Special Pokémon cards being released for 30th birthday

If you are a Pokémon fan it's a massive day for collectors of the famous card game.

There's a special drop of Pokémon Trading Card Game(TCG) cards being released on Wednesday 16 September to mark the game's 30th birthday.

Collectors have described it as the brand's biggest day for years, and shop owners say they're expecting big queues to try to buy them.

But there are warnings to fans not to pin all their hopes on getting hold of the new set, as competition among collectors to get their hands on them is sky high.

Pokémon's popularity has exploded over the years, with some cards originally worth just a few pounds now selling for enormous amounts.

Released after the video games, the first set of cards came out in 1996, containing 102 cards, with drawings by artists Ken Sugimori, Mitsuhiro Arita and Keiji Kinebuchi.

The cards soon became very popular, with Pokémon card tournaments springing up, where players could battle it out, and there is now even a world championship tournament.

Since then millions of cards have been produced and played with all around the world and the value of rare cards has gone up and up.

One of the rarest and most sought-after Pokémon cards in the world sold in 2026 for a record-breaking amount.

The Pikachu Illustrator card sold for a whopping $16,492,000 (just over £12 million) after 41 days of bidding.

It belonged to American influencer and wrestler Logan Paul, who bought it for $5.275 million (£3.8 million) in July 2021.

At the time this also broke a Guinness World Record for the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold.