PULL — trading card rarity & desirability explorer — what makes a card rare?

Reading a card

Four things on a card tell you how rare it is. Everything else — the value — builds on top of these.

  • Set symbol (bottom, a little logo) — which set it's from. Older WOTC sets from 1999–2000 have no symbol at all.
  • Collector number like 4/102 — card 4 of a 102-card set. A number higher than the set size (e.g. 103/102) is a "secret" card.
  • Rarity symbol next to the number: ● common, ◆ uncommon, ★ rare. Modern sets add lots more marks on top of the star.
  • Copyright year + artist (tiny, bottom) — dates the print and names the illustrator. Some artists (Arita, Mitsumoto) carry a premium of their own.
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Rarity is only step one. A card being rare doesn't make it valuable — lots of rare cards are worth a dollar. Value comes from rarity times which Pokémon it is, condition, how many survive, whether it's played, and nostalgia. The Desirability tab shows how those stack up.

The rarity ladder

Bottom to top. The printed symbol and the exact odds have shifted a lot over 25+ years and vary by set — treat the odds as rough "one in about N packs."

Old-card stamps that matter

Where rarity meets money

Once you know a card's rarity, these are the levers that turn "rare" into a price:

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This tool has no live prices on purpose. Chasing a number is the wrong game — and prices move daily. Learn why a card is worth something, then check a live source (linked on every card in Look up) when you actually need a figure.

Look up a card

Card images are linked from images.pokemontcg.io and aren't stored here. Data compiled from the community pokemon-tcg-data project.

Desirability score

Value isn't one thing — it's several multiplying together. Slide each factor and watch them compound.

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What this is teaching

A PSA 10 Base Set Charizard and a PSA 10 of a random common share the same grade, but one is worth a house payment and the other a coffee. The difference is every other factor — the Pokémon, the era, how few survived — multiplying on top. Rarity gets you in the door; it rarely finishes the job alone.

Cards that are expensive for only one reason (just playable, just new) tend to fall. Cards that are expensive for many reasons at once (iconic + old + graded + scarce) tend to hold.

What grading does

A grading company (PSA, BGS, CGC) seals a card in a plastic "slab" with a number from 1 to 10. It's judging four things:

PSA 10 = "Gem Mint". PSA 9 = "Mint" (one tiny flaw). BGS adds half-steps and a "black label" 10 (all four sub-scores are a 10). A grade is also a tamper-proof guarantee it's genuine — which matters more every year.

Grade impact

Pick roughly what a raw near-mint copy is worth, and see how the grade multiplies it. These multipliers are very rough and swing hugely by card — a low-population vintage card can jump far more at PSA 10.

$5 · $25 · $100 · $500 · $2,000 · $10,000 · $50,000

Is it worth grading?

Grading costs money (roughly $15–$25 a card at the cheap tiers, much more for fast service or high-value cards) and takes weeks. And the card might come back a 7, not a 10.

My cards

Stored only in this browser. No prices — a collection is more interesting than a number.