More than 16 million dollars for a simple rectangle of cardboard. In February 2026, a 
Pikachu card became the most expensive collectible card ever sold at auction, across all games and all sports. Thirty years after the first booster packs, the Pokémon Trading Card Game is no longer just a game: it is also a collector’s market where some cards fetch dizzying sums.
But what makes one card worth a few cents and another several million? Why can the same card see its price multiplied by ten depending on a simple grade out of ten? And do the cards you open today have a chance of gaining value? The answers come down to a handful of precise criteria, which the big sales of recent years illustrate perfectly.
For this feature, we compiled and cross-checked the biggest sales in Pokémon TCG history from auction houses and grading companies, with the amounts converted into euros. You will find the ranking of records, the story of the most legendary cards, how grading works and the pitfalls to avoid if you want to get into high-end collecting.
