Kim Yu-rim, a 30-year-old resident of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, has recently become deeply immersed in collecting Pokémon cards. After casually buying a "25th Anniversary Chubby Pikachu" card she spotted on Instagram under a post titled "How to Build Wealth with Pokémon Cards," she watched its value rise from 100,000 won to 200,000 won in just one month.
"Beyond the thrill of opening randomly shuffled card packs, I can also reminisce about the animated shows I watched as a child, so it's killing two birds with one stone," Kim said. "These days, Pokémon cards are a hotter wealth-building tool than stocks or bitcoin."
Pokémon card collecting, once considered a niche hobby for enthusiasts, is emerging as an investment strategy among the MZ generation (millennials and Gen Z). The appeal lies in the ability to experience "ppopamine" — a portmanteau of the Korean word for "drawing" (ppopgi) and dopamine — without investing large sums, while potentially generating several times the initial investment.
According to KREAM, Naver's limited-edition trading platform, Pokémon card transaction volume from January to April this year surged 57-fold compared to the same period last year. Perceptions of Pokémon cards are shifting from "a niche collecting hobby" to "a form of wealth-building," driving a sharp increase in trading. In the United States, a rare "Pikachu Illustrator" card sold for $16.49 million (approximately 23.9 billion won).
Prices are surging as Pokémon marks its 30th anniversary this year, boosting interest in the cards. Transactions exceeding tens of millions of won have become common on KREAM. In March, a "Munch Pikachu" card traded on KREAM for a record 23.63 million won, while an "Acerola Extra Battle Day" card sold for 43.055 million won last month.
Asking prices are also climbing rapidly. According to KREAM, a "Lugia Legend L HeartGold & SoulSilver" card is listed with a bid price of 190 million won. The card can be pulled from a roughly 30,000-won box at extremely low odds. Because it requires considerable luck to obtain and has been on the market for more than 15 years — making undamaged copies hard to find — its market value continues to rise.
Pokémon cards are sold in 1,000-won packs or boxes priced around 30,000 won. Cards with high grades or rarity command premiums. Prices also vary depending on whether the card was released in Japan, North America, or Korea. Cards awarded as prizes at Pokémon tournaments or released as country-specific promotions can fetch dozens of times their face value.
The frenzy was on full display when a Pokémon pop-up store in Seongsu, Seoul, was canceled on the 1st of this month after more than 40,000 people flocked to the venue. Crowds gathered because a "Magikarp" card, available for free upon completing several on-site missions, was selling for about 300,000 won on second-hand trading platforms. A "Ditto" card distributed for free through a domestic promotion last year has also seen its value climb steadily and now trades for more than 600,000 won.
Experts attribute the Pokémon card craze among the MZ generation to a combination of nostalgia for childhood and a "get-rich-quick" mentality. "It appears to be a mix of the desire to experience the joy of hitting the jackpot with a small investment, and the mindset that losses are acceptable because the amounts aren't large," said Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer studies at Inha University. "In particular, it also seems to serve as a way to forget the widespread sense of depression that has spread among young people recently."
