Summary
Despite being around since 1996, it seems likePokémon, specificallyPokémon TCG, has never been more popular.Sets and boxes are selling out left and right, people arecamping overnight for a chance to purchase what little stock is available, andwebsites are having to be reconfigured to deal with bots.
It’s pretty wild to think that the cardboard trading cards weallmishandled as kids are basically gold at this point. But just how many cards have been printed? Well, it might blow your mind when you find out.
We Did The Math, So You Don’t Have To
As first shared on Reddit, The Pokémon Companyhas released updated figures for everything ranging from its video games, trading cards and the anime itself.
There, it was revealed that 75 billion (!!!) cards have been printed and sold to date. These 75 billion cards span 16 different languages, with releases in over 90 countries and regions.
That number is up from 64.8 billion in March 2024, meaning, over the course of one year, 10.2 billion cards were printed. According to Reddit, that 10.2 billion is actually down from the year prior, when 11.9 billion cards were printed and sold.
To put things further into perspective, the number of cards printed and sold to date is enough to cross the globe over 3,000,000 times. That’s because the Earth is 24.091 miles long (the distance across the equator). If we pretend each card is the equivalent of one mile, then there’s enough cardboard to cross the Earth 3,011,927 times.
No matter which way you shake it, the number of cards printed is truly mind-boggling. Somehow, it feels like it still isn’t enough product for how big the demand is.
