[LAST DAY] FORUM CHALLENGE: Who is best PSA estimator here?

General
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GRADES HAVE BEEN POSTED TO PSA’S WEBSITE!! THE CHALLENGE WILL END TOMORROW NOV 18TH @ 12PM PST!!

I thought this would be a neat little challenge :blush: It’s also a bit of an exercise for me since my worst grading estimates have been on shadowless cards. Given pics of a card’s front and back (and details about whether there are scratches on the holo when available), who can get the closest scores to the actual PSA scores? These cards have been recently submitted to PSA - I would guess there’s a good 3-4 weeks before their actual grades are available online (bulk submission). I’ll ask a mod to close the thread once the grades are available, then post a new thread with the winner.

Submission: You MUST submit your estimates with the following form. Please do not include any other text after your score. Your estimate should be directly after the colon (":"), so that it looks like, for example,

1) Alakazam: 8
I highly suggest using the spoiler tag to prevent others from being influenced by your genius estimates :wink:

1) Alakazam: 2) Blastoise: 3) Chansey: 4) Charizard: 5) Clefairy: 6) Gyarados: 7) Hitmonchan: 8) Machamp: 9) Magneton: 10) Mewtwo: 11) Nidoking: 12) Ninetales: 13) Poliwrath: 14) Raichu: 15) Venusaur: 16) Zapdos: 17) Charizard: 18) Charizard: 19) Blastoise: 20) Charizard:

Scoring: You’ll receive points any time your estimate is wrong. Winner is the person with the least number of points.

For example,

You guess 8, actual PSA score is 10. You get 2 points.
You guess 9, actual PSA score is 6. You get 3 points.
You guess 6, actual PSA score is 6. You get 0 points.

Reward: Custom “PSA Grading Pro” forum title, or something similar? Mods? :blush:

Here are the cards! WARNING! On some of the pictures there are scratches on the acrylic that the card is encased between that are not on the actual card itself. You’ll also see a plethora of dust, hair, and other crap - consider it a challenge :wink: (I consider it a huge pain in the ass that I can wipe down these things 10 times and still have 16 hairs show up in the picture a minute later) I also inspected the holos very closely with a high powered light and made notes of any imperfections I saw…unfortunately I lost that info so anything that I provide is completely from memory.

TO SEE A HIGHER RESOLUTION VERSION OF THE PICTURE: Right click on the picture and select ‘Open Image in New Tab’

  1. Alakazam: Holo looked flawless

  2. Blastoise: Holo looked flawless

  3. Chansey: Two oddly shaped small scratches on the holo

  4. Charizard: Holo looked flawless

  5. Clefairy: 6-10 full-width print lines with one -very- deep print line

  6. Gyarados: Holo looked flawless

  7. Hitmonchan: Holo looked flawless

  8. Machamp: Holo looked flawless

  9. Magneton: 6-7 print lines that are not all full-width

  10. Mewtwo: 1 half-width print line near tail and small “patch scratch”/ellipse-shaped scratch to the left of ‘Genetic Pokemon’

  11. Nidoking: Holo looked flawless

  12. Ninetales: Holo looked flawless

  13. Poliwrath: 2 full-width print lines and 1 half-width print line

  14. Raichu: An incredibly faint print line

  15. Venusaur: 4-5 scratches, combo of print lines and scratches

  16. Zapdos: 3 print lines, varying intensity, one sort of deep

  17. Charizard: Holo looks pretty good

  18. Charizard: Holo looked flawless

  19. Blastoise: Holo looked flawless, but top left corner of back has a bit of a ding

  20. Charizard: Incredibly faint scratch on holo, not a print line

GOOD LUCK!!!

2 Likes
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SPOILER: Click to show

These are the grades that I think the cards will get
{Spoiler}

  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 10
  3. Chansey: 9
  4. Charizard: 9
  5. Clefairy: 8
  6. Gyarados: 10
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 8
  9. Magneton: 8
  10. Mewtwo: 8
  11. Nidoking: 7
  12. Ninetales: 9
  13. Poliwrath: 9
  14. Raichu: 9
  15. Venusaur: 7
  16. Zapdos: 9
  17. Charizard: 8
  18. Charizard: 9
  19. Blastoise: 9
  20. Charizard: 9
4

some call me the god of psa grading predictions.

1 Like
5

Sounds fun, but if you don’t know if many of the holos had scratches anymore or not, it’s essentially pointless since it can make all the difference.

I’m going to try anyway.

SPOILER: Click to show

Alakazam: 10
Blastoise: 10
Chansey: 8
Charizard: 9
Clefairy: 8
Gyarados: 10
Hitmonchan: 9
Machamp: 9
Magneton: 8
Mewtwo: 7
Nidoking: 8
Ninetales: 9
Poliwrath: 10
Raichu: 9
Venusaur: 6
Zapdos: 8
Charizard: 8
Charizard: 9
Blastoise: 9
Charizard: 8

1 Like
6

Nice and unique idea! :grin: Here’s my opinion:

Spoiler
  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 9
  3. Chansey: 8
  4. Charizard: 9
  5. Clefairy: 8
  6. Gyarados: 9
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 8
  9. Magneton: 8
  10. Mewtwo: 8
  11. Nidoking: 7
  12. Ninetales: 9
  13. Poliwrath: 8
  14. Raichu: 9
  15. Venusaur: 6
  16. Zapdos: 9
  17. Charizard: 7
  18. Charizard: 8
  19. Blastoise: 9
  20. Charizard: 9
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  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 9
  3. Chansey: 8
  4. Charizard: 9
  5. Clefairy: 8
  6. Gyarados: 9
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 8
  9. Magneton: 8
  10. Mewtwo: 8
  11. Nidoking: 7
  12. Ninetales: 9
  13. Poliwrath: 8
  14. Raichu: 7
  15. Venusaur: 7
  16. Zapdos: 9
  17. Charizard: 7
  18. Charizard: 8
  19. Blastoise: 9
  20. Charizard : 8
8

yeah i felt that blastoise up at the top looked very nice.

Quite a few noice ones there that have potential!

Ide say theres a few 10 worthy cards there if they dont have anything wrong with the holo.

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Spoiler
  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 10
  3. Chansey: 8
  4. Charizard: 9
  5. Clefairy: 9
  6. Gyarados: 10
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 8.5
  9. Magneton: 8.5
  10. Mewtwo: 8
  11. Nidoking: 6
  12. Ninetales: 10
  13. Poliwrath: 9
  14. Raichu: 8.5
  15. Venusaur: 6 (OC)
  16. Zapdos: 9
  17. Charizard: 8
  18. Charizard: 8.5
  19. Blastoise: 8.5
  20. Charizard: 9
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SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 9
  3. Chansey: 9 4) Charizard: 9
  4. Clefairy: 9 6) Gyarados: 9
  5. Hitmonchan: 9
  6. Machamp: 9 9) Magneton: 9 10) Mewtwo: 9 11) Nidoking: 6 12) Ninetales: 9
  7. Poliwrath: 9 14) Raichu: 9 15) Venusaur: 7
  8. Zapdos: 9
  9. Charizard: 7
  10. Charizard: 8
  11. Blastoise: 8.5 20) Charizard : 8
11
  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 10
  3. Chansey: 8
  4. Charizard: 8.5
  5. Clefairy: 8
  6. Gyarados: 9
  7. Hitmonchan: 8.5
  8. Machamp: 8
  9. Magneton: 8
  10. Mewtwo: 8.5
  11. Nidoking: 6
  12. Ninetales: 10
  13. Poliwrath: 9
  14. Raichu: 9
  15. Venusaur: 6 (OC)
  16. Zapdos: 9
  17. Charizard: 6.5
  18. Charizard: 7
  19. Blastoise: 7.5
  20. Charizard: 9

I would add a spoiler but idk how tbh.

12

I like the idea.

Surface damage can’t be accurately graded based on photos since it’s often invisible, so there are more details that would be noticed if they were in hand. But I’ll toss my hat into the ring for fun :blush:

Spoiler
  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 9
  3. Chansey: 8.5
  4. Charizard: 9
  5. Clefairy: 8-8.5
  6. Gyarados: 9
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 9
  9. Magneton: 8-8.5
  10. Mewtwo: 8.5
  11. Nidoking: 7
  12. Ninetales: 9
  13. Poliwrath: 9
  14. Raichu: 9
  15. Venusaur: 7
  16. Zapdos: 8.5
  17. Charizard: 8
  18. Charizard: 9
  19. Blastoise: 8.5
  20. Charizard: 9
1 Like
13

I would need to see the cards NOT in card savers and sleeved. Can never really tell if I’m looking at a scuff or something wrong with the plastic. lol

Good luck to everyone competing!

1 Like
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I spent almost an hour inspecting the holos for the first 16 cards and made notes on each of them - I was so disappointed last night while making the thread that I couldn’t find my notes :[ If I find them I’ll be sure to post them.

Here’s my submission :blush:

Spoiler

1) Alakazam: 9 2) Blastoise: 10 3) Chansey: 9 4) Charizard: 9 5) Clefairy: 8 6) Gyarados: 10 7) Hitmonchan: 9 8) Machamp: 9 9) Magneton: 9 10) Mewtwo: 9 11) Nidoking: 8 12) Ninetales: 10 13) Poliwrath: 10 14) Raichu: 9 15) Venusaur: 6 16) Zapdos: 9 17) Charizard: 7 18) Charizard: 9 19) Blastoise: 9 20) Charizard: 10

Overly optimistic as usual when it comes to shadowless cards LOL

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 9
  3. Chansey: 8
  4. Charizard: 8
  5. Clefairy: 8
  6. Gyarados: 9
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 8
  9. Magneton: 9
  10. Mewtwo: 9
  11. Nidoking: 7
  12. Ninetales: 10
  13. Poliwrath: 9
  14. Raichu: 9
  15. Venusaur: 7
  16. Zapdos: 8
  17. Charizard: 8
  18. Charizard: 8
  19. Blastoise: 9
  20. Charizard: 9
16

All I can say is I want the Chansey, Zapdos, Raichu and Alakazam. :grin:

I would try predicting the grades but I’m too much of a n00b. Perhaps in a couple months I will have the eye for this stuff.

1 Like
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Spoiler
  1. Alakazam: 9
  2. Blastoise: 10
  3. Chansey: 9
  4. Charizard: 9
  5. Clefairy: 9
  6. Gyarados: 9
  7. Hitmonchan: 9
  8. Machamp: 9
  9. Magneton: 9
  10. Mewtwo: 8
  11. Nidoking:8
  12. Ninetales: 10
  13. Poliwrath: 9
  14. Raichu: 9
  15. Venusaur: 7
  16. Zapdos: 9
  17. Charizard: 8
  18. Charizard: 9
  19. Blastoise: 9
  20. Charizard: 9
18

All 8s

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SPOILER: Click to show

1) Alakazam:9 2) Blastoise:9 3) Chansey:8 4) Charizard:8 5) Clefairy:6 6) Gyarados:9 7) Hitmonchan:9 8) Machamp:8 9) Magneton:7 10) Mewtwo:8 11) Nidoking:7 12) Ninetales:9 13) Poliwrath:7 14) Raichu:9 15) Venusaur:5 16) Zapdos:8 17) Charizard:7 18) Charizard:8 19) Blastoise:8 20) Charizard:9

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I found my notes for the condition of the holos and have updated the OP! Feel free to update your estimates if the new information changes anything!!