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PodcastThe VergecastSeptember 29, 2026

Pokémon trading cards are their own economy

Pokémon Company's ~10-billion-card annual production hasn't curbed a scalper-and-bot resale economy reselling cards at 2-3x MSRP.

  • 10 billion cards printed: Pokémon Company has printed roughly 10 billion cards globally for two years running, yet shortages persist due to reselling demand.
  • Bot-driven scalping ecosystem: Discord servers sell subscriptions ($75/month or $600/year) granting access to bots using virtual credit cards to mass-buy packs the instant retailers restock.

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Themes, sentiment and reasons are AI-written paraphrases, checked so they never quote an episode. They may contain errors. Not investment advice. Episodes remain the property of their creators.