Owners of New Malden’s Thunderbolt Cards discuss the enduring craze for the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG)
Celebrated annually on 27 February, Pokémon day may appear to many like a hobby for children and dedicated millennials, but Pokémon’s popularity and profitability is reaching new heights.
The market for Pokémon trading cards has become increasingly lucrative. Featuring iconic Japanese characters such as Pikachu and Charizard, the brand’s global appeal has helped drive sustained demand across generations.
Earlier this year, a Louvre-style heist robbed more than $120,000 from a card trading store in New York, holding over 50 employees and customers at gunpoint.
Influencer Logan Paul has put a coveted Pikachu Illustrator card up for auction, with bids reaching $5.1 million and the final sale estimated to be far higher.
Pokémon’s revival is playing out on British high streets too. In New Malden, one local couple’s journey reflects the franchise’s unprecedented growth.
Nick May, specialist retailer and online seller of TCGs, started Thunderbolt Cards as a lockdown passion project. Since then, he and his partner Natasha May have turned the company into a vibrant TikTok community of 26,000 Pokémon TCG enthusiasts. This year they opened a bricks-and-mortar shop on Coombe Road in New Malden.
Reflecting on Pokémon’s current popularity, May said: “I don’t think people fully understand how important Pokémon is to so many. It gives a sense of purpose, belonging, and real joy.”
Money is a big driver here. So what has made the trading cards so valuable?
During the pandemic, Pokémon card prices skyrocketed. A craving for nostalgic entertainment, increased disposable income and the Pokémon’s 25th anniversary meant that what was once a schoolyard game, became its own profitable and lucrative marketplace.
TikTok and YouTube creators fuelled Pokémon’s resurgence through live unboxing videos and card reveals that boost millions of views. A 24-hour livestream in which over 20,000 cards and toys were unboxed, broke the Guinness World Record for the longest unboxing livestream.
Photo Credit: John Angelillo/UPI / Shutterstock
But it’s not only money that is driving the phenomenon. Something about the old school, physical qualuty of trading cards is proving attractive too.
The owners of the new local shop say that Pokémon TCG has had a positive effect on children. May said, “When my kids are playing Pokémon, they aren’t thinking about devices because they’re communicating, working as a team and learning strategy.”
Young fans are not the only drivers of Pokémon’s success. Millennial Jonny Heather (@acecollectorjonny) had been a Pokémon fan since his childhood but rekindled his passion during the pandemic, which he now shares on Instagram.
Heather said: “It wasn’t until lockdown when I saw these content creators on Instagram posting about their love of Pokémon and Animal Crossing, and I just thought ‘I want to do that’.”
However, the game’s growing popularity has also created new challenges for collectors and retailers.
“There are positives and negatives to all of this,” Heather said. “There’s the continued struggle to find TCG packs or products in the wild because of the popularity, or those scalping, which drives the prices of products up massively, but then again it brings people together as we look forward to each new set release.”
With its 30th anniversary approaching, between record-breaking auctions and collaborations like a sold-out Pokémon experience at the Natural History Museum, it looks like Pokémon is here to stay.
