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The Pokémon TCG is celebrating 30 years today with a special global drop of new products, but as you can imagine, demand for these items has far outstripped supply.
Some of that will be due to the insane popularity of the game, but scalpers looking to make a quick buck have also played their part.
Here in the UK, thousands of people queued overnight to be in with a chance of securing some of the 30th Celebration packs.
Sadly, some of the items appeared to have been hoovered up by solo buyers, robbing other fans of the chance to obtain them.
The incredible popularity of Pokémon and its TCG offshoot has ensured that cards remain in demand; while the COVID pandemic certainly helped increase its appeal, it hasn't waned in the subsequent years, with cards fetching astonishing prices on the collector's market and new sets selling out almost instantly.
As Nintendo Life contributor Alan Lopez said earlier this year:
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"Of course you can still enjoy and even love Pokémon in a similar way as anything that’s been consumed by money; hunting for singles and packs, or watching people rip packs on YouTube for free is fun. I still do it. The chase is exciting. But it’s the constant handwringing about scalpers and the bemoaning of supply and demand on Reddit that suggests fans are still stuck in 2015. All those things suck, but unfortunately, it’s not going back to the way it was; Pokémon is the most popular IP in the world."
Did you manage to get your hands on any of these new packs? Let us know with a comment below.