Most Valuable Pokemon Card Error

It's easy to make mistakes. Everyone does! Of course, the same applies to the Pokemon TCG. With over 2 billion cards printed, error cards are now easier to encounter than ever.

that It's worth checking out the Pokemon cards you have piled up in your cupboard. One or two of them may have a slight glitch, and the funny thing about error cards is that the range of errors is almost endless and each error card is unique.

Updated by Ryan Hay on October 30, 2024: More and more Pokémon TCG cards are being released, and with players having more cards in their hands than ever before, you know that players will be more critical than ever about what cards they open. There are some more common printing errors, such as crimp, but errors like double printing artwork on the card are still very rare. If you're curious about what cards you have, take a look at these unique cards.

16 misspelled card

Lots of typos

Remembering all the spellings of over a thousand Pokémon can be a real test. Xerneas? Do you want to run it? Get out of here. Apparently the people at the Pokemon company are suffering from this problem too. Pokémon, skills, brand, and illustrator are all spelled incorrectly. For example:

• nintendo
• plate
• team momga
• Psyduck
• dark enforcer

…But rest assured, there's much more to it than that. Most of these can be purchased online for a few dollars, but the Ancient Mew that says 'Nintedo' can be a bit pricey. However, handle cards with misspellings with care as they may indicate a fake.

15 incorrectly cut card

Getting the cut line right is difficult

A miscut card is just a miscut. Cards are printed on a large scale. Sheets of (usually) 11×11 card are individually cut within the factory, but there is a risk of human error involved. Sometimes the cards may be slightly misaligned before being split, causing the borders of the cards to be thicker or thinner than usual.

Below are some of the most common error cards, but as you can imagine: Cards with noticeably imbalanced borders often have more value. Most miscuts are minor misalignments where the card sheet slips slightly while cutting. Sometimes the situation can be more serious, like in the case of Okidogi EX, which contains parts from completely different cards.

14 blank card

surprised! It's nothing

No, it's not the regular full-art Reshiram from Snowy Day (the clown white Pokémon!). This is a very extreme typographical error. Sometimes the front of the card isn't printed correctly, leaving you with a completely blank card!

Additionally, sometimes these cards may have holographic foil left on them, resulting in a shiny white card. This card is a very popular item in the error card hunting community, so fans will want to keep their eyes peeled.

13 Prerelease Raichu

Rumors turn into reality

Pre-release cards are specific cards printed with a 'PRERELEASE' or extended logo stamp to promote a new set, often given out at special events. Legend has it that while printing Jungle Clefable Prerelease cards, a certain number of Base Set Raichus were stamped, resulting in the rare Prerelease Raichu.

This card has been just a hint in rumors for years. However, at least two confirmed copies were recently identified by grading company CGC Card. The exact number of copies released into the world of early Pokémon TCG fans is unknown, but is believed to be in the low double digits. Two verified copies of the prerelease Raichu have been verified by David Persin, owner of the world's most complete collection of English-language Pokémon, and a former employee of Wizards of the Coast, the game's original publisher.

12 Magic: The Gathering x Pokemon

Partnership made with cards

Early in the series, a small set of cards were printed with the wrong backing. Both Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering are handled by the same company, Wizards of The Coast.

To be sure, Wizards printed a few Pokemon test cards using Magic: The Gathering card stock. There are only a few cards that are officially certified as genuine (Blastoise, Arcanine and Growlith. They are all sold for a small amount of pocket money). However, I do have photos of Growlithe and Arcanine cards that have the same flaw.

Other interesting things to note about this card are the little lightning bolt next to Blastoise's HP and the use of a different font than the one we all know and love. Due to its scarcity, the price of this card can rival that of a prerelease Raichu.

Only available in theaters

During the first Pokémon movie's release in theaters, a special promo card was given to anyone who purchased a ticket. These cards were Mewtwo, Electabuzz, Pikachu, and Dragonite. Each piece is printed with a gold 'Pokemon: The First Movie' stamp in the upper right corner.

For some reason, some of these flipped over while stamping, resulting in a logo in the bottom left corner of the card instead. It seemed like everyone in the schoolyard had one of those movie promos, but flipped stamp error cards are very rare and can fetch hundreds of dollars or more on eBay.

10 Applicable to position only

unique font

Like most products, Pokemon cards undergo test runs before being mass produced and sold to the public. Naturally, these test cards cannot be sold, so it is important that they are marked in some way, shape or form that says “Do not sell me”.

“For Position Only” works well. Right? No one wants this card with big ugly white text over the face of their favorite 7 foot nightmare cobra. Right? right? Over 100 of these cards have escaped discard and have appeared on eBay and Pokemon TCG collection sites. They all come with a price tag that may require you to take out a loan.

9 Misaligned Holos

slightly moved

As with cut cards, misaligned holographic cards occur when the holographic foil moves slightly during printing, creating a 3D or cropped effect, like the Fossil Articuno card pictured.

Misaligned holographic cards are somewhat closer in value to miscuts than 'For Position Only' cards, but they are not cheap. Like miscut cards, misaligned holos tend to have more value depending on how misaligned they are. This error most commonly occurs with pre-E-Series Wizards of The Coast cards.

8 double printed card

Two for the price of one

In extremely rare cases, card sheets are sent twice. When that happens, there is a very high chance that a special error will occur.

That's what we're seeing with these curious grade cards. At the top of the card is Feraligatr. At the bottom is Professor Ok's theory of God. Both of these cards are in Portuguese, so if you're having trouble reading the text, that's why. This very unique error may not occur very often, but it is certainly a treat for collectors.

7 holo bleed card

Going back to the cheaper style of error cards, there are holographic bleed cards that make violent noises. 'Bleed' here refers to the fact that the holographic effect 'bleeds' into areas of the card that would normally not be holographic. see? It's not that bad.

If there's an error that's most likely in someone's collection, it's either a mistake or something wrong. As with most other cards on this list, the degree of error here determines the card's value (even with the big orange lizard on it, it might be worth a few cents regardless).

6 extended copyright

it will take a long time

The TCG has a huge number of text-based errors. There are often minor grammatical errors or missing words, but sometimes something surprising happens. Sometimes the higher-ups at Wizards use their power to make it seem like their favorite card is. Dark Arbok remained their intellectual property for the next 21,000 years.

I mean, it's is Pretty cool — definitely one of Arita's best illustrations. However, while we are no experts in the legal system, we strongly suspect that this case will not hold up in court circa 21,977 AD.

This is an uncommon typo on the Dark Arbok card, which anyone can purchase online for $25. Nonetheless, it makes a great addition to any collection.

5 flipped backwards

Just flip it over

One of the most interesting printing errors found on Pokémon trading cards is the reverse-back error. There aren't many cards with an upside-down pattern, but POP Series 5 Mew and DP Promo Shinx are common culprits.

In theory, this could happen when printing Pokemon cards. All it takes is improperly loading the sheets into the printer and then passing quality control. Then you will have a completely new inverted card.

4 ink stain

It won't wash away

Occasionally, content may not print properly. We all know that pain, right? Printers are the bane of every home's existence. It doesn't seem to work at all when I need it.

So it's no surprise that Pokemon card printing also has some mistakes. A common one is ink stains. This is different from the other printing errors we've mentioned, as seen on the Haunter card shown above.

Typically, the ink used to draw Pokemon will bleed, stain the card badly, or end up in places it shouldn't be placed. A lot of cards have had small errors like this over the years, but they're still not common enough to get you. Quite a lot of money.

3 Invalid or missing HP.

just a little bit away

Card information is often printed incorrectly or, in rare cases, not printed at all. To be fair, there are a lot of cards to keep track of and a lot of text on them! They get it right most of the time.

However, the HP on Pokemon cards has been misprinted several times. The most famous example of this is the Dark Persian card. Many of them were printed without HP at all. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm sure at least a few students have tried to convince their Pokemon TCG rivals that this means Dark Persian is immortal.

2 pressure

Clean feeling

Squeezing is one of the most common errors found in any Pokemon TCG set. This specific error occurs when inserting a card into a pack.

If a card sticks out of the pack at the top or bottom, it may become stuck during the sealing process. This creates a unique texture on the cards, similar to the wavy process that seals each pack. These types of misprints usually don't have much in terms of value and are mostly just a fascinating glimpse into the packaging process behind a Pokemon card.

1 image error

big and small errors

Image errors are something that doesn't fall into any other category. Everything is fine except for the weird image. This is not necessarily a printing process error. It's like someone sent me a wrong JPG or something. In some cases, you may barely notice any difference if you don't know.

The above image of a Pikachu with red cheeks certainly does. It should actually be yellow. Naturally, Pikachu is a very popular Pokemon, so a misprint on that card could be particularly significant.