Collectors know that Pokémon cards can be very expensive on the secondary market, but some of the most expensive cards in the game were initially handed out for free. These cards may have been promotional material for attending an event or prizes for a contest. Though the original owners of these rare Pokémon cards may not have paid a penny for them, anyone who wants to get their hands on them now had better be ready to shell out some serious cash.

While many are expensive, this list won’t include any of the prize cards won by first-, second-, or third-place finishers at Pokémon tournaments. While these cards were technically prizes, as anyone who has played a TCG at a competitive level knows, those cards were far from free considering the time, money, and effort that it takes to win a tournament. Instead, this list will focus on promotional cards that were either won from free or low-cost contests, as well as general participation promos from Pokémon events.

10

Tamamushi University Magikarp Promo

Sold For $78,000

Starting in 1998, Japanese publisher Shogakukan included a series of Pokémon exams in their magazines for children. Kids could mail in their answers to the exams and receive merchandise from the fictional Tamamushi University like pins or pennants. Each exam became increasingly more difficult, culminating in the Hyper Professor Exam. Of the nearly 22,000 sixth graders who attempted this exam, only 198 passed, and anyone who passed the exam was issued a free Magikarp promo card.

The fact that so few passed the exam, and since these exams were a limited-time event, very few Tamamushi University Magikarps made it out into circulation. Of those, even fewer have been graded and sold, making them hard to find and therefore pretty pricey. Back in 2022, a PSA 10 graded Tamamushi University Magikarp sold for $78,000 through the online card marketplace PWCC. This means some young Pokémon Professors could potentially sell this card to put themselves through a real university.

9

CoroCoro Comic’s Pokémon Snap Gyarados

Sold For $87,000

Shogakukan’s publications held other Pokémon competitions besides the Tamamushi University exams. One of these was a Pokémon Snap contest which was advertised in the pages of its magazine, CoroCoro Comic. Contestants were tasked with bringing their N64 cartridges to local convenience stores where dedicated machines were placed that could print out their in-game photos. Contestants then sent in their physical pictures for evaluation.

Five winners had their Pokémon Snap photos chosen and were sent physical cards with the pictures on them. One of these winners was Ryouichi Abe’s Gyarados photo. Although winners were sent 20 copies of their cards, many seem to have wisely held onto the majority of them, keeping them out of circulation and increasing their value as collector’s items. One of Ryouichi Abe’s Gyarados cards sold in an online auction for $87,500 in 2023. While this is nothing to turn one’s nose up at, it isn’t even the most expensive of the Pokémon Snap cards to have sold.

8

CoroCoro Comic’s Pokémon Snap Magikarp

Sold For $136,000

When thinking about valuable Pokémon cards, it may be a bit surprising to find Magikarp so well represented. What’s even more surprising is that it beat out a Gyarados card that is just as rare as it is. Yuka Matsubara’s winning picture of Magikarp for CoroCoro Comic’s Pokémon Snap competition didn’t just sell for more than its Gyarados equivalent, but it did so by a wide margin.

Back in 2022, Yuka Mutsubara’s Magikarp sold for $136,000 on Yahoo! Auctions Japan, a whopping $48,500 more than Gyarados. Another strange tidbit about this is that, while Gyarados was rated the equivalent of a PSA 10, the Magikarp was simply authenticated by PSA, but not graded. Typically, PSA 10 cards sell for much higher than ungraded cards, making this an even bigger upset.

7

Tropical Mega Battle’s Tropical Wind Promo

Estimated Value Of $166,000

At 1999’s International Tropical Mega Battle tournament in Hawaii, 12 lucky competitors were given a Tropical Wind promo card. These cards were seemingly distributed at random to contestants, and not everyone in attendance got them. Of the 12, only one has been given a PSA rating of 10. The tiny number of these cards and an even smaller number of mint-condition ones means it is worth quite a bit to collectors.

PSA currently estimates the value of a Tropical Mega Battle promo Tropical Wind to be $166,073. The only PSA 10 version of the card sold back in 2020 for about $65,000, so PSA is likely using inflation and an increased interest in the Pokémon market as the reasoning behind its new valuation of the card. Rare cards like this will usually increase in value over time, as long as there is still some interest in them or the game they are a part of.

6

Extra Battle Day’s Full Art Lillie Promo

Sold For $171,000

The full-art Lillie promo from 2019’s Extra Battle Day event is a surprisingly recent card for one that is worth so much. Though it’s hard to say if it contributes to its high price tag, this card does have a unique story behind it. Unlike other promos, which are typically distributed to attendees or winners of an event, this promo had to be won in a game of rock-paper-scissors played among the event’s top-ranking players. Even then, winners were only given a promotional pack of cards, which had the chance of containing a Lillie Promo.

With so much luck involved in getting one of these cards, it’s hard to imagine someone would want to part with such a unique prize. Of course, money can often be more persuasive than sentimentality, especially when it starts hitting six figures. One PSA Grade 10 Lillie promo was sold for the equivalent of $171,000 on Xianyu.

5

Family Tournament Kangaskhan Prize Card

Sold For $175,000

Back in 1998, a Parent/Child Pokémon tournament was held in Japan. The event was fittingly themed after Kangaskhan since the Pokémon is depicted carrying one of its children with it in its pouch. Teams who won enough matches were rewarded with a promotional foil version of Kangaskhan. Though unremarkable at the time, the card also bore a Poké Ball-shaped set symbol that would only ever be printed on a small handful of promotional cards.

The presence of the set symbol and the relative rarity of this version of Kangaskhan have made it quite the collector’s item over the years. Many winners of this card are likely to want to hold onto it due to having won it with their parent/child. Collectors are willing to pay quite a lot for this card, with one copy selling for $175,000 on Heritage Auctions in 2023. This copy was a PSA 10, so it is possible that some less-well-preserved copies could go for lower on the secondary market.

4

Pokémon Players’ Club Umbreon Gold Star Promo

Estimated Value Of $222,000

Between 2004 and 2005, members of the Japanese Pokémon Players’ Club were given the chance to earn experience points by attending organized play events. Players who earned the maximum number of points were rewarded with a promotional Umbreon card. The card is foil and has a gold star next to its name to mark it as a special version.

Players started out with 1,000 points, and would have to earn 70,000 in order to receive an Umbreon promo. Each event they attended was worth 50 to 100 points, meaning they had to spend a lot of time at Pokémon events that year to earn enough points. While earning this card was no small feat, their efforts were not in vain. PSA now estimates that this version of Umbreon is worth $222,009. Copies of the card have sold for over $70,000 in the past, and if PSA is to be believed, they have only become more valuable.

3

Signed Ishihara GX Employee Promo Card

Sold For $247,000

On the 60th birthday of Pokémon Company founder Tsunekazu Ishihara, the Pokémon Company distributed a special Ishihara GX card to some of its employees, signed by the man himself. These cards were never made available to the public, so the only way to get one’s hands on it originally was to work for the company. Since then, this rare card has found its way onto the secondary market, and it has proven to be highly sought after.

One Ishihara GX promo that was signed, and had a tiny drawing of Pikachu on it done by Ishihara, sold for $247,230 on Goldin Auctions. This essentially means that this card served as a pretty significant bonus for whichever Pokémon Company employee decided to sell it rather than hold onto it, and it’s hard to blame them, seeing how much it went for. It will be interesting to see if the Pokémon Company creates a similar promo for Ishihara’s next landmark birthday.

2

CoroCoro Comic’s Pokémon Snap Pikachu

Sold For $270,000

All five of the CoroCoro Comic’s Pokémon Snap contest winning cards are worth a decent amount of money. However, none come close to being as valuable as Mina Akuhara’s winning Pikachu photo. This maybe isn’t too surprising, seeing as Pikachu is Pokémon’s mascot and features on some of the TCG‘s most expensive cards. Still, the price this card has commanded is staggering.

In a YouTube video by the channel Pro Retro X, two men can be seen purchasing the card on behalf of the prolific Pokémon collector, Dubsy. Dubsy reportedly paid $270,000 for the card from a collectibles store in Japan. It is worth noting that any time a sale like this to a collector is shared so publicly, it may also serve the purpose of making the purchased card and Pokémon cards in general seem more valuable than they normally would be. This is especially worth keeping in mind for the final entry on this list.

1

Illustrator Pikachu

Sold For $5.3 Million

Between 1997 and 1998, CoroCoro Comic ran art contests that challenged its young readers to draw their own Pokémon cards. Winners of these contests won Illustrator Pikachu promotional cards. In total, only 39 of these cards were given out, making them incredibly rare. There is also only one PSA-10-rated version of the Illustrator Pikachu, which was bought by YouTuber Logan Paul for $5,275,000 in 2022.

While this might seem like a staggering price for a Pokémon card, in truth it seems highly unlikely that the card would ever sell for that much again. Paul has been using the card as a way to try and earn money, selling “shares” of the card off to his fans as an “investment.” In this way, the card was an investment for Paul, who is having his purchase subsidized by his fan base, while also profiting off any videos he made about purchasing the card.

Assigning a true value to the PSA 10 Illustrator Pikachu card at this point has become a little tricky, given these circumstances. No other Illustrator Pikachu card sale has topped a million dollars, except for a PSA 9 which was also purchased by Logan Paul. Paul has been partially credited with reawakening interest in the Pokémon card market, but it still seems unlikely another sale this large will happen involving this card.

Source: Pro Retro X/YouTube