8 Times The Internet Lied To You About Your Childhood Pokemon Cards

Facebook and YouTube are flooded with articles and videos informing you your old Pokemon cards are worth thousands, unfortunately, nostalgia and fond childhood memories make for perfect clickbait and to someone who hasn't looked at their cards in years it's all a bit confusing.

Now while there are a ton of expensive vintage cards out there the aforementioned articles focus on cards you simply wouldn't have had as a kid! What's the point in talking about cards that never came to our fair shores or PSA graded cards?

No one had graded cards in school, what does a 12-year-old know about preserving Pokemon cards? Most cards were wrapped in elastic bands stuffed in dirty pockets getting scratched up by keys, spare change and god knows what.

Pokemon turns 25 next year and literally, a million cards have been released since its inception. It can be difficult navigating the Bulbasaurs from the Charmanders but the following is a list of highly recognisable cards from the first four Pokemon sets, Base Set, Jungle, Fossil and the dastardly Team Rocket expansion that might now be lying around in your attic or under your bed.

Let's dispel and clarify the myths surrounding these cards and help you better understand what you have.

Let's get this one out of the way quickly - everyone and their mother had a 1st edition Machamp, in fact, a non 1st edition Machamp would be more impressive because it was ONLY EVER printed in 1st edition!

The card came bundled with the very first two-player learn how to play starter deck and was Wizards of the Coasts (the original distributor) way of giving everyone something unique and shiny in their first product.

eBay will fool you into thinking the card is worth five grand because some helpful chap listed their copy for that exact amount but make no mistake, it's definitely not worth five grand so don't be fooled by the 1st edition stamp on this one.

Interestingly enough while the card is considered part of Base Set, the very first Pokemon Trading Card set, Machamp can't be found in the actual booster packs which means if you wanted one back in the day you were locked into buying the starter deck.

A Base Set Machamp is the most overly printed holographic card from the early days and was a guaranteed pull from the starter deck. Sadly it clocks in at around £5 for Near Mint copies on most reputable sites.