Pokémon Card Set Symbols and Numbers Explained

Pokémon set symbols are the small marks near the bottom of a card that tell you which expansion it came from. On English cards from Scarlet & Violet onwards the mark is a three-letter code such as MEW or PFL, and on older cards it is a small picture. Read it with the collector number printed beside it and you can tie the card to one entry on one checklist. Placement, style and numbering have changed several times, so the rest of this page takes them era by era.

Find the set symbol or expansion code

There is no single spot that holds for every card. The official rulebook's card diagram labels the "expansion code" and the "collector card number" at the foot of the card, which matches current cards, but older cards put them elsewhere. These positions come from real card images in the official Pokémon TCG card database.

• Mega Evolution and Scarlet & Violet: bottom left, under the illustrator credit. A letter in a small white box, then a dark box holding the three-letter code and "EN", then the number. Bulbasaur from the Mega Evolution set reads MEG EN 001/132.
• Sword & Shield: bottom left, a picture symbol, then a letter in a box, then the number. There is no letter code. Card 1 of the Sword & Shield set reads 001/202 beside its symbol.
• Sun & Moon: bottom left, the picture symbol beside a number with no leading zeros. Caterpie in the Sun & Moon set reads 1/149.
• XY and Black & White: bottom right, the number followed by the symbol. Venusaur-EX in XY reads 1/146 and Snivy in Black & White reads 1/114.

The single letter in a box beside the code is not part of the set's identity. It is the regulation mark, and Pokémon's own 2026 rotation notice says a card's legality "is not based on which expansion it's from". Cards from the Mega Evolution set carry an I, for example, and the same letter appears on cards from several other sets. The formats and rotation guide covers what the letters mean for play.

Use the visual set-symbol lookup

Picture symbols are hard to describe in words and easy to misread at card size, so this table works from what is printed as text: the code on modern cards and the numbering on older ones. Search the page for the three letters on your card. For the symbol-only sets, match the denominator and any subset prefix first, then compare the symbol with the card list. Each numbering note was read from that set's card 1, or the card named, in the official database on the date this page was checked.

Sets that could not be checked against an official card image today are not in the table yet. If your code is missing, the sets in order guide lists the sets by series.

Read the collector number

The number has two parts. The first figure is the card's place in the set. The second, the printed denominator, is the length of the main numbered run, not a count of every card in the set. In 151 the main run ends at 165, yet the official database lists a Bulbasaur at 166/165 as an Illustration Rare, and card 199/165 exists too.

Modern cards pad the first figure with zeros, as in 001/165. The Sun & Moon era cards checked here do not, so Hidden Fates card 1 reads 1/68. Some sets also run a subset with a letter prefix and its own denominator. Brilliant Stars Trainer Gallery cards read TG01/TG30, the Crown Zenith Galarian Gallery reads GG01/GG70 and the Shining Fates Shiny Vault reads SV001/SV122.

A number alone does not identify a card. Bulbasaur is card 001 in both Mega Evolution (001/132) and 151 (001/165), and 151 holds two different Bulbasaur cards, at 001 and 166, with different artists. Foil versions of the same card are a separate question, covered in holo vs reverse holo.

Handle promos and cards without a familiar symbol

Promo cards swap the set symbol for a star-shaped promo symbol and drop the denominator. A Sword & Shield era Bulbasaur promo prints SWSH231 as its number. Scarlet & Violet promos print SVP and EN in the code box with a three-digit number, such as Bulbasaur at SVP 046, and Mega Evolution promos do the same with MEP. The official database files these under their own promo listings rather than under any expansion.

Some cards carry marks that point the wrong way at first glance. The Celebrations: Classic Collection Charizard reprints the original Mitsuhiro Arita artwork with the number 4/102 and a 25th anniversary logo on the art, and it belongs to Celebrations, not to the 1999 Base Set. Errors exist too: PSA grades Jungle holos printed without their set symbol as separate "No Symbol" cards, such as Jolteon-Holo No Symbol. The misprints and error cards guide goes further.

When the mark does not help, work from everything else printed on the card. The name, the number, the illustrator credit and the copyright year on the bottom line narrow it quickly. Search the official Pokémon TCG card database by name, then match the number and the illustrator.

Keep language and edition separate

Matching artwork is not proof of a matching card. Mew ex from the English 151 set prints MEW EN 151/165 with a two-star rarity mark, and the official database lists it as a Double Rare. The Japanese Mew ex from ポケモンカード151, released in Japan on 16 June 2023, uses the same artwork by aky CG Works and the same 151/165, but prints sv2a as its code and RR as its rarity. They are two cards from two sets, and each is checked against its own list.

The "EN" beside the code on modern English cards is the quickest language check. The Japanese vs English guide covers the other differences.

Edition works the same way. PSA lists the 1999 Base Set Charizard-Holo (filed as "Pokemon Game") as card 4 and lists Charizard-Holo (1st Edition) as a separate card, and the Celebrations reprint above uses that artwork and that number as well. That is three different cards with one picture and one number between them. The edition stamp, the set mark and the anniversary logo are what separate them, and the 1st Edition and Shadowless guide covers the stamp.

Confirm the card against its checklist

Take a Bulbasaur with a gold star at the bottom. The bottom left reads G, then MEW EN, then 166/165. G is the regulation mark, so set it aside. MEW and EN mean English 151. If the box had read sv2a, the card would be Japanese and the English list would not apply.

The number is above the denominator, so this is one of the cards numbered past the main run. The gold star is a rarity mark, and the official database names this card an Illustration Rare. The illustrator credit reads Yoriyuki Ikegami.

Now open the 151 card list and go to 166. You are matching the name, the number and the illustrator. Bulbasaur, 166 and Yoriyuki Ikegami all agree, so the card is 151 Bulbasaur 166/165. If the list showed a different card at that number, recheck the code first, because a Bulbasaur reading MEG EN 001/132 belongs to the Mega Evolution set and a different list.

Once the set and number are settled, the next mark to read is the rarity symbol beside the number. The rarity symbols guide takes each one in turn.