Easier to find cards include common (black circle mark), uncommon (black diamond), or rare (black star). Harder to find cards are either holofoil rare (black star with holographic art), ultra rare (white star), or secret rare (rarity symbol with a serial number). Some of the most sought-after cards are either full art (cards with only art), EX (‘EX’ is next to the Pokémon name), or reverse holos (holographic sheen is on everything but the art). These cards are limited edition and can be worth a lot of money in mint condition. [4] X Research source
Type (i. e. grass, ground, fighting, water, fire) Set (i. e. guardians rising, roaring skies, jungle, ex sandstorm) Evolution (basic, stage 1, stage 2, mega, break) Pokédex number- each Pokémon is assigned a number in the master list of Pokémon. (Bulbasaur is #001, Emolga is #587 and Oranguru is #765, for example. ) Rarity. [11] X Research source (i. e. common, uncommon, rare)
Wear and tear from handling the cards Water damage Smoke damage Food and drink stains Sunlight and fading from light exposure[13] X Research source
An accent on the ’e’ in ‘Pokémon. ’ The accent needs to be present on both the back and front of the card as well as within any text on the card. Reasonable HP and attack numbers. Fakes will sometimes have ridiculously high stats. Font sizes are uniform and a Pokémon’s attacks will be in bolded font. No spelling errors. Copyright and trademark symbols will be visible. Real cards will not have grainy or fuzzy images or raised textures on the card. The energy symbol on a real card will not take up the entire circle it is in. Fake cards have an almost “bolded” symbol in the bottom right-hand corner. [16] X Research source
