Fake cards: Difference between revisions

An example of a fan-made image fake card

A fake card is a general term to denote any kind of custom, fictional or duplicate card based on cards from any particular trading card game, but are created by someone other than the original creators of that game, generally either by fans of the game or by some other company to sell to unsuspecting consumers. Almost immediately after the release of the Pokémon TCG, fans and nefarious companies alike continue to make Pokémon fake cards to this day.

The four kinds of Pokémon fake cards that exist today are:

• Counterfeit cards, cards created by companies other than Nintendo, Pokémon Inc., Pokémon USA Inc., Media Factory, Creatures or Wizards of the Coast, mostly by taking existing cards and making cheaper duplicates of them;
• Fan-made text fakes, custom cards created by fans that exist only in text or written form with very little, if any, imagery used to create the card;
• Fan-made custom cards, custom cards created by hand by fans using tangible tools like markers and correction fluid, either using an existing card as a base or using a blank template to draw their card on; and,
• Fan-made image fakes, custom cards created by fans using computer and a system of blank cards and other elements to create a completely new card from scratch, including new text and even an image they drew themselves.

Counterfeit cards

These kinds of fakes are probably the first kinds of fake cards to have exists, probably starting just as soon as the Pokémon TCG was released in Japan in 1996. These cards are generally duplicates of existing cards, but printed on cheaper card stock, places on holographic foils, and/or slightly altered to make each card a humorous farce of its original (like a Psychic Rattata card with an attack that does 5000 damage). Counterfeit fakes continue to be a problem to this day.

Fan-made text fakes

Probably the first kinds of fakes made by fans, text fakes are simple and easy to make. Most message boards with a sizable Pokémon TCG community has a Fake Card forum as well, like the PokéGym's Create-a-Card forum.

Fan-made custom cards

Another popular method of making fake cards are custom cards, where creators will make their own fakes using tangible art tools. Usually they will take an existing card, cover up many of the existing bits using correction fluid, and writing in their own text. Other methods include using blank templates provided by the staff at various Pokémon TCG tournaments, including Wizards of the Coast's own Create-a-Card templates; these templates had spaces to draw your Pokémon, write in all the text necessary for the card, and sometimes also included a sheet of energy symbols for its attack, type, weakness and resistance.

Fan-made image fakes

Fan-made image fakes make up the largest and most popular fake card community within the Pokémon community. This format was popularized by Nick15 when his first fake, Missingno., was posted on one of the largest Pokémon TCG websites of the day, the PokéCenter at CCGNews.com. Eventually Nick15 began posting his creations on his own website Pokémon Aaah!, as well as instructions on how people can make their own. This system began to grow in popularity and was adopted by other sites, like Pokémon Zeo. Although image fakes are not nearly as popular as they were in the past, there are still plenty of people and sites who continue to promote them, like PokemonCardMaker.ORG.

External links

• FakeCard.com Archive of the first Pokémon TCG fake card website, previously known as Pokémon Aaah!, created by Nick15
• Pokémon Zeo The second ever Pokémon TCG fake card website, created by The Echidna and purity
• Anatomy of a Fake Pokémon Card Article at the PokéGym discussing how to spot a counterfeit Pokémon TCG card.