Trainer's Notes
Chaos Cards says some recent Pokémon TCG product drops attracted 25 times more sign-ups than available stock, showing just how difficult stock allocation has become ahead of Pokémon 30th Celebration. To give more collectors a fair chance, the retailer has replaced its invite system with a random lottery-style draw, joining a growing effort to reduce queue races and discourage scalpers.
The Pokémon 30th Celebration is just a few months away, and as retailers prepare for an influx of orders, many are introducing new ways of selling stock to manage demand. Emulating the lottery-style system in Japanese Pokémon cards, UK retailer Chaos Cards is trying to prepare for the upcoming expansion, yet allocations still can’t meet demand.
Chaos Cards told Kanto Post that “for some of the product drops we’ve run we’ve had 25x the amount of sign ups compared to the amount of stock we have received,” highlighting the scale of Pokémon TCG demand retailers continue to face. Just last week, Unicorn Cards also told Kanto Post about the challenges of managing demand after introducing market-price listings for some Pokémon products.
“We’ve been working with our customers to learn the best way to get Pokémon out to as many people as possible without everyone having to race to try and buy,” Chaos Cards told us, before speaking more about its latest measures to meet demand.
However, Chaos Cards is opting to use a new draw-style system for upcoming Pokémon sets, making it one of the first retailers to do so. Chaos Cards’ Product Drops system replaces the retailer’s previous invite system, which regularly attracted thousands of sign-ups. Customers have their payment cards pre-authorised before winners are selected at random. If they aren’t chosen, the authorisation simply expires and they aren’t charged.
“The winners of the drops are selected at random to help keep things fair,” Chaos Cards continues in its statement. “We want to make sure that new players and those who have been playing since 1996 have an equal chance of getting their hands on packs.”
Of course, even with the lottery system, bots and other attempts at manipulating the system are still a worry. “The system itself also checks entrants' details to make sure it isn’t one person trying with lots of different details,” Chaos Cards told Kanto Post.
The retailer says the issue extends beyond a single store. Chaos Cards says that it is sure distributors are doing their best to make sure as many stores can sell Pokémon cards as possible. However, with the Pokémon 30th Celebration pre-orders inbound, it’s hard for collectors not to feel anxious about not getting stock.
“We want to celebrate Pokémon 30th Celebration with everyone,” Chaos Cards continued. “We are making plans for how we can sell the set at our physical shop without the scramble as well as making sure our online customers can get their hands on what is going to be a very limited set.”
Between online queues and in-store launches, demand for Pokémon 30th Celebration is expected to be enormous. The Pokémon Company has also introduced ID verification for some purchases and events in Japan as part of wider efforts to combat reselling and improve access for genuine customers.
“The 30th Celebrations products are releasing over a few months which will help but each product will definitely have a lot of people interested in them,” Chaos Cards concludes. While the official launch worldwide lands on Friday, 16th September, many products like the two Ultra-Premium Collections, Figure Collections, and even Booster Bundles will release in October and November.
Whether retailers use lotteries, invite systems, or traditional first-come, first-served launches, Chaos Cards’ figures suggest the biggest challenge remains the same: demand continues to far exceed the amount of Pokémon stock retailers receive.
