Thirty years of Pokémon cards: from 1996 to the 30th Celebration

The Pokémon Trading Card Game was born in Japan in October 1996, reached the West in 1999 and Italy in 2000, and in September 2026 celebrated thirty years with a dedicated line. In between there are around ten series, a few changes of publisher and a collecting scene that has become the game's second life. This is the chronology, stage by stage, with the cards from our catalogue that tell it.

1996: Japan and the first Base Set

The Pokémon Card Game came out in Japan on 20 October 1996, published by Media Factory, a few months after the Red and Green video games. The illustrations were by Ken Sugimori, the designer of the Pokémon, by Mitsuhiro Arita and by a few others. The Charizard, the Blastoise and the Venusaur everyone knows were born there, with numbers and symbols that would remain for decades.

1999: Wizards of the Coast and the English Base Set

In January 1999 Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of Magic, released the Base Set in English in the United States. The first print runs carry the first edition stamp, then come the Shadowless and the Unlimited. It is the origin of the vintage that is worth the most today: the Charizard 4/102 Unlimited has a PSA 10 value of about €11,000 according to PriceCharting, October 2026, from an ungraded range between €200 and €1,500.

Jungle and Fossil followed in 1999, then Team Rocket and the Gym expansions, then Neo Genesis in 2000, the Lugia set. The Lugia 9/111 from Neo Genesis, with a print run famous for its irregular centring and holofoil defects, is today one of the hardest cards to find in 10: PSA 10 value about €28,700, for a card worth between €300 and €1,500 ungraded.

2000: Italy, then the e-Reader era

The cards arrived in Italian in 2000, with the Base Set (Set Base) in 1st Edition and Unlimited and an edition stamp that collectors look for today. In 2002 and 2003 the Expedition, Aquapolis and Skyridge expansions carried on their borders the code strip for the Game Boy Advance e-Reader: low print runs, cards that are rare today.

In 2003 the licence passed from Wizards to Pokémon USA, the company that would become The Pokémon Company International. The EX series began, with Ruby & Sapphire, and the ex cards with full-frame illustrations.

2007 to 2019: Diamond & Pearl, Black & White, XY, Sun & Moon

Every generation of video games brings a series of cards. Diamond & Pearl from 2007, with the LV.X Pokémon; HeartGold & SoulSilver in 2010, with the Primes and the Legends; Black & White from 2011, with the full-frame Pokémon-EX; XY from 2014, with the first Mega Evolutions and the Full Art cards; Sun & Moon from 2017, with the GX and the first Rainbow cards.

For collecting these are years of slow growth. The card to own is still the Charizard of 1999, and modern expansions are bought mainly to play.

2020 and 2021: Sword & Shield and the alt art turning point

Sword & Shield, from 2020, introduces the V and the VMAX, and in 2021 the alternate arts: cards numbered beyond the set total, with a full-frame illustration that tells a scene. Evolving Skies, August 2021, is the set that changes everything. The Umbreon VMAX 215/203, the Pokémon on the rooftop in the moonlight, becomes the most sought-after modern card in the world: between €1,500 and €2,100 ungraded, about €3,400 in PSA 10.

It is the birth of modern vintage: cards four or five years old that are collected with the same care as the Base Set.

2023 to today: Scarlet & Violet, Mega Evolution, 30th Celebration

Scarlet & Violet, from 2023, renames the rarities: Illustration Rare, Special Illustration Rare, Hyper Rare. The 151 set brings back the first one hundred and fifty-one Pokémon with the SIRs of Charizard, Mew and Blastoise; Prismatic Evolutions, January 2025, builds an entire set around Eevee. In October 2025 the Mega Evolution series begins, with the Mega ex and the Mega Hyper rarity.

On 16 September 2026 the 30th Celebration line came out in Italy, under the name 30° Anniversario, with a Classic Collection that reprints the historic cards. The reprinted Charizard 4/102 is worth between €190 and €230 ungraded and about €1,500 in PSA 10: a fraction of the original, with the same illustration by Mitsuhiro Arita.

Collecting as a second life

Thirty years on, the game is still played, in tournaments and at home. But an ever larger share of the cards is never played: it is opened with gloves, sleeved, graded and kept. It is a second life of the game, with its own rules, its grading companies, its dated prices. Pokechrono exists for this second life: every card we put up for auction has passed through an expert, and how it works is written down before any bid.