How to Find Yellow Dots in Prototypes - DIY Guide

Articles
,
1

I received a few dms from concerned owners asking me whether their prototypes are fake or not. I decided to write a guide because the image analysis is simple enough that you can do it yourself if you have access to a photo editor or a smartphone.

What you need

If you have a scan

You will need a photo editor like photoshop, gimp (free download), Photopea (free web app)

If you have the card in hand

You can use an iPhone (not free) to take an HD photo of the prototype and change the image settings to reveal yellow dots. @billwill01 goes into more detail here and here

What can be analysed

Any LaserJet printed, colour prototype can be analysed for the dot matrix. This includes

  • alpha playtests
  • beta playtests
  • delta presentation cards
What cannot be analysed
  • LaserJet printed cards that are entirely black and white, i.e. alpha prototypes
  • offset printed cards i.e. double foil errors, disco holos, jungle white borders etc.
The photo editor method
  1. Get a 4k quality scan, CGC scans do not work because they are too small and do not contain the yellow dot matrix information.
  2. Open the scan in your photo editor of choice
  3. Convert the colour space to CMYK if you’re not already using CMYK
  4. Go to channels and select the yellow channel. Make sure that cyan, magenta, and black channels are all turned off.
  5. This will reveal all the yellow pixels in the image, and you’ll be able to faintly see a dot matrix
  6. For enhanced visibility, increase the contrast of your image. There are several ways to do this. You can invert the colours of your image (CTRL+I in photoshop), or add a lighting effect and raise the dark levels of the image (CTRL+L in Photoshop)
How can I interpret my results?

How can I interpret my results?

Use @mika’s dot decoder here to plug to decode the date that the card was made.

If you’re a visual learner like me, I also made a video explaining the photo editor method with examples

29 Likes
Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024
Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024
Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024
2

image
image978×976 105 KB

4 Likes
3

If anyone determines a way to perform this check without using a CMYK color profile I’d be keen to hear it, I primarily use GIMP as a replacement for Photoshop and it doesn’t offer CMYK color profile functionality.

1 Like
4

You can use RGB as well, just remove the green channel and enhance the contrast

Thanks for the heads up, didn’t know that gimp doesn’t support cmyk. I think photopea does

3 Likes
5

Thanks for this! I’m trying it out with my Alpha Playtest Caterpie, but this is what I’m getting. This doesn’t look like any of the examples I’ve seen of the MIC dots. Am I doing something wrong?

caterpie-print-dots
caterpie-print-dots1920×1486 281 KB

1 Like
6

That’s not a Xerox pattern so It’s normal, more details are coming on the main topic

1 Like
7

Ah ok, thanks a lot. Does that mean it’s one of the ones that can’t be authenticated (at least not by the dots)?

1 Like
8

Yea, only the xerox pattern has been publicly decoded so far.

1 Like
9

What would be the test to prove a disco holo card is real? Is there anything at all?

1 Like
10

Send it to CGC.

1 Like