Among those hoping to secure some anniversary cards is 21-year-old Grace Orton, who said she was willing to queue up to get her hands on them.
“I’ll definitely be trying at some point to get some. I know it’ll be really difficult if I’m not [at a shop] immediately”, Orton said.
Despite only starting her Pokémon card collection three years ago, Orton said she was “looking to spend quite a bit of money, unfortunately” on the anniversary range.
She said: “It’s such a big, sought-after set. A lot of the artwork is really nice; I really want some of it for my personal collection.”
Another Pokémon fanatic, Ash Mehr, said he started collecting the cards between 20 and 30 years ago.
After a brief hiatus, Mehr began his collection once again after his son took an interest in Pokémon.
He said: “I feel like I’m sort of dragging my son to these events to try and get the cards, but really it’s a little bit of a guilty pleasure of mine! But hopefully, we’ll get a good haul and get some good pulls [from the anniversary range]”.
There is a huge sense of nostalgia surrounding the 30th anniversary of Pokémon cards, Mehr said, adding: “It takes me back to being a kid, really, something I don’t get to enjoy now as much in my early 40s.”
But with high-value products comes risk – and Glen has warned of Pokémon fans being scammed around the release of the anniversary range.
He encouraged people to buy the cards from national and independent retailers, and avoid “secondary markets”, which may be used to re-sell the cards at “two or three times” the price.
He said: “Just research and know what to spend.
“If it looks too cheap, chances are it is… because of the desirability of a product, people will always try and copy [them]. Do your homework.”
