3 ways to know if your Pokémon card is worth holding on to

• A Pokémon card can be worth more than you think, depending on the rarity and condition.
• Trading card games like Pokémon are gaining popularity among Gen Z.
• Older cards, like 1999 editions, can be very valuable at auctions.

That Pokémon pack you bought from Walmart could be hiding a holy grail.

Most Pokémon card enthusiasts fall into one of three categories: collectors who love the franchise, gamers who play the trading card game, and investors who want to make money.

No matter which category you fall into, there are certain types of cards that all Pokémon lovers recognize as top of the line, JJ Hendricks, cofounder of collectible price tracking site PriceCharting, told Business Insider.

Collectible card games are gaining popularity among younger generations. They were the most-purchased secondhand product category for Gen Z in the US on eBay last year. Comparing prices while shopping for cards on eBay can be a good way to learn the value of what you're looking for, but you could still end up paying more than the retail price, Hendricks said.

"The prices on a lot of items have increased a lot," he said. "There are lots of cards that have doubled or tripled in price in the last few years."

Many factors come into play when pricing cards for resale. There are organizations that specialize in grading the condition of cards, and a card's rarity affects how much it could sell for secondhand.

Hendricks broke down his top three tips for how to know if you're holding onto a card worth more than you'd think.

Check the bottom of your card

For the trained eye, there are telltale signs of what makes a Pokémon card valuable. One of those markers is the card number, which indicates the card's position among the total cards in a set. The main thing to look for here is whether the card's number is higher than the total number of cards in the set. That indicates a "secret rare" card, which can be very valuable.

Those cards are "much harder to find," Hendricks said.

The Charizard card pictured above is numbered 39/165, meaning it's the 39th card in a set of 165 total cards made. If the number was higher than 165, that would indicate a secret rare card.

Depending on the condition, secret rare cards can sell for $20 or more than $200 each.

Next to the card number are symbols — typically, stars, circles, or diamonds — that also indicate how common your card is. A star represents a rare card, a diamond is uncommon, and a circle is common.

In the Charizard card above, the star symbol next to the card number suggests that it's rare.

Cool artwork can be deceiving

Many people who collect recreationally do so for the artwork on the card. These unique illustrations, which often make up the whole card, can have a special place in a collector's hoard, Hendricks said.

Don't let the glitz fool you, though. Reverse holographic cards, those with a shiny rainbow effect along the art's border, may look cool, but that doesn't always add value, Hendricks said.

"There are all sorts of different ways they have to add different kinds of effects and different designs to the cards," Hendricks said. "Most of that doesn't really add too much value, versus the ones that are rare and hard to find."

Still, some special card designs can be very valuable, like the Van Gogh-inspired Pikachu, which was discontinued in 2023 by an Amsterdam art museum amid the frenzy it sparked among fans. Those Van Gogh Pikachu cards are listed on eBay for up to thousands of dollars in mint condition.

Older cards are more likely to have higher values

If you're dusting off your parents' old binder of Pokémon cards, you could have a trove of valuable cards on your hands. The first English cards were officially released in 1999 and feature a stamp indicating their edition.

They can be pricier on the resale market because they were printed in more limited quantities than later editions, making them harder to find. They need to be in good condition to hold their value, which is typically scored on a scale from one to 10, 10 being mint condition.

Older cards can cost a few dollars, or they can cost more than a house. In 2022, for example, a "1999 Pokémon Base Set Shadowless 1st Edition Holo Charizard" sold for $420,000 at auction.