What's driving Hong Kong's growing Pokemon card craze?

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HONG KONG: For generations of children, Pokemon cards were something to collect, trade and play with.

Today, they are serious business, with the rarest cards fetching millions of dollars.

In Hong Kong, the hobby is attracting growing interest, with card trading events becoming increasingly frequent, collectors say.

But the surge in prices for some cards has raised questions about whether the boom can last.

WHEN RARE CARDS BECOME TARGETS

In April, two Pokemon cards worth about US$30,000 were stolen from Light TCG, a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

Police arrested and charged a man following the incident, but the shop said the items had yet to be recovered.

"A Pokemon card is something you can take with you so easily, so it may be tempting for thieves," said founder Simon Chung.

The incident prompted the business to tighten security, including keeping its most expensive merchandise out of sight.

"We don’t display the high-value cards, just samples of them. We only take them out from behind the counter when customers ask," Chung added.

Most Pokemon cards are worth far less than the two stolen ones, but at the top end of the global market, prices can be staggering.

In February, a rare Pikachu Illustrator card – originally awarded as a prize in a Japanese illustration contest in 1998 – sold for nearly US$16.5 million at an online auction, setting a world record for any trading card.

A GROWING COLLECTOR COMMUNITY

The Pokemon Trading Card Game was launched in Japan in 1996, based on the popular video game. Its cards are sold in sealed packs, with buyers not knowing which ones they will get.

For collectors, part of the appeal lies in the chance of discovering a rare card worth far more than the price of a pack.

Kenneth Ho, a 36-year-old pilot who has amassed a collection he values at about US$2 million, has been a fan since childhood.

"It was ingrained in my memory even as a child. The game had a tagline saying, ‘Gotta catch 'em all’, and that kind of stuck with me for decades … there's a very addictive gameplay loop."

Ho, who also runs a Pokemon trading card business in Hong Kong, said the scarcity of some cards and growing interest among buyers have helped drive up auction bids.

According to Ho, boxes of cards he bought for about US$100 each several years ago can now sell for 10 to 20 times that amount.

He added: "Some of the cards have less than 100 copies in the world, and then also with the growing buyers' market … you have a lot of capital flowing into the market, and then they are all going onto online auctions to drive the bids up."

Ho said the growing interest is also reflected in the number of card trading events held in Hong Kong.

"Three years ago in Hong Kong, we would get a card show every quarter … and then in 2024 and last year, we've been getting them monthly, and now we're getting them weekly," Ho said.

Yang You, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong Business School, said collectors may also be drawn to rare cards because of the status associated with owning something others do not have.

"You have a very rare card, but I don't have (it), and that creates the desire for me to obtain the card or buy one or trade in the secondary market, so this kind of social interaction drives the demand for these collectables."

IS THE MARKET A BUBBLE?

Economist and author Thomas Yuen warned that some buyers may be purchasing Pokemon cards with the intention of flipping them for a profit.

"Who is the last fool? No one thinks that they are going to be the last one. They keep on trading all those Pokemon cards, and they think that they can always sell it … to someone with a higher price. So this is actually a bubble."

Yet for some collectors, the attraction has little to do with money.

Candy, an 18-year-old student who wanted to be known only by her first name, has been collecting Pokemon cards for more than a decade. She visits a shop twice a week in search of one she has long wanted. 

"When I’m tearing the pack and get some hits, I will feel very excited, very happy. But if it’s nothing, then I would think, ‘It’s okay, because it is life.’"