.

The 151 list names eight rarities: common, uncommon, rare, double rare, ultra rare, illustration rare, special illustration rare and hyper rare. Our rarity symbols guide shows which symbol means which.

Check authenticity and condition before buying

Before paying for a single, find the card in the official Pokémon TCG card database on pokemon.com by set and number. Compare the entry with the seller's photographs, front and back. Then run these checks.

• The name, HP, attack names and attack damage match the database entry
• The collector number and set code match the set the seller names
• The rarity symbol matches the rarity in the listing
• The illustrator credit is present and matches
• The photos show the actual card, not a stock image

A card that fails a check is a reason to ask the seller questions before paying, or to pass. Our guide to spotting fake cards goes through the signs on the card itself.

A sealed pack has no number to look up, so it needs different checks. Those are in our fake packs guide.

Condition is the second check. Look at the four corners, the edges, the surface under angled light and how evenly the border is centred. Ask for a photo of the back as well as the front. Our condition standard sets out the five condition words we will use, each with a written test.

Make a collecting plan you can keep using

A plan is seven lines written down. Copy the table into a notes app or print it. Replace the prompt in the right-hand column with your own answer, and read it before each purchase. This page saves nothing you type, so your copy is the only copy.

The first tasks follow from the plan. Buy the sleeves and binder before anything else. Write a want list of ten cards by number, taken from the official list for your target set. Our guides include a page of cards for each recent set. Buy a few of the ten and sleeve each one as it arrives.

Open one booster bundle if opening packs is part of your goal. Sort what comes out into keep, trade and bulk. The trading guide covers what to do with duplicates. After a month, read the plan again and change what did not work.

Most first-collection mistakes come from skipping a step in that order. Buying packs before choosing a goal leaves a pile of cards with no home. Buying cards before sleeves leaves them unprotected. Chasing one named card through packs leaves it to chance, when buying the single does not. Paying for a single without checking the number and photos risks a fake.

If you are starting from a box of old commons rather than from nothing, what to do with bulk Pokémon cards helps you decide what to keep.

When the plan is written, the most useful next page is Pokémon. It is split into sealed products, singles and graded cards, so you can go straight to the format your plan calls for.