The Most Valuable Pokemon Card Errors

It’s easy to make mistakes. Everyone does! Of course the same applies when it comes to the Pokemon TCG. Over two billion cards printed means that error cards are now easier to come across than ever.

It’s definitely worth checking through those Pokemon cards stockpiled away in the cupboard — there might be a slight defect on one or two of them, and the fun thing about error cards is that the range of errors is almost endless, and each error card is unique.

Updated on October 30, 2024, by Ryan Hay: There are more and more Pokemon TCG cards releasing all the time, and with more cards than ever before in the hands of players, you know that they’re going to be more critical than ever over the cards that they open. There are some more common printing errors like crimping, while others are still quite rare, like double printing the artwork on a card. If you’re curious about one that you might have, take a gander at these unique cards.

16 Misspelled Cards

Typos Aplenty

With over a thousand Pokemon, remembering how to spell them all can be a real test. Xerneas? Exeggcute? Get outta here. Apparently, the folks at the Pokemon Company suffer from this too. Pokemon, moves, brands, and illustrators have all been spelled incorrectly. Examples include…

• Nintedo
• Phanphy
• Team Mamga
• Psyduck
• Dark Exeggcutor

…but rest assured that there are many, many more. Most of these can be picked up for a couple of bucks online, though the Ancient Mew that reads ‘Nintedo’ can get a little pricey. Treat misspelled cards with caution, though, as they could also be indicative of a fake.

15 Miscut Cards

It’s Hard Getting Those Cutlines Right

Miscut cards are just that — miscut. Cards are printed on a large scale. Sheets of cards that are (usually) 11 by 11 are cut into individuals within the factory, but therein lies the risk of human error. Sometimes, the cards will be slightly misaligned before being divided and this results in cards with thicker or thinner borders than usual.

These are some of the more common error cards, but as one can imagine, cards with more noticeably disproportionate borders are often worth more. Most miscuts are just minor misalignments, with the card sheet slipping slightly while being cut. Other times, it can be more severe, as with the Okidogi EX, which has part of an entirely different card on it.

14 Blank Cards

Surprise! It’s Nothing

No, it isn’t a Normal-type full-art Reshiram (the Vast White Pokemon!) on a snowy day. This is a pretty extreme printing error. Sometimes, the front of the card will not be printed correctly, resulting in a completely blank card!

What’s more, sometimes these cards still retain their holographic foil, resulting in a sparkly white card. These cards are quite a hot commodity within the error card hunting community, so fans will want to keep their eyes peeled.

13 Prerelease Raichu

Rumor Turned Real

Prerelease cards are particular cards that are printed with a ‘PRERELEASE’ or expansion logo stamp to promote a new set, often given out at special events. Legend has it that during the printing of a Jungle Clefable prerelease card, the stamp ended up on a certain number of Base Set Raichus, and so the elusive Prerelease Raichu was born.

This card was only a hint of a rumor for years. But in recent times, at least two confirmed copies have been verified by the grading company, CGC Cards. The exact number of copies released into the wilds of early Pokemon TCG fans is unknown but is believed to be in the low double digits. The two confirmed copies of the Prerelease Raichu were verified by David Persin, who owns the most complete English Pokemon collection in the world, and by former Wizards of the Coast employees, the original publisher of the game.

12 Magic: The Gathering x Pokemon

A Partnership Made In Cards

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

Evidently, somewhere along the line, Wizards used Magic: The Gathering card stock to print a few Pokemon test cards. Only a few cards have been officially certified as genuine (Blastoise, Arcanine, and Growlith, all of which sell for some nice pocket change) but there exist photos of Growlithe and Arcanine cards with the same defect.

Other interesting points to note about this card include a small lightning bolt next to Blastoise’s HP and the use of a different font to the one we all know and love. Due to its scarcity, this card could match Prerelease Raichu in price.

Only Found In Theaters

During the time that the first Pokemon movie was in cinemas, special promo cards were given out to anyone who bought a ticket. These cards were Mewtwo, Electabuzz, Pikachu, and Dragonite. Each was printed with a gold ‘Pokemon: The First Movie’ stamp in the top right corner of the artwork.

For some reason, a few of these were flipped during stamping and ended up with the logo on the bottom left of the card instead. While everyone in the schoolyard seemed to have one of the movie promos, the flipped stamp error card is highly rare and can fetch upwards of a few hundred dollars on eBay.

10 For Position Only

A Unique Font

Like most products, Pokemon cards are given a test run before being mass-produced and sold to the public. Obviously, these test cards will not be able to be sold, so it’s important to mark them in some way, shape, or form that says “do not sell me.”

“For Position Only” works well, right? No one will want these cards with big ugly white text over the face of their favorite seven-foot nightmare cobra, right? Right? Over 100 of these cards escaped being thrown away and have appeared on eBay and Pokemon TCG collection sites, all with a price tag that one might have to take out a loan for.

9 Misaligned Holos

Slightly Shifted

Much like the miscut cards, misaligned holographic cards occur when the holographic foil is moved slightly during printing, creating a 3D or cut-out effect, such as on the Fossil Articuno card pictured.

Misaligned holo cards are somewhat closer to miscuts than ‘For Position Only’ cards in terms of value, but they aren’t cheap. Like miscut cards, misaligned holos tend to be worth more based upon how badly misaligned they are. Do note that this error is most common on the pre-E-Series Wizards of The Coast cards.

8 Double Print Cards

Two For The Price Of One

On the exceptionally rare occasion, a card sheet will be sent through twice. When that happens, the odds that it is going to cause some extraordinary errors are very high.

That’s exactly what we’re looking at with this curious graded card. On the top half of the card, a Feraligatr. On the bottom, is Professor Oak’s New Theory. Both these cards are in Portuguese so if you’re having trouble making out the text, that’s why. This very unique error might not come around very often, but it’s certainly a collector’s delight.

7 Holo Bleed Cards

Returning to a more affordable style of error cards, we have the violent-sounding Holographic Bleed cards. The ‘bleed’ here refers to the fact that the holographic effect ‘bleeds’ onto the area of the card that is not usually holographic. See? That’s not so bad.

If there’s an error most likely to be in someone’s collection, it’s a bleeder or a miscut. Like most other cards on this list, the degree of error here is what defines the worth of your card (also if it has that big orange lizard on it, it’s probably worth a few cents regardless).

6 Extended Copyright

It’ll Last A Looong Time

There are a fantastic number of text-based errors in the TCG — often minor grammatical mistakes or dropped words, but occasionally something wonderful happens. Sometimes, the higher-ups at Wizards use their power to ensure that their apparent favorite card, Dark Arbok, remains their intellectual property for the next 21,000 years.

I mean, it is pretty snazzy — one of Arita’s best illustrations, for sure. We’re no experts on the legal system, though, but we strongly suspect this case won’t hold up in court circa 21,977 AD.

This is an uncommon typo on Dark Arbok cards that anyone could nab for $25 online. Still, it’s a wonderful addition to any collection.

5 Flipped Back

Just Flip It

One of the more curious printing errors to come across in your Pokemon Trading Cards are those with a flipped back. There aren’t many cards that have a noted pattern of having an upside-down backside, but the POP Series 5 Mew and the DP Promo Shinx are common culprits.

Theoretically, it could happen with any print run of Pokemon cards, all it would require is a sheet loaded up improperly to a printer and then slip past quality control, and you’d have a whole new run of upside-down cards.

4 Ink Stains

It Won’t Wash Out

Occasionally, things just don’t print right. We all know the pain, right? Printers are the bane of any household’s existence – they just never seem to work when needed.

So, no big surprise that Pokemon card printing also comes with a few mistakes. A common one is an ink stain – it’s distinct from the other printing errors we’ve mentioned, as you can see in the Haunter card displayed above.

The ink, usually for the Pokemon’s picture, gets smudged, stains the card badly, gets placed where it’s not supposed to, etc. Lots of cards over the years have had small errors like this, but they’re still uncommon enough to earn you a pretty penny.

3 Incorrect Or Missing HPs

Just A Little Off

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

The HPs on Pokemon cards, however, have been misprinted more than once. The most famous example of this is the Dark Persian card. A significant number of them were printed with no HP at all. Going out on a limb here, but we bet at least a few schoolchildren attempted to convince their Pokemon TCG rivals this meant Dark Persian was immortal.

2 Crimping

They Feel Neat

Crimping is one of the most common errors you can find across all the Pokemon TCG sets. This particular error happens when the cards are inserted into the pack.

If a card is poking its top or bottom out from the pack, it can get caught in the sealing process. This creates a unique texture on the card, resembling the rippling process that seals each pack. This type of misprint isn’t typically worth a ton extra value-wise, it’s mostly just a fascinating sneak peek into the packaging process behind Pokemon cards.

1 Image Errors

Errors Big And Small

Image errors are things that don’t fall into the other categories; other than the wonky image, everything about them is fine. It’s not a printing process error necessarily – it’s like someone just got sent the wrong JPG or something. In some cases, you’d barely notice the difference if you didn’t know about it.

That’s definitely true for the image above of a Pikachu, which has red cheeks – they should actually be yellow. Unsurprisingly, Pikachu being such a popular Pokemon, misprints of those cards can be especially valuable.