Pokemon Trading Card Breaks Price Record At Auction

Someone with a lot of money and (presumably) a deep love for Pokemon has just beaten the record for the most money spent on a Pokemon card at auction. The card, called Pikachu Illustrator, sold for $233,000 (25 million yen), Zen Market has reported.

The card, which was bought by an American, is a foil card picturing Pikachu with a paintbrush and a picture of a Charmander. You can check it out the card, in its sale condition, below. It's in "Mint 9" condition, meaning that it has only one small flaw compared to a pristine copy.

The card is extremely rare, having been given only to winners of an illustration contest hosted across four contests in the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic, according to Bulbapedia. The contests, held across 1997 and 1998, handed out under 100 copies of this card in total. The card has no actual viable use in the Pokemon Trading Card game, as the text congratulates the owner for their illustration.

Another huge auction, featuring three different trainer cards, is currently running. At the time of writing, it's up to $284,528 (28 million yen).

Unfortunately, no cards in your old Pokemon card collection is likely to be worth quite this much--even a series 1 holo Charizard. Meanwhile, the Pokemon Trading Card Game is adding Raid Battles to its digital version.