As the thread title states: Is there an official card order for the older Japanese sets?
The wotc sets all feature a card order number (1/102 to 102/102) but the Japanese sets up until the e-reader sets don’t feature any numbers. I was wondering if any official source has an official card order for these old sets.
I’m asking this for the spreadsheet I’m working on. Currently I have sets sorted by type and pokedex number but if there’s an official order, I’d rather go with that.
Bulbapedia is your best bet (sorted very similar to the US sets most of the time)
Yeah I don’t consider bulbapedia an official source for the card order. I was hoping more of like an official book or something that featured the sets in a specific order. Bulbapedia has it sorted by type, then pokedex and then by rarity, which imo is a less neat way of organizing and isn’t done in any of the subsequent sets that do feature card order numbers. The closest that gets to Bulbapedia’s sorting is the web series that has it sorted by rarity, then type and then pokedex. Expedition/base expansion set has it sorted by rarity, then type and then random it seems.
If there is no official order however, I will just continue using the way I sorted it in the spreadsheet. It doesn’t really matter in the long run, as long as it’s clear.
i am not sure 100% of the correct card orders for some era’s, like the older jungle fossil etc. But from experience, most japanese card collectors or players sort their cards via colour or game type.
So all psychics together, all fire together, etc… generally with matching characters or evolutions on 1-2 pages. this is common in many collections i’ve purchased, and many card stores in japan. But probably is not an official order again. just generally how collectors here store cards.
For older sets, I think @mavericknate can confirm, but in the TCG book it lists them similarly to how the English set was done. It is in order of rarity and card type. So holos, then rares, uncommons, commons.
Which book is that? The 2000 guidebook one? (don’t have that myself so I don’t know what’s in there really :v )
Bulbapedia has it in official order. From Expansion Pack to Darkness… and to Light, the official order laid out by the produced material at the time is by type, with the cards being sorted by ascending rarity within type, with the cards being sorted by national Pokédex number within rarity. That’s the way they did it for the Original and Neo Eras. Yes, it is the most absurd order possible, but it is the order that Pokémon uses as official so w/e.
After that, VS, Web, and the first part of the e-Card Era each had their own different order as they were trying to figure out what the heck they were doing, before they finally settled on a standard that lasted for the rest of Gen 2/all of Gen 3.
Cool thanks, guess I’ll have to update my spreadsheet a bit then 
lol, i had a customer today message me, after he bought some complete japanese gem mint fossil / jungle sets etc, he asked…
mate… where are all the cards in this set?? it looks like alot is missing. “it’s just the number sequence like it says jolteon is number 135 but there’s not even that many cards in the set!”
please don’t mistake that the older japanese cards have the pokedex numbers on the pokemon, that is not the set numbers.
It’s nice to know people research things before they buy it.
it’s no problem at all though, i am happy to educate people, and answer questions, and give free appraisals to anybody. So it’s all good. just thought it was a little funny thats all.
I think it’s funny, considering I imagine him to be about 20 something with that typical Australian inquisitive accent. It’s easy to know why he was confused but at the same time 2 minutes on google would of given him an answer.