I, like many other people, enjoy a damn good bargain. The Chino supermarkets that litter the Costa Blanca in Spain are a veritable goldmine of super inexpensive items. For the uninitiated, there are a high number of massive Chinese warehouse-sized supermarkets across the Costa Blanca, where an absurdly large amount of random goods can be bought for insanely cheap prices. This is where fake Pokemon cards can be found. For unknowing parents or small children, these cheap cards can be very enticing.
Fake as fake can be
During my time holidaying in Torrevieja over the summer, I managed to pick up a packet that contained 31 Sun & Moon Ultra Prism cards for only €1. I have no idea if that is the correct amount of cards as each pack was already open, with no seal to preserve them. This means that it’s highly possible that some cards can be lost or taken out. This lack of protection should be an alarm bell straight away for any potential buyer. All brand new and legitimate Pokemon cards come in either sealed foil packets, things like sealed tins, and their own individual plastic sleeves.
Obviously, the cards inside weren’t legitimate cards. They weren’t even close. There are a multitude of ways to spot fake Pokémon cards like finding simple spelling mistakes, or checking that the blue is the right shade on the reverse side of the cards. I could immediately tell that they were printed on an inferior batch of cardboard, and the shades of blue on the reverse were all wrong. They were also slightly smaller than genuine cards. The sad thing is, all this information was gleaned from only a quick glance at them.
The fake Pokemon cards list
So what other things could have been wrong with them? Let me start by listing what cards I received…
- 004/066 Piplup x3
- 006/066 Turtwig x 1
- 012/066 Leafeon GX x1
- 013/066 Mow Rotom x1
- 014/066 Shaymin x1
- 017/066 Shinx x1
- 019/066 Monferno x1
- 019/066 Luxio x1
- 020/066 Infernape x1
- 020/066 Luxray x1
- 021/066 Heat Rotom x 1
- 022/066 Salandit x1
- 022/066 Rotom x 1
- 031/066 Darkrai x1
- 032/066 Alolan Diglett x1
- 033/066 Alolan Dugtrio x1
- 043/066 Solgaleo x1
- 044/066 Dusk Mane Necrozma x 2
- 044/066 Garchomp x1
- 045/066 Dialga EX x2
- 045/066 Palkia EX x1
- 048/066 Eevee x1
- 060/066 Gardenia x1
- 064/066 Mt. Coronet x1
- 066/066 Unit Energy x1
- 072/066 Looker x1
Weirdly, there was also a 27/122 M Gyarados EX from a completely different set shoved in there too.
Breakdown
Yeah. You may have thought that I made some mistakes whilst listing them, but sadly, you would be wrong. For a start, the Sun and Moon Ultra Prism set has 156 cards in it. There are also multiple cards that have the same number. For example, Dialga Ex and Palkia Ex are both 045/066. One card (072/066 Looker) even goes past the number limit. Looking even deeper, the numbers on real cards aren’t even formatted like they are on these fake cards. Even better, the Shinx, Luxio, and Luxray evolution family skip a number, going from 17 to 19 to 20. Not that this nonsensical order matters, as they are all in the wrong order anyway, compared to the real set.
Up to now, I’ve only concentrated on aspects of the cards that are shared between them all, like the quality of the cardboard on which they are printed, and the number order. This was to stop me from analysing every card to the last tiny detail, as I could probably go on for quite some time. Plus, I don’t really want to waste my weekend going over all these obviously fake cards. A minor detail I did notice is that each Pokemon is classified as either “Angler Pokemon”, “Pokemon Tadpole” or “Tadpole Pokemon”. In reality, the world of Pokemon has wildlife that is much more diverse than this.
To conclude, there is a whole host of better and more legitimate ways to buy Pokemon Cards. Don’t be conned into exchanging your euros for some Fake Pokemon cards. Or maybe do buy them. I bought mine out of morbid curiosity and I can’t fault any of you for wanting to do the same.
