The first fourteen language parts were Chinese (click here to go to that part); Dutch (click here to go to that part); English (click here to go to that part); French (click here to go to that part); German (click here to go to that part); Indonesian (click here to go to that part); Italian (click here to go to that part); Japanese (click here to go to that part); Korean (click here to go to that part); Polish (click here to go to that part); Portuguese (click here to go to that part); Russian (click here to go to that part); Spanish (click here to go to that part); and Thai (click here to go to that part).
We’ve now taken a look at all 14 Pokémon TCG languages with the focus on Pikachu cards. But we’re still far from done with showcasing my Pikachu collection or its available variations. There are also Pikachu cards that were never intended to be released, like Sample/Test prints; repeating misprints; and cards given to WotC/TPC(i) employees. In addition, there are Pikachu cards made from different materials than cardboard, as well as unofficial stamped cards tied to certain events or celebrations. In this ‘Pikachu around the World’ part I will go over all those cards, separated by their respective categories. I will also give some general information for certain categories, similar as I did with most of the languages.
Sample/Test prints:
Sample/Test prints are basically physical cards created to test if the printer is working correctly, to see if the physical card corresponds with the made designs, or those used for demos/events. These kind of cards were meant to be destroyed after the purpose they were made for was done, but sometimes these cards slip through or are distributed, and end up in collector’s hands.
For the Pokémon TCG, I’m aware of thirteen different Sample/Test ‘mini sets’, which I’ll go over in chronological order:
Protostoise:
I’ve made a full timeline article about the Protostoise here on Efour, but to quickly summarize it:
The ‘Protostoise’ Blastoise are the first prototypes of English Pokémon TCG cards designed and created by Wizards of the Coast, which they’ve shown to their Japanese Nintendo/Creatures Inc./MediaFactory business partner, and which were also used for some press interviews. These Blastoise were printed simultaneously with Magic The Gathering cards, on sheets that were used to test printing on holofoil card layers, which was still new for WotC at the time. These Blastoise cards, which feature the same artwork as the Blastoise used for the Japanese Trade Please! (Course B) campaign, Pokémon Song Best Collection CD, and Intro Pack - Squirtle, are all square cut and have a MTG back. In addition, the front (the used font; texts; layout; etc.) doesn’t look anything like a released English Pokémon TCG cards.
There are a bunch of different versions of these Protostoise Blastoise card:
- Summer 1998 (between June 15th and September 8th, 1998): black-bordered Protostoise, still attached to the uncut sheet (1x)
- Fall 1998 (between September 26th and mid November, 1998): yellow-bordered Protostoise (3x)
- Fall 1998 (between September 26th and mid November 1998) as well: yellow-bordered, white-backed, Galaxy Holofoil Protostoise (1x)
For more information about the Protostoise cards, see the full article I linked earlier.
Here an imgur album with all relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Since these are Blastoise and not Pikachu, I don’t have any nor want any (at their current price-point).
Fossil Cosmos Holofoil Rare cards:
Looking at just English cards, WotC used Galaxy Holofoil for the Base Set, Jungle Set, and Fossil set, and switched to their Cosmos Holofoil after that with the Team Rocket set. There are however some Fossil Holofoil Rares, which have the Cosmos Holofoil instead of Galaxy Holofoil.
One released example of this, is the Zapdos from the Tempest Theme Deck, which has Cosmos Holofoil and a ©1999-2000 copyright date at the bottom. This is the only English holofoil Fossil card with a 1999-2000 copyright date, since all Holofoil Rares that came from Australian Red Logo Jungle booster packs had ©1999 as copyright date (and Galaxy Holofoil), even though all non-Holos in these booster packs had ©1999-2000 as copyright date.
One other English Cosmos Holofoil Fossil card is the Prerelease Aerodactyl from European prereleases. There are two different versions of the Prerelease Aerodactyl: one with a (dark) brown Prerelease stamp and Galaxy Holofoil, given in the US; and one with golden/lighter brown Prerelease stamp and Cosmos Holofoil, given in Europe.
These ©1999-2000 Zapdos and European Prerelease Aerodactyl are the only two officially released Cosmos Holofoil from the English Fossil set.
There are however English Fossil Holofoil Rares with Cosmos Holofoil. These were test print cards and never intended to be released, but some were sold by ex WotC employees who worked in the WotC office of Seattle Washington, US.
It’s unknown how many of these made it into public hands, but I’ve seen two full and one partial set thus far.
As for when these were most likely made, we can perhaps look at the last sets per WotC era language featuring Galaxy Holofoil, and first sets per WotC era language featuring Cosmos Holofoil:
- Last set with Galaxy Holofoil per language: [English] Fossil - Oct. 10, 1999; [Dutch] none; [German] Base Set - Dec. 1999; [French] Base Set - Nov. 18, 1999; [Italian] none; [Spanish] Base Set - Oct. 1, 1999; [Portuguese] Base Set - start/mid 2000?; [Korean] none; [Chinese] none.
- First set with Cosmos Holofoil per language: [English] Base Set 2 - Feb. 24, 2000; [Dutch] Base Set - Feb. 24, 2000; [German] Jungle - June 2000; [French] Jungle - July 1, 2000; [Italian] Base Set - start of 2000?; [Spanish] Jungle - start/mid 2000?; [Portuguese] Jungle - mid/late 2000?; [Korean] Base Set - late 2000?; [Chinese] Base Set - late 2000?.
Unfortunately a lot of the release dates of foreign sets are unknown for the early days, but based on the dates we do know, we can say the English Cosmos Holofoil Fossil cards were likely made around December 1999 - January 2000, maybe slightly earlier in late November 1999, considering they’re test prints for the Cosmos Holofoil.
Here an imgur album with all relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Since the Fossil sets lack any Pikachu cards, I don’t have any of these in my collection.
Team Rocket miscut double-sided holofoil cards:
These miscut Team Rocket Holofoil cards have four partial cards on both sides, instead of the usual Pokémon backs. The front of the card has the regular Cosmos Holofoil that actual released Team Rocket Holofoil Rare cards have as well, but the other side contains UV-coated ‘Spectratech holofoil’. These cards were printed in March 2000, as we can see on this example of an uncut sheet: based on the “03/00” here we know it was printed in March 2000, and based on the “UV-coat Spectatech Foil” here we know the name of this prototype holofoil. This type of holofoil card was never used for any released Pokémon TCG cards, although it looks pretty similar as e-Series Reverse Holos.
No idea why the cards they’ve made from these sheets were miscut. They are also less wide than actual Pokémon TCG cards for some reason, and have more rounded corners. Although neither is confirmed, there are rumors these cards were given at two different events: the Super Trainer Showdown event in New Jersey, US in November 2000; and they were used as Christmas ornaments at a WotC holiday party later that same year.
Here is also a short CGC article about these cards, and here an old Efour thread.
Here an imgur album with all relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. There isn’t any Holofoil Rare Pikachu in the Team Rocket set, so there also isn’t a Pikachu among these holofoil test prints. I therefore once again have none of these in my collection.
Laminated German/Italian Base Set cards:
From the Pokémon TCG test prints, these are probably the least known ones, and we also still have no idea for what purpose these were created. All these German and Italian 1st edition Base Set cards have some features not seen on any real Pokémon TCG card: they lack the inner graphite core; their Rosetta pattern doesn’t line up with released Pokémon TCG cards; the text is bolder than usual; and they’re appear very glossy, almost laminated, on both the front and back of the card.
I personally own the Italian Pikachu from these type of test/Sample 1st edition Base Set cards, and the ones I’ve seen thus far are:
- German: 24/102 Charmeleon; 34/102 Machoke; 52/102 Machop; 55/102 Nidoran♂; 98/102 Fire Energy
- Italian: 48/102 Doduo; 58/102 Pikachu; 94/102 Potion; 100/102 Lightning Energy
Despite not knowing their purpose, we do know these come from WotC, from the same source as one of the Protostoise cards mentioned earlier.
Although these were taken from the WotC ‘free table’ around 2002 or 2003, we can assume these were made before that, probably somewhere near the end of 1999 or start of 2000 when the German and Italian Base Sets were released.
Here an Efour thread started by an MTG collector who owned the German Nidoran♂ and Italian Potion. Near the bottom you can find my response at the time (which was before I knew these came from the same source as the Protostoise and before I wrote my Protostoise article).
Here an imgur album with all relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. For these test prints I’m happy to say I do own the Italian Pikachu, so below a picture of this Sample print (on the right) next to a regular Italian 1st edition Base Set Pikachu (on the left). Whether a German Pikachu exists as well I don’t know, since I haven’t seen any apart from the five German and four Italian cards mentioned above.
I have heard rumors 80 of these were sold by the ex WotC employee (of which the seller I bought my Pikachu from had 56).
Tokyo Press Conference Sample cards:
On March 7th, 2001 there was the Game Boy Advance Product Announcement Meeting, a press conference held in Tokyo with demonstrations given by Pokémon CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara. During this demonstration he also showed three cards with new artworks by CR CG gangs: an Eevee, Pikachu, and Pichu. All three of these artworks are unique and never made it into any released sets.
In the CoroCoro magazine volume of May 2001, released in April 2001, an entire page showed the e-Reader cards as a preview, including a better picture of the Pichu and Eevee that was shown at this press conference. These cards also still have some Neo era features on them: they all three have a level; none of the three cards have the word Sample on them (unlike Sample cards we’ll talk about later in the list); and the Baby Evolution rule on Pichu features the Neo era Pikachu artwork.
Somewhere in 2014, in a Yahoo Japan Auction (the domestic Japanese eBay), all three of these cards were among the bulk that was being sold in the auction, in addition to some other Sample cards not seen prior to that auction, which we’ll talk about in the next section. The auction included not one, but two of each of these three Sample cards: one with regular stippled e-Reader border, and one with the striped e-Reader border we usually see on Reverse Holo cards.
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Unfortunately I don’t own either of these two Pikachu cards, but they’re defintely a big want. None of these Sample cards have emerged since the auction in 2014, and they’re likely in the hands of some private Japanese collector(s).
Japanese double-bordered e-Series test prints:
In the previous section we talked about the Yahoo Japan Auction somewhere in 2014, which also featured other never before seen Sample cards. All the cards came from earlier already released Japanese sets: Expansion Pack; Pokémon Jungle; Mystery of the Fossils; Rocket Gang; Gold, Silver, to a New World…; and even an Unnumbered Promo. In addition to their regular borders, they also had e-Reader strips; some with just two e-Reader strips at the left and bottom sides, like actual e-Series TCG cards, and some with four e-Reader strips, one at each side of the card. The ones with four e-Reader strips also have a pink number at the bottom of the artwork.
These cards most likely predate the previously mentioned Tokyo Press Conference Sample cards, since these were test prints done on older sets. They were most likely created to experiment with the layout and resizing of text areas and artworks with the new e-Reader borders, and to test whether e-Readers could actually read the dotted borders on the cards. Based on the artworks, they’re likely created somewhere between February 2000 (when the Gold, Silver, to a New World… was released) and March 2001 (when the Tokyo Press Conference we mentioned earlier took place).
The Sample cards in the 2014 YJ Auction were: 2 Charmander, 4 Diglett, and 1 Pidgey from the Expansion Pack with two e-Reader borders; 3 Rapidash from Pokémon Jungle with two e-Reader borders; 2 Graveler from Mystery of the Fossils with two e-Reader borders; 1 Eevee from Rocket Gang with two e-Reader borders; 12 Totodile (numbered 16,17,22,38,39,40,42,45,46,48,55,58), 11 Pikachu (numbered 15,20,21,36,38,39,41,44(2x),47,54), and 2 Berry (numbered 34,35) from Gold, Silver, to a New World… with four e-Reader borders; and 1 ‘Lilypad’ Mew unnumbered promo with two e-Reader borders.
What the purpose of the numbers are I’m not sure, although it’s possible each number perhaps contains distinct e-Reader borders, so they can test different borders with the e-Reader scans. This is just a guess however, since none of these cards have ever been scanned and documented by an e-Reader.
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Unfortunately, I don’t own any of the 10 distinct Pikachu cards, but they are again a big want.
English E3 Expo 2001:
On May 17th to 19th, 2001 at the E3 Expo in the Los Angeles Convention in California, US, a Pichu, Dratini, and Pikachu were shown. These three cards again had unique artworks by CR CG gangs, and were never used in actual released cards. These cards also had a red SAMPLE going from the top-right to the middle-right, slightly on top of the artwork. It’s unknown if these still exist, and only two pictures of these cards are known a.f.a.i.k.
Here an imgur album with the only two pictures I have saved of these cards. The bottom of the Pikachu card is only slightly visible behind the Pichu. It should be obvious I don’t have this Pikachu, considering we don’t even have a proper picture of it. (Better pictures of these three artworks will be shown in the Japanese versions we’re talking about in the next section below.)
Nintendo Space World 2001:
The first e-Reader promos had already been released at this point, the first being the 001/P Kecleon on July 7th, 2001, when the fourth Pokémon Movie: Celebi: A Timeless Encounter was released in theaters. Despite that, on August 24th to 26th, 2001 at the Nintendo Space World event in the Makuhari Messe convention in Chiba, Japan, another press conference was held to show these new e-Reader Pokémon TCG cards. The invited members of the press had the opportunity to try scanning these cards with actual e-Readers, and each visitor also received the 006/P Celebi promo card inside the Nintendo Spaceworld 2001 Official Guidebook as a gift.
Ten cards, again with unique artworks not used on any released cards (this time by Ken Sugimori), were shown: Caterpie; Oddish; Wartortle; Psyduck; Pikachu; Abra; two different Spearow; Clefairy; and Dratini. All ten of these cards had a hole punctured at the top-right, and they were attached to a kiosk with a metal chain. Two copies each of all ten of these cards were also shown in a display behind glass at the event (without punctured hole), showcasing the new era of Pokémon TCG cards. In this glass cabinet they’ve also showcased the new Japanese Pokémon back, and it also features a lot of other e-Reader cards that did actually got released in sets: most from the Pokémon VS set, and a couple of P Promotional cards. The Pikachu and Dratini artworks are the same shown on the English Sample cards mentioned in the previous E3 Expo 2001 section.
It’s once again unknown if any of these cards survived after the events.
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. I once again don’t have the Pikachu, but both a version with and without puncture hole are a big want.
English E3 Expo 2002:
On May 22nd to 24th, 2002, once again at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California, US, the E3 Expo of 2002 took place. Visitors were given four-card booster packs included almost-finalized versions of the Expedition Base Set Pichu and Hoppip, along with a Manhole and Kirby card. Although attendees were supposed to discard these packs prior to leaving this event, a lot of them made it out.
The Pichu and Hoppip both have a new Japanese back despite being English, and their code at the bottom-right of the artwork lack the "ID : " that’s present on the actual released cards. In addition, the text positioning on the Pichu is slightly different for the Baby Pokémon text when comparing it to the released card.
The Kirby could also be scanned with one of three possible results: no price, 2nd place price, 1st place price. The 1st place price Kirby cards are among the rarest e-Reader cards that exist, and only a handful still exist to this day because you had to exchange your Kirby card to receive the price (not sure what prices could be won, but considering one of these Kirby cards was recently sold for little over 10k USD, it doesn’t matter much if you hadn’t redeemed it at the event 
).
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Since it doesn’t include a Pikachu, I’m not too interested in them.
Hole-punctured Store Demo Cards:
Somewhere between 2001 and 2003 the Expedition Base Set Pichu, Hoppip, and another Manhole card were distributed to special Nintendo kiosks across North America to preview the newly released Game Boy Advance e-Reader. These three are more commonly known as ‘Manhole promos’. All three of these cards have a large puncture hole at the top of the card, and they were most likely attached to a metal cable to the kiosk to prevent theft. The Pichu and Hoppip look exactly the same as their released Expedition Base Set versions, and unlike the previously mentioned E3 Expo 2002 Pichu and Hoppip, they also have an English back. Apart from the hole, another distinguishing feature these cards have compared to the actual released Expedition Base Set cards is that they are glossy. There are two different versions: one which is glossy at both the front and back; and one which is glossy at just the front. The versions which are glossy at both sides were likely used at the kiosks, and the one with regular back and only a glossy front are likely from the staff members.
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Although it doesn’t include a Pikachu, I did buy the set of three which are glossy at both sides a couple of years ago, so here below a picture of it regardless. These are probably the easiest to find and cheapest Sample Pokémon cards.
New York Press Conference:
In August 2002 in the New York Pokémon Center, ten English Sample cards were shown. All ten of these cards used artworks already present in the Japanese Base Expansion Pack that was released on December 1st, 2001, which would later be added in the English Expedition Base Set on September 15th, 2002. These ten cards are all still different from their actual English released cards however: the text position and layout is different, and more closely resembles that of the Japanese cards; they all have an “M” instead of “B” at their card code; they all have a new Japanese back; all have the word Sample at the bottom-right of the card, in white-outlined black letters; and they each have an unique set number (from 093 cards total).
The ten cards used at the event are: 002/093 Hoppip; 004/093 Koffing; 016/093 Pikachu; 019/093 Gastly; 021/093 Machop; 042/093 Machoke; 048/093 Chansey; 074/093 Rapidash; 083/093 Pichu; and 088/093 Machamp. The numbering doesn’t match either the Japanese Base Expansion Pack nor English Expedition Base Set, so it’s unknown how these set numbers were determined. They’ve tried to use a variation of e-Reader singles, pairs, and triples, to demonstrate you sometimes need multiple cards in order to play a certain e-Reader game, as was the case with the Machop, Machoke, Machamp evolution line for example.
They were also all printed by MediaFactory in Japan, whereas the English Expedition Base Set was printed by Wizards of the Coast. 100 each of these cards were created for this event, but not all of them were used. At first they’ve only used a small portion of the available cards (e.g. 20-25) at the event, which were going around the people present and were being scanned by a lot of Game Boy e-Readers. Later some more were used at the event when some started to get damaged or lost. It’s estimated roughly 50 were used at the event, and 50 more were held back by staff. A lot of the cards that were held back by staff were later sold to public hands on eBay and alike. Whether the 50 used at the actual event were all destroyed or not is unknown, although it’s likely they were indeed discarded, since most copies of these cards that pop up for sale are in very good quality and therefore unlikely to be handled and used at the event.
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. I also own a Pikachu myself, which can be seen at the right in the picture below, next to a regular English Expedition Base Set Pikachu at the left for comparison:
For Position Only:
Most likely somewhere between May and September 2002, between the release of the Japanese Base Expansion Pack set and English Expedition Base Set, they’ve created some of the Rares of the set as English Sample cards as well. Seven Pokémon cards were used in total for these FPO Sample prints: 33/165 Alakazam; 34/165 Ampharos; 35/165 Arbok; 36/165 Blastoise; 39/165 Charizard; 41/165 Clefable; and 44/165 Dugtrio.
All seven Pokémon cards featured the word “Medium” in black above its e-Reader symbol at the bottom left, and had a white “FOR POSITION ONLY” printed in the middle of the artwork. The Charizard is also missing the “HP” next to the 100 at the top right; and one Alakazam is known to exist without the “FOR POSITION ONLY” text (but still with “Medium” above it’s e-Reader symbol indicating it’s a similar Sample card), currently in TCA Gaming / Rusty’s collection. In addition to the seven Pokémon cards, there was once again a Manhole card, also with “FOR POSITION ONLY” printed on top of it.
These cards were never shown at any events. They were created by Wizards of the Coast as tests, and the ones that made it into public hands were all sold by ex WotC employees. The cards were packaged in Legendary Collection booster packs in sets of either five or ten cards. Legendary Collection was the most recently released set at the time, which is why their booster wrappers were used. TCA Gaming / Rusty bought a lot of these packs from an ex WotC employee who worked as a designer, and quite a lot of them made it into public hands. Here is also an Efour article about these FPO cards, including the known printing numbers per card (at the time the article was last edited in December 2017): 52 Alakazam; 30 Ampharos; 29 Arbok; 32 Blastoise; 60 Charizard; 7 Clefable; 10 Dugtrio; and 7 Manhole cards.
Here an imgur album with relevant pictures I have saved of these cards. Since these cards doesn’t include a Pikachu, I don’t have any nor am I too interested in adding them to my collection.
Matchprint:
Also around the same time period, between May and September 2002, they did more test prints for the English Expedition Base Set. Just like the previous For Position Only cards, these are created by Wizards of the Coast, and were all sold by an ex WotC designer to TCA Gaming / Rusty, who later on sold copies to other collectors. These Matchprint cards were used to test the colors of the prints. The fronts look exactly the same as their released Expedition Base Set cards. All of these cards are square cut however, and instead of featuring the regular English back, they all have a white back with text diagonally across it reading: “DIGITAL HALFTONE - IMATION MATCHPRINT - COMMERCIAL BASE”. Here is a video of TCA Gaming, where he shows all of the Matchprint cards that he bought from the ex WotC employee. Most of the Matchprint cards had just two copies each, with some of the Trainer and Energy cards four, three, or just one. Here another video by TCA Gaming where he scans one of the cards with a Game Boy e-Reader.
The existing Matchprint cards, which can also be all seen in the linked video of TCA Gaming, are (all will have two copies available, unless mentioned otherwise behind it): 33/165 Alakazam; 34/165 Ampharos; 35/165 Arbok; 36/165 Blastoise; 37/165 Blastoise; 38/165 Butterfree; 39/165 Charizard; 40/165 Charizard; 41/165 Clefable; 42/165 Cloyster; 43/165 Dragonite; 44/165 Dugtrio; 45/165 Fearow; 46/165 Feraligatr; 47/165 Feraligatr; 48/165 Gengar; 49/165 Golem; 50/165 Kingler; 51/165 Machamp; 52/165 Magby; 53/165 Meganium; 54/165 Meganium; 55/165 Mew; 56/165 Mewtwo; 57/165 Ninetales; 58/165 Pichu; 59/165 Pidgeot; 60/165 Poliwrath; 61/165 Raichu; 62/165 Rapidash; 63/165 Skarmory; 64/165 Typhlosion; 65/165 Typhlosion; 66/165 Tyranitar; 67/165 Venusaur; 68/165 Venusaur; 69/165 Vileplume; 70/165 Weezing; 71/165 Bayleef; 72/165 Chansey; 73/165 Charmeleon; 74/165 Croconaw; 75/165 Dragonair; 76/165 Electabuzz; 77/165 Flaaffy; 78/165 Gloom; 79/165 Graveler; 80/165 Haunter; 81/165 Hitmonlee; 82/165 Ivysaur; 83/165 Jynx; 84/165 Kadabra; 85/165 Machoke; 86/165 Magmar; 87/165 Metapod; 88/165 Pidgeotto; 89/165 Poliwhirl; 90/165 Pupitar; 91/165 Quilava; 92/165 Wartortle; 93/165 Abra; 97/165 Charmander; 101/165 Clefairy; 102/165 Corsola; 105/165 Cyndaquil; 106/165 Diglett; 108/165 Ekans; 109/165 Gastly; 110/165 Geodude; 111/165 Goldeen; 112/165 Hoppip; 115/165 Krabby; 117/165 Machop; 118/165 Magikarp; 121/165 Meowth; 124/165 Pikachu; 126/165 Ponyta; 128/165 Rattata; 129/165 Shellder; 132/165 Squirtle; 137/165 Bill’s Maintenance (4x instead of 2x); 138/165 Copycat (4x); 139/165 Dual Ball (4x); 140/165 Energy Removal 2 (4x); 141/165 Energy Restore (4x); 142/165 Mary’s Impulse (3x); 143/165 Master Ball (3x); 144/165 Multi Technical Machine 01; 145/165 Pokémon Nurse; 146/165 Pokémon Reversal; 147/165 Power Charge; 148/165 Professor Elm’s Training Method; 149/165 Professor Oak’s Research; 150/165 Strength Charm; 151/165 Super Scoop Up; 152/165 Warp Point; 153/165 Energy Search; 155/165 Moo-Moo Milk; 158/165 Darkness Energy (4x); 159/165 Metal Energy; 165/165 Water Energy (1x).
I don’t have an imgur album, because all cards can be seen in the linked video of TCA Gaming. I am happy to say I do own one of the two existing Matchprint Pikachu cards, which I bought from Rusty a few years back:
And there you have it. All Pokémon TCG Sample prints that are currently known. Of course both Nintendo and WotC made a lot more test prints, but most of those cards are likely destroyed soon after their test runs. It’s also likely a lot are still with ex employees, collecting dust in an attic or basement, which one day might make its way into collector’s hands.
But in the 25 years of Pokémon, only those above are known, which isn’t a lot to be honest. Some miscellaneous things I’ve excluded: this picture of an unreleased Wailmer promo; other Pokémon TCG Sample products besides TCG cards, like this prototype Jungle blister; these Neo era play testing cards; etc.
Repeating Misprints and Cardstock Variations:
In our next section we go over all repeating misprints and cardstock variations for Pikachu. For this, let’s first explain what I mean by that:
a lot of misprints are one-offs, like ink drops and smudges or grey texts that happened during printing; miscut and off-centered cards that happened during cutting; crimped cards that happened during packaging; etc. All those kind of misprints will be discussed in a future ‘Pikachu around the World’ part, except for those that are still repeating - e.g. when an ink drop is still on the printer itself - see this Efour article - section Mid-Print Production Ink Errors for examples of this kind of repeating ink error.)
Also, the definition ‘repeating misprint’ that I use is pretty vague, because for some of the cards I’m about to discuss, I’ve only seen a single example thus far, so you can’t exactly call it a repeating error. The thin stamp 1st edition Base Set non-Holo cards are an example of this. I’d still deem them a variation however, instead of a one-off misprint, so they will be discussed in this section as well.
I also won’t go over uncorrected cards. Some misprints, which I’ve already mentioned in the regular ‘Pikachu around the World’ sections, are present on all those cards and were never corrected. All Portuguese WotC #1 promo Pikachu from the Pikachu World Collection have the incorrect Ken Sugimori as illustrator instead of Keiji Kinebuchi (the same applies to the original Japanese glossy Ivy Pikachu promo from the CoroCoro Comic magazine of October 15th, 1996, although that was corrected to a glossy Keiji Kinebuchi Ivy Pikachu in the Gekkan CoroCoro Comic lottery magazine reprint of October 1998); all German WotC #4 promo Pikachu have two spaces before the “Gewicht” (weight); all Italian Reverse Holo Crimson Invasion Pikachu are light orange instead of yellow; all Spanish Shining Legends Reverse Holos have a different line break for Pikachu’s attack than the non-Holo or promo versions of the same Spanish card; etc.
And finally, I also go over cardstock variations for Pikachu, where the cards are printed in different facilities (and usually at different years and/or countries), causing ‘notable’ differences in cardstock.
Now that we have that clear, let’s go over all the repeating errors and cardstock variations for Pikachu in chronological order.
And the first Pikachu card is actually neither a repeating misprint nor cardstock variation, but instead a color variation. 
Japanese Vending Machine Series 3 (Green):
The third Vending Machine set has two different versions: a dark and light print. The dark print came first on November 24th, 1998, which contained 52 out of 53 cards, only missing Imakuni?'s PC. A lighter print came later (not exactly when, but the Communication Evolution Campaign ran until April 30th, 1999, so the lighter print run was probably released slightly before that date), which also contained 52 out of 53 cards, with the Bill’s PC replaced with the Imakuni?'s PC. Here below both the dark and light Ooyama’s Pikachu from the set:
English Base Set:
Next we have the English Base Set, which actually contained quite a lot of repeating misprints, most of which are 1st edition stamp variations. The first variation are 3D stamps. For the English 1st edition Base Set yellow cheeks Pikachu, the 3D stamp version is actually the most common to find version. A 2D version for the yellow cheeks Pikachu is actually a lot harder to find.
3D refers to offset hollow letters for the “E” and “ITION” in the word “EDITION”, creating a 3D effect. Here below two English 1st edition Base Set yellow cheeks Pikachu cards, with the 2D version on the left and 3D on the right:
These outlines were most likely printed with the card, indicating where the 1st edition stamp was supposed to go. Judging by the many 3D versions of the yellow cheeks Pikachu, it didn’t worked out too well. In addition to that, some of these Pikachu cards with just the hollow letters “E” and “ITION” could be found in Shadowless ZAP! Theme Decks. This misprint is more commonly known as the ghost/phantom stamped Pikachu.
What also happened with a lot of English Base Set cards is that the blank ink of the 1st edition stamps was running low on ink, causing grey stamps instead of black stamps. For Pikachu, this only occurred on the English 1st edition Base Set yellow cheeks Base Set Pikachu. (It’s likely this can also occur on red cheeks Pikachu. It’s just a lot more rare, since I have yet to see a red cheeks Pikachu with a grey 1st edition stamp.)
What also happened sometimes with English 1st edition Base Set cards, is that the 1st edition stamp wasn’t properly dried yet before the uncut sheets were stacked, causing part of the ink to end up at the back of the sheet that’s on top of it. This caused a mirrored grey/black imprint of a 1st edition stamp on the back of the card. In some cases these back imprinted stamps were also white, although I have no idea what the reason for that is. These back imprinted stamp misprints only occurred on red cheeks Pikachu cards. Here both a grey/black and white back stamp (the fronts are exactly the same as a regular English 1st edition Base Set red cheeks Pikachu).
As you may (or may not) know, English 1st edition Base Set Holofoil Rares have two different variations of 1st edition stamps: thin and thick. This refers to the width of the “1”. All 1st edition cards after the Base Set, as well as all non-English Base Set cards, all have the thin 1st edition stamp variation. All non-Holo English 1st edition Base Set cards, and most of the Holofoil Rares, have the thick 1st edition stamp variation. It is however possible to find a 1st edition stamp which is somewhat in between the regular thin and thick stamp variations on non-Holo Base Set cards. This is a very rare occurrence, and I’ve only seen it around ten times thus far. I’ve only seen it once on a yellow cheeks Base Set Pikachu, which I’m happy to say I own (it’s also a 3D stamp like most yellow cheeks Pikachu, but let’s ignore that and focus on the width of the “1”):
I’ve also seen the red cheeks Pikachu with thin stamp two times thus far, but unfortunately I don’t own this variation yet.
And the final repeating misprint for English 1st edition Base Set Pikachu cards, isn’t related to the 1st edition stamp. This repeating ink misprint only occurs on English 1st edition Base Set red cheeks Pikachu cards, and is more commonly known as the ‘blue pube-achu’ misprint. This misprint has a very tiny blue ink dot near the border left of the Colorless Energy of the Gnaw attack, as well as a hair-like black ink misprint at the top-left border.
This variation was first discovered in February 2021 by @willyboy , and based on his searches he estimated roughly 5-10% of the English 1st edition Base Set red cheeks Pikachu will have this repeating misprint.
Next we go to the unlimited edition versions of the English Base Set, starting with three different card stock variations: semi-glossy; matte; and matte with semi-glossy borders. With semi-glossy I mean that they’re nowhere near as glossy as Japanese vending card or magazine promos, but they still have a glossier look than their matte counterparts. Which versions came first, or whether some of these variations are from different printing facilities, I honestly don’t know. But here are all three variations regardless, of which the semi-glossy version is the most common to find:
And the final English Base Set variation (that I have at least), is one with a thin black ink line going all the way through the copyright information at the bottom. I’ve only seen this misprint three times, which can all three be found in this video of TCA Gaming, one of which I bought soon after I saw that video.
Japanese Pokémon Card Trainers volume 1 Pikachu:
The next repeating misprint in chronological order is another Japanese card. The Pikachu promo that was included in the Pokémon Card Trainers magazine volume 1 on May 28th, 1999 can have a white ink circle at the top border, just above the last letter of Pikachu’s name. It’s not too uncommon to find, and I estimate about 20-25% of these Japanese Pikachu cards have this repeating misprint (this is just a guess based on how many times I’ve seen it; it could be more or less). Just like with the “d” edition Jungle Butterfree, an ink drop was probably stuck to the print rollers, creating this ink circle misprint at the same position on all the cards it affected.
English Jungle:
Next we have a repeating misprint on the English unlimited edition Jungle Pikachu, which I’m unfortunately still missing in my collection. I’ve seen this misprint three times thus far, but unfortunately none of the three owners wanted to sell it. The misprint are two very thin red lines starting at the same origin point, and going down towards the “u” in Pikachu, which I personally call the “red chopsticks error”. Here a picture of it, with the error at the top circled in green.
The English unlimited edition Jungle non-Holo cards also have a cardstock variation. This variation is semi-glossy at both the front and back, and all come from Australian Red Logo Jungle packs. The difference isn’t too notable, but when I shine towards the back with my flashlight it’s a lot more reflective, and you can also see the individual LEDs instead of a general vague reflection.
English WB promos:
Then on November 10th, 1999 the first Pokémon movie was released, and people at the cinema would receive one of four sealed WotC promo cards, with Pikachu having promo number 4, and the other three being #2 Electabuzz, #3 Mewtwo, and #5 Dragonite. All four of these cards have a golden stamp stating “Kids WB Presents Pokémon The First Movie”. All four of these cards also have two very rare misprints: one where the golden stamp is upside down at the bottom-left, more commonly known as the “Inverted WB error”. And one where the stamp is simply missing (although sometimes a very, very feint imprint can still be seen). I’ve seen the inverted error about 15-25 times for each of the four cards, and the error without stamp about 2-3 times each. I’m happy to say I do own both of them for Pikachu:
English Gym Heroes:
Next we have another repeating misprint I’m unfortunately still missing. Just like the Base Set, other sets can have grey 1st edition stamps as well due to low ink. I’ve only seen this occur for the English Team Rocket, Gym Heroes and Neo Genesis sets thus far, although I’m still missing the Pikachu from the Gym Heroes set from August 14th, 2000.
English Neo Genesis:
As mentioned above, I’ve only seen the grey 1st edition misprint on English Gym Heroes and Neo Genesis sets outside of the English Base Set. Although I’m missing the Gym Heroes Pikachu, I do have the grey 1st edition stamp Pikachu from the Neo Genesis set of December 16th, 2000:
English POP Series 5:
Next we have an error which is actually more common to find than the corrected version. The Holofoil 12/17 Pikachu from the POP Series 5 DP Value 1 blisters of September 2007 will in most cases have an upside down back. The 3/17 Mew from the same DP Value 1 blisters is also easier to find with upside down back than its corrected version. (Ignore the holo bleed on the corrected Pikachu below.)
English XY Evolutions:
Next on November 2nd, 2016 we had the Evolutions set, containing a reprint of the Base Set Pikachu. Just like the original English Base Set, the English Evolutions set had a surprisingly high amount of errors. For the Pikachu, there are actually four different color variations when comparing it to the regular version. One is just a slightly darker shade of purple and not too noteworthy; one has too much blue ink causing the purple to become dark blue instead; one has too much red ink causing the purple to become maroon instead; and one is low on red ink, causing both the background and Pikachu to be a lot lighter. The last color variation only occurred on Reverse Holo versions of Pikachu, and the other three only on non-Holo versions. In the picture above we have both regular versions at the top, and the four error color variations below it.
English Unbroken Bonds:
Next we have another card stock variation. During the XY, SM, and SwSh eras, cards sometimes had a glossy card stock. For Pikachu I’ve seen these glossy cards for the Pikachu Libre, the Unbroken Bonds Pikachu, and for both Unified Minds Pikachu. In most cases I would consider these a regular misprint instead of a variation, except for the Unbroken Bonds non-Holo Commons and Hidden Fates Shiny Pokémon, since for those we know better from which products they come from. These glossy card stock misprints are again not as glossy as Japanese glossy Vending Machine or magazine promos, but they are defintely a lot glossier than the earlier mentioned Jungle cards from the Australian Red Logo packs, and clearly visible to the eye. The Unbroken Bonds glossy Common cards only had a chance to come out of booster packs of Unbroken Bonds Build & Battle Boxes, a prerelease box available at tournaments in the weekends of April 20-21 and 27-28, 2019.
English Team Up:
And the final repeating misprint for Pikachu occurred on the 33/181 Pikachu & Zekrom GX. On this error, the middle Lightning Energy symbol of the Full Blitz attack is grey, and it also has a line going through Pikachu just above the Full Blitz attack. This error would only occur on Pikachu & Zekrom GX cards that were in the Pikachu & Zekrom GX League Battle Deck of May 22nd, 2020.
Unreleased Person promos:
In the next section we go after physical cards that were only given to certain people and never released to the public. The cards feature the person that received the card, so for almost all of them they’re technically not Pokémon cards, but more like trainer cards with a Pokémon Type and attacks. To go over them pretty quickly:
- The most common example of this is the English Ishihara GX promo, given to the CEO of The Pokémon Company Tsunekazu Ishihara for his 60th birthday on November 27th, 2017. This card is a Dragon Type, featuring Ishihara himself and a Rotom. Ishihara received roughly 30 copies of his card, and he handed most of them out at the Nashville World Championships, of which at least three copies were sold later on auction websites like eBay.
- On his 61st birthday the year after, Ishihara was given another card. Unfortunately for me, this card was a Pikachu & Ishihara GX tag team, so because of that a big want for my Pikachu collection, although probably one I’ll never be able to add. It’s unknown how many copies of this card were made, and the only known picture of it was posted on Twitter by Ishihara himself. Unlike the previous English card, this card is Japanese.
- Then we have the Doug Ferguson GX Jumbo card, of which 5 copies were given to Doug Ferguson when he left the The Pokémon Company International in 2019. Ferguson mentions The Pokémon Company International started with just eight people when he joined sixteen years prior, and grew to over 500 employees between the US and UK when he left. This information can be found here on the PokéGuardian blog. This card doesn’t include any Pokémon, except for the Tyrantrum on his shirt.
- And finally we have the 005/007 J Balvin V featuring Charizard, 007/004 Post Malone V featuring Butterfree, and 010/025 Katy Perry V featuring Pikachu. Although I would love to own the Katy Perry V card, I personally see this as a cameo since the card doesn’t include Pikachu in its name, and it’s therefore outside of my collection goals - unlike the earlier mentioned Pikachu & Ishihara GX card. All three artists made a song for the Pokémon 25th anniversary CD “P25”, and received a single physical copy of their card. Here the Pokémon pages for the individual artists: J Balvin; Post Malone; Katy Perry.
Unofficial Stamped promos:
Then in the next section we go after stamped promos that weren’t released by The Pokémon Company. These cards are real Pokémon TCG cards, but stamped by a different company for certain events.
The most well-known example of this is probably the COLLECTOR stamped Dragon Majesty 3/70 Charizard, of which roughly 400 copies were stamped and given to attendees of the Collectors Event in Hartford, Connecticut between May 3rd and 5th, 2019 (this Collectors Event was a separated event, so not the Hartford Regionals, even though both took place at the same location and time).
Another example are the Cosmos Holofoil San Diego 07 stamped Diamond & Pearl 93/130 Piplup, Cosmos Holofoil New York 08 stamped Diamond & Pearl 103/130 Turtwig, and non-Holo Chicago 09 stamped Rising Rical 69/111 Munchlax Distribution promos. All three were given to attendees of the Pokémon USA annual distributor meeting, and rumors state just six of each were made.
For Pikachu, I’m aware of three unofficially stamped versions:
English unlimited Base Set Pikachu with Y2K stamp:
To celebrate the New Millennium, 2000 English unlimited edition Base Set 58/102 Pikachu cards were stamped with “Y2K”. They were given alongside a random Base Set Energy with the same stamp, as well as a Certificate of Authenticity. I have no idea where these cards were given, but since they were given to celebrate the new millennium, it’s save to say they were probably given somewhere in January 2000. The copy I bought included a Psychic Energy card, and has number 1015 on the added certificate.
English WotC #1 LPPCollecting promos:
Next we have the English #1 WotC promo Pikachu with LPPCollecting stamps. LPPCollecting is the largest distributor of Pokémon TCG cards in Italy, who also organizes the Pokémon TCG tournaments and Pokémon Days in Italy. There are six different stamped versions in total:
- “LPPCollecting - Welcome to the first fun”
- “LPPCollecting - Per 2 o piu’ giocatori” (the English translation is “For 2 or more players”)
- “LPPCollecting - Per 2 o piu’ giogatori”
- Upside down “LPPCollecting - Per 2 o piu’ giogatori”
- Upside down “LPPCollecting - Per 2 o piu’ giocatori”
- “LPPCollecting.it - 20th Anniversario”
According to LPPCollecting themselves, it started with the regular “giogatori” print for the Italian Pokémon Day on June 18th and 19th, 2011. When they noticed the word was misspelled, they corrected it to the regular “giocatori” print. Around this same time, the English stamped version was created as well.
Later in 2017 or 2018 the upside down “giogatori” stamped versions emerged. I’m not sure if they were printed back in 2011 already and only distributed now, or that they’ve printed them somewhere in 2017.
According to their website, upside down “giocatori” stamped versions were made as well, although I have yet to see any. I assume these were made for LPPCollecting Staff members, but I’m not entirely sure. On their website, they also have printing numbers for each of the four Italian stamped versions: 1191 “giogatori”; 243 “giocatori”; 57 upside down “giogatori”; and 6 upside down “giocatori”. I’m not sure how accurate these printing numbers are. The English stamped version also isn’t mentioned.
As for the “20th Anniversario” stamped version, which I’ve yet to add to the collection and I’ve only heard about last week: they were given with orders of at least 50 euros on the lppcollecting.it webshop from December 2nd, 2021 onward, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of LPPCollecting, according to their Facebook post. I’ve already contacted them, and hope to add it in the near future.
French Vermot 2018 Star-stickered Ash’s Pikachu promos:
On December 8th, 2018 in Paris, at the Vermot et Associes auction house, there was an event where they’ve auctioned off some PCA-graded cards. PCA (Professional Cards Authenticator) is the reasonably well-known French grading company that was founded in 2016. During this auction, a total of 54 PCA-graded cards were auctioned off, and each auction winner would receive an additional French SM109 Ash’s Pikachu promo. These Pikachu promos had a large golden five-pointed star sticker, which were then authenticated by PCA, labeled as “LOT 10##”, where the “##” is a distinct number. I’m not sure if it goes from 1000 to 1053 or 1001 to 1054, but I personally own 1009 myself and have seen 1053 before.
Roughly 10-15 copies (unfortunately I don’t know the exact amount) of the SM114 Ash’s Pikachu promo with the same golden star exist, labeled as STAFF. These were given to the staff members who helped organize and manage the event.
And lastly, 10 copies of the SM112 exist, labeled as GIFT. These were given to the people who filmed and photographed the auction.
Even though there are seven SM Ash’s Pikachu promos, only these three were used for the event promos.
Smaller, Larger, Thicker, and Thinner
And in the final section we go over some official Pokémon products, which aren’t exactly regular cardboard TCG cards.
Italian ‘Ultra Jumbo’ 1st edition Base Set Pikachu:
Going over them in chronological order, we start with one that wasn’t an officially released Pokémon product. Instead, it was supposed to be destroyed after being used.
This Pikachu was used as a wall decoration at some Italian events or inside a card/toy store. Apparently, it hang by a rope, judging on the puncture hole at the top center of the card. This card is 561 by 399 mm larger and 2 mm thick. Here a picture I posted when I first received it and the equally as large 1st edition Italian Base Set Lightning Energy. The largest Pikachu on top of it is a regular Jumbo card, so you can see how large these cards are in comparison.
Right now, this Pikachu card is hanging on my wall behind some UV-protected glass:
An English Base Set version of this Pikachu might also exist, since one is depictured here on this old photograph. It might also exist in multiple variations, since we see an unlimited edition Charmander in this picture, yet I’ve also seen a Base Set 2 Charmander in this video of TCA Gaming and a 1st edition Charmander in this Instagram post of SmallShinyCharmander.
Japanese Miniature Phone Charm 10th Anniversary Expansion Pack Pikachu:
From the largest Pikachu card in my collection, we next go to the smallest. For the 10th Pokémon anniversary in 2006 they’ve made keychains of the Japanese Expansion Pack Pikachu (with rarity symbol) and 1st edition Venusaur/Charizard/Blastoise Random Constructed Starter Decks - Charizard Starter Deck 012/052 Charizard ex. These miniature cards are only 19.5 by 27 mm in size. They’re made out of metal, and the back of the cards are printed as well. Here a picture of the original packaging and note that was attached to it, from which we know these were released in January 2007.
Here the phone charm on the left is next to a regular Expansion Pack Pikachu card on the right:
Japanese Solid Golden 20th Anniversary Expansion Pack Pikachu:
Then one I unfortunately don’t own. This card was available for purchase between October 19th and November 7th, 2016 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon TCG, after which people received their copies around the end of 2016 and start of 2017. This card, made of 11 grams 40 karats gold, could be bought for 200,000 Japanese Yen (~1.75k USD) at 7net and the Japanese Pokémon Center websites. Since I had just bought my first car at the time, and shipping/middleman/import fees would add an additional 1k USD to the price, I wasn’t willing to spend little over 2.5k USD for a single card, not even a solid golden Base Set Pikachu. Looking back, I obviously wish I bought multiple copies, since they’re now worth north of 50k USD, and because of that I won’t be able to add it to my collection anymore.
Here a picture of what it looks like in its original slab (and yes, despite being made of pure gold, a lot of these cards were off-centered for some reason… 
).
BEAMS Pikachu GX Miniature Pin:
Next from August 3rd, 2019 onward at BEAMS stores and August 6th, 2019 onward at Japanese Pokémon Centers, people who would spend for at least 2400 Japanese Yen would receive the Japanese 393/SM-P Pikachu GX promo. In addition, there were a bunch of BEAMS merchandise available for sale, including pins. These pins costed 500 Japanese Yen (excluding taxes), of which five were available. All five of these pins lack any text, but do still have the overall card layout including Energy symbol at the top-right, but all in metallic silver instead of their regular colors.
Here the Pikachu pin on the left, next to the promo on the right. (I’ve personally removed the pin at the back of mine, so it was easier to store it as a miniature metal card.)
Japanese Kura Sushi Pikachu V Key Chain, Clear File, and Ziploc Bag:
From January 8th, 2021 onward, people could get Pokémon products from vending machines at Japanese Kura Sushi restaurants. These products included nine different miniature key chain cards and five round magnets. They also had a chance that their product included one of 10,000 winning tickets, which they could exchange for a random V Starter Deck and a TCG playing mat (these starter decks were the same that were available for sale from July 10th, 2020 onward).
From January 15th, 2021 three clear files were also available for sale; and from January 22nd, 2021 onward three more clear files were available for sale (including a Pikachu V) - here a picture of all six clear files. There are also Ziploc bags in a similar style, of which I’m not sure how they were distributed.
The key chain; clear file; and Ziploc bag for Pikachu, all three feature the 028/127 Pikachu V card that could also be found in the V Starter Deck, and all have the new Japanese back. (Since the magnet doesn’t resemble a card in any way, I haven’t bothered adding it to my collection alongside the other Kura Sushi products.)
Japanese JOH Enschede Pokémon Post Stamps:
On July 7th, 2021 the Dutch company Royal Joh. Enschedé created Japanese post stamps for the Pokémon 25th anniversary, only sold at physical Japanese post offices. There were two sets of post stamps available. One with ten stamps of 84 Japanese Yen each with unique artworks; and one with ten Pokémon card shaped stamps of 63 Japanese Yen each, including a Pikachu featuring the Japanese V Starter Set Lightning Pikachu artwork. Here the 630 Japanese Yen post stamps, next to this Japanese Pikachu card:
English Golden 25th Anniversary Base Set Pikachu:
On October 22nd, 2021 the Celebrations Ultra-Premium Collection box was available for purchase. This box included the golden SWSH145 Pikachu V and SWSH146 Poké Ball promos, as well as metal golden plated and embossed English Base Set Pikachu and Charizard cards, with an English back, but with golden Pokémon letters instead of the regular yellow. These Pikachu and Charizard cards are the same size as a regular TCG card, but slightly thicker.
And there you have it. All unofficial Pikachu TCG cards I’m aware off. 
In the next Pikachu around the World part we’ll go over all my autographed/signed Pikachu cards.
After that, we’ll still have the following parts left: one-off misprints, where I go over all my misprinted Pikachu cards not mentioned in this part already; Jumbo cameos, where I show all the non-Pikachu Jumbo cards featuring a Pikachu in their artwork, which I collect for Jumbo cards only - since there are way too many for regular-sized cards; and extended/altered Pikachu, where I go over all the painted Pikachu cards I bought from artists over the years.
Greetz,
Quuador