Pokémon at 30: How Trading Cards Became Serious Money

By Elliot Riley-Walsh, Founder of Valart

It’s amazing to think Pokémon turns 30 this year. It only feels like yesterday I was six years old, heading to my local corner shop before or after school with my grandparents to buy a pack for me and my brother. I remember the excitement of tearing that pack open to see which cards I got. That feeling hasn’t gone anywhere. Millions of adults and kids have felt the exact same buzz over the last three decades, and it’s what has made Pokémon a household name and one of the biggest TCG games in the world.

The numbers behind the nostalgia

Since 1996, Pokémon has released over 126 English-language card sets, with more than 64 billion cards produced worldwide. Let that sink in for a moment.

Among the earliest and rarest are the Topsun cards, produced by Japanese confectionery company Top Seika in 1997 and included in packs of apple-flavoured gum. Despite carrying a 1995 copyright date, which refers to the Pokémon property, not the cards themselves, these are some of the most sought-after cards in existence, with the blue-backed first prints commanding the highest prices.

But it’s the Base Set that gets most collectors’ hearts racing. If you happen to have a 1999 Charizard, Blastoise or Venusaur that’s PSA graded 10, you’d be doing alright for your pension. A graded 1999 Charizard is currently fetching between £200,000 and £250,000 on the open market.

The record? The 1998 Japanese Promo Pikachu Illustrator Holo CoroCoro Comics card, one of fewer than 40 ever produced and the only copy graded PSA Gem Mint 10. It sold for $16.49 million at Goldin Auctions in February this year.

This might be the time to check the attic. Or your parents’ house. Those Pokémon cards you had as a kid might be worth more than you think.

A thriving community in Wales

Wales has a buzzing Pokémon community. A recent BBC article shone a light on just how much the scene has grown, with more specialist shops opening across the country. Sin City Comics in Newport is a brilliant example. They’ve built a thriving community around TCG where like-minded people can walk in, buy cards, play the game and be part of something bigger than just collecting. It’s exactly what the hobby should be about.

The darker side of rising values

There is, sadly, a less positive side to Pokémon’s success. With the 30th anniversary and the meteoric rise in card values over recent years, shops have been broken into and packs stolen in bulk. Collectors are becoming increasingly reluctant to share their collections online for fear of being targeted. A hobby that was built on community and shared passion is now attracting attention for the wrong reasons.

This is where insurance becomes critical. And this is where the problem really starts.

The insurance gap most collectors don’t know about

Most collectors assume their items are covered under their standard home contents policy. They’re not. Collectibles are typically excluded, and most people only find out when it’s too late.

The alternative is specialist collectibles insurance. But for most collectors, those policies are expensive and difficult to obtain. They’re designed for high-net-worth individuals with collections worth six figures or more. The everyday collector, the person with a few thousand pounds’ worth of cards they’ve built up over years, falls through the gap entirely.

At Valart, this is something we care deeply about. We’re working with insurers to create an ancillary home insurance product that helps collectors get cost-effective cover. The Valart platform gives insurers full visibility of what they’re covering: the items, the valuations, the documentation. It closes the knowledge gap that has kept this market underserved for so long, highlighting a clear opportunity for innovation within insurtech.

Why cataloguing your collection matters more than ever

Beyond insurance, there’s another reason to take stock of what you own. The BBC recently reported on people using AI-generated images to create fraudulent insurance claims. As the technology improves, the risk of fraud increases.

If you have a proper register of your collectibles in one accessible place, with images, documentation, proof of purchase and up-to-date valuations—supported by tools like Valart—the claims process becomes straightforward. You have the evidence. You have the proof. And you have the peace of mind that comes with knowing everything is in one safe, secure place.

Pokémon at 30

Thirty years on, Pokémon is no longer just a game. It’s a global market, a cultural phenomenon and, for many collectors, a genuine financial asset.

Whether you’re sitting on a graded Charizard or a shoebox of Base Set commons, knowing what you have and what it’s worth has never been more important.

And if you’re a collector who hasn’t catalogued what you own yet, there’s never been a better time to start with Valart.