I think I managed to decode the printing date of my Beta Playtest. I used the phone flashlight technique and applied the date piece to the yellow dots decoder—it was pretty cool. Looks like my card was printed on July 12, 2024. Check out the pieces I used along with the decoder. I’ve redone it a few times, so I’m confident I got it right, but I can’t guarantee 100% accuracy since the way I took the photo made it hard to see the yellow dots clearly.
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Actually can someone tell me if this is HQ or LQ? I’m guessing LQ. If it is HQ and I actually end up receiving the card, I can get macro shots and potentially full spectrum/not bayered images. If it’s LQ I’m just going to try to get ahold of ebay authenticators.
6014425063
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you snapped with this one, ngl, frfr
This is one of the most selfless things I’ve seen in the hobby. Not only that, but it showcases an insane amount of in and out of hobby intelligence. I expect the Netflix documentary to come out in 2028. Amazing find
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What phone flashlight technique did you use? I’m currently trying to find the dots on my card. Thank you
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Thanks for your work, PFM. This will help so many people.
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Good stuff. I will work on getting better pictures and decoding my two cards tomorrow. To build a case, we should compile a list of all the dates shown on each card and their cert #s. The more examples we have, the harder it is for CGC to deny the facts.
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I’ve tried this and still can’t find the dots. I’m guessing I’m just doing something wrong. I’ll post a close up of my card to see if anyone can show me how it’s done.
Actually now doing it a few times I believe I can see them.
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This is what I could get.
iPhone setting:
Contrast: -100
Brightness: -75
Black point: 100
Saturation: 100
Vibrance: 100
Filter: vivid
I have noticed that the trick shows the dots better along the edges and especially around the Pokemon weight and height box.
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Thank you! Now I need to learn how to decode the dots. I’m grateful most people on this forum appear to understand how as I do not. This is not my area of expertise…
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I am so grateful that this was brought to light. Very glad that I was outbid on several of them. Sad to see this kind of thing happen, this hobby is getting too crazy…
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Here is another attempt at isolating the print dots. In this edit, the dots are clearly visible, which should make decoding easier and allow more people to determine if their cards have the print dots without needing to scan the card.
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All of which was done on a phone with no extra editing tools.
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Here is my other card. With a cluster of printer dots readily visible on the left hand side of the card.
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It is so curious why every single high quality has that smudge
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Could the original printer from ‘96 have had a printing issue that caused it?
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I feel this is why creating a table containing all of the cards we can find and recording what the dates show is important. The more cards that come up with 2024 dates, the more likely it is that they are all fakes and not one-offs.
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Thanks @pfm and all others for the findings !
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