Pokémon 30th Celebration Set Sparks Reseller Chaos and Market Backlash

Key facts

• The Pokémon Trading Card Game’s 30th Celebration set released last week with unusually high pull rates for rare chase cards.
• Collectors lined up outside stores nationwide, some camping overnight, to buy the set in person.
• Content creator Natalie Roush posted a now-deleted video showing unreleased premium boxes, prompting accusations of selling stolen cards at inflated prices.
• Resellers using automated bots and inventory-checking programs bought large quantities online, bypassing physical retailers and the Pokémon Center.
• A 72-year-old man was arrested and charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for tracking a Pokémon delivery worker with a hidden device.
• Reseller BotterBoyNova works with Polar Chefs, a cook group offering subscriptions from $660 per year to $75 per month that include private Discord access, restock alerts, and purchasing bots.
• Retail bots violate most retailers’ terms of service but are not illegal; Congress outlawed concert-ticket bots in 2016 and retail-bot legislation has been proposed.
• With 30th Celebration packs flooding the market, resellers complained on Discord and social media about falling prices, with one threatening a class action against The Pokémon Company for artificial market saturation.