There are currently 1,025 Pokémon in the National Pokédex. That's a lot, and considering most nine-pocket binders have space for 360 Pokémon cards, that's not enough. Quick maths tells me you'll need three binders; I'm smart. However, that would also mean mixing Pokémon from different generations in the same binder. Organisationally, that's a nightmare.
Fortunately, for anyone who's strict about their collection, Japan's Pokémon Center is fulfilling your Pokémon TCG organising dreams. As revealed by PokéBeach, nine binders, each dedicated to one generation of our favourite franchise, will be released in October.
It's not some half-arsed effort, either. Each binder features that generation's starter Pokémon on the front, an index sheet inside, and pockets labelled with the corresponding National Pokédex numbers. For any trainer who likes to stay organised (so, not me), putting together a complete Pokédex collection should now be much easier. All you need are the cards themselves.
Callum Self
Each of the nine binders will set you back ¥2,420, which works out at roughly £11 / $15 each. With some more smart mathematics, that means you'll need to spend around £100 / $135 to get the entire collection, depending on exchange rates. Considering that some binders can cost around that much, or potentially even more, I think that's a fair price for the full set. However, if The Pokémon Company decides to bring them to the West, they could be more expensive. Either way, I hope they join the Pokémon Center's lineup here in the United Kingdom.
It does raise the question of whether another binder will arrive alongside the Pokémon Winds and Waves release date next year. If only these initial nine are planned, the collection will be missing the next generation's Pokémon before long. Of course, these binders will still be a great way to store your cards in a stylish, organised manner, but it'll be frustrating to need another binder in a completely different style for Winds and Waves cards.
Annoyingly, they're also O-ring binders, which are among the riskier options for long-term card storage. Compared with other binder styles, O-rings can allow the pages to slump together, potentially creasing cards or pinching those in the first column next to the rings. Personally, if I bought one of these, I'd stick to common or foil cards rather than risking my SIRs and other valuable chase cards.
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