Draft:Production of Pokémon Trading Card Game cards
- This article is about the development and physical manufacture of cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. For the game itself, see Pokémon Trading Card Game.
The production of Pokémon Trading Card Game cards covers the process that turns an idea for a card into a finished physical product. This includes designing and playtesting cards, creating illustrations, preparing international versions, printing and finishing the cards, cutting and inspecting them, and assembling them into booster packs, preconstructed decks, and other retail products.
Creatures, Inc. has been involved in the planning, development, and creation of the Pokémon Card Game since its launch in 1996.[1] Physical manufacturing is carried out separately through industrial printing and packaging operations. For international releases, Millennium Print Group (MPG) has manufactured Pokémon TCG cards since 2015.[2] MPG is a subsidiary of The Pokémon Company International and operates facilities in the United States and the Netherlands.[3][4]
The publicly available sources cited here do not provide a complete technical specification for Pokémon card manufacturing, but they make it possible to reconstruct much of the process. One important source is an internal TPCi/MPG training film that later became public and documented the international production process used for the Ultra Prism set.[5] Because the film documents the production cycle for Ultra Prism, its equipment and production figures should not be treated as descriptions of current manufacturing capacity.
Development
A Pokémon TCG expansion begins development long before its cards are sent to a printer.
During visits to Creatures, Inc. in 2018, journalists were shown how game designers, illustrators, and dedicated playtesters contributed to the creation of new cards. GameSpot spoke with TCG game director Atsushi Nagashima, test room lead Satoru Inoue, and longtime illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita, while IGN reported that development of an expansion could take roughly a year before the finished cards were published.[6][7] This reflected the development process described at the time rather than a fixed schedule for every expansion.
Planning an expansion
An expansion is designed as a group of related cards rather than as a collection of completely independent ideas. Designers consider what the set should add to the game, which Pokémon should appear, how its cards will interact with one another, and how the expansion relates to other Pokémon media being released around the same time.
Nagashima explained that, near the beginning of a TCG series associated with new core series games, Pokémon important to those games may receive greater attention. As the series continues, the needs of the card game itself can play a larger role. A Pokémon may therefore be included because it is important to a current game, fills a gameplay need, appeals to players, or has not received much recent attention. Designers can also begin with a gameplay need and then choose a Pokémon whose characteristics fit that role.[6][7]
Adapting Pokémon concepts
The TCG draws many ideas from the video games, but the two games use different rules. A mechanic from the video games may therefore need to be changed before it can work effectively in the card game.
Nagashima used Mega Evolution as an example. Treating Mega Evolution as another normal stage of Evolution could make longer evolutionary lines difficult to use in a 60-card deck, so the TCG instead connected Mega Evolution to the Pokémon-EX mechanic already in use at the time. The goal is not always to reproduce a video-game mechanic exactly, but to preserve its basic idea while adapting it to the rules and structure of the TCG.[6][7]
Designing individual cards
Once the purpose of a card has been decided, designers determine its gameplay details. For a Pokémon card, these can include HP, attacks, attack damage, Energy requirements, Abilities, Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat Cost.
The card's mechanics are also intended to fit the Pokémon being represented. A fast or lightweight Pokémon, for example, may be designed differently from a large defensive Pokémon. Creatures therefore considers both game balance and whether the card feels appropriate for the Pokémon shown on it.[6][7]
An initial design is not necessarily final. The card must still be tested and adjusted before release.
Playtesting and balancing
Prototype cards can be tested before their final artwork is complete. Temporary card information can be placed over older cards so that prototypes can be shuffled into normal decks. At the time of the 2018 visits, Creatures had 19 full-time playtesters devoted to the TCG. Their testing helped identify cards that were too strong, too weak, or created unintended interactions, allowing values such as HP and attack damage or the card's effects to be adjusted before release.[6][7]
Illustration
Artwork is developed alongside the game-design process. Creatures works with many illustrators, allowing a single expansion to include a wide range of artistic styles. Illustrators may receive information about the Pokémon or Trainer, the setting, relevant attacks or characteristics, and reference material needed to depict a Pokémon from an unreleased game correctly. These instructions establish what the artwork needs to communicate while still leaving room for the illustrator to make decisions about composition, lighting, perspective, color, and style.[1][7]
Mitsuhiro Arita has described part of this process for holographic cards. Arita said that he could suggest which areas of an illustration should have a reflective effect, while the final holographic treatment was developed in collaboration with Creatures staff.[7]
The illustration is only one part of the finished card. Rules text, HP, Energy symbols, borders, set information, rarity marks, legal information, and other graphic elements must still be combined into the final card design.
Learning from released cards
Released cards can also influence future development. Players may discover strategies or card combinations that were not expected during internal testing, and developers can apply those lessons when designing later cards and expansions.
Nagashima cited M Audino-EX as an example. The card later became part of the deck that won the Masters Division of the 2016 World Championships, despite its competitive success not being expected during development.[6][7]
International production preparation
After the cards are developed in Japan, international versions must be prepared before printing. The process described here applies to the documented international workflow; Japanese physical production is discussed separately below.
Localization
The Pokémon Company International receives card information from Creatures and uses it to prepare the English version of an expansion. The card text is translated using established Pokémon TCG terminology, placed into the card layouts, and reviewed before the files are prepared for printing. In the documented Ultra Prism workflow, preparing the English translation and card layouts took about three weeks, after which additional international languages were prepared.[5] This timing is a historical example rather than a fixed schedule for every expansion.
Production artwork
Some cards require additional artwork or instructions for special surface effects. Separate texture patterns can be designed for individual full-art cards, allowing the texture to be planned independently from the illustration beneath it. Other effects can use separate printing layers; for example, opaque ink can cover parts of a holographic surface so that the reflective material remains visible only where intended.[5][8]
These production files help define how the finished card should look. The physical methods used to create holographic effects, texture, and other surface treatments are described in later sections.
Prepress
Before the cards can be printed, the finished digital files go through "prepress". During this stage, the printer checks the files, arranges many cards onto large sheets, prepares the colors for printing, and gets the printing plates ready. A Kodak Prinergy system is used to help manage color, image quality, and the placement of artwork on the sheet.[9]
Arranging cards on printing sheets
Pokémon cards are printed many at a time rather than one by one. Individual card designs are arranged together on a much larger sheet before printing. The documented sheet layout contains 121 card positions arranged in an 11 × 11 grid.[5] Printing sheets also contain unused margin, or selvage, outside the finished cards.[8]
Proofing and color control
Before a large print run begins, sample sheets are checked to make sure the cards look correct, and their colors can be adjusted before full production begins.[5] Automated equipment also helps keep the printing consistent. The presses include scanning spectrophotometers, which measure printed colors, and image-comparison systems that check later sheets against an approved image.[9] These checks help keep the appearance of the cards consistent throughout a large print run.
Color separation and printing plates
A full-color card image is separated into several color layers before printing. The standard process uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, usually shortened to CMYK. Each color layer is prepared separately so that the press can print them in sequence.
The documented process used as many as eight printing plates.[5] Four separate CMYK layers form the standard color image. Other parts of Pokémon card production can use additional printed layers, such as the opaque white layer used to control holographic areas.[8]
Once the plates and other settings are ready, the cards can move from prepress to printing.
Card materials
Pokémon cards may look like a single piece of printed cardboard, but their stock is made from several layers. The exact materials can vary between products, factories, and time periods, and no single public specification covers every Pokémon card ever produced.
Card stock
Pokémon cards are printed on layered card stock. Examination of genuine WotC-era Pokémon cards shows outer paper layers surrounding an internal core.[10] A simplified example is:
printed front → paper layer → internal core → paper layer → printed back
The internal core helps block light from passing through the card. Its construction has not always been the same between different types of cards. For example, examination of cards from Base Set 2 showed a black core in non-holographic card stock and a blue core in holographic card stock.[11]
The cited sources do not identify the exact paper composition, weight, and other specifications used for current Pokémon card stock.
Protective coating
Pokémon cards also receive a clear surface coating. The coating forms a separate layer over the printed surface, helping protect the card stock from wear and contributing to the finished card's glossy appearance.[12]
Holographic stock
Holographic cards typically use card stock with reflective material laminated to it before the visible front artwork is printed. Holographic material supplied in rolls is joined to the card stock to create sheets of reflective stock.[5][12]
The basic process can be represented as:
card stock + holographic material → laminated holographic stock → printing
The holographic layer is therefore already part of the sheet when the card image is printed. Later printing layers can cover selected areas of the foil so that the reflective effect remains visible only where intended.
Printing
After prepress is complete, the prepared sheets move to the printing press. Pokémon cards are printed using offset printing, a process in which the image from a printing plate is transferred to a rubber-covered cylinder and then onto the card stock.[10][8]
Offset lithography
During offset lithography, the different color layers prepared during prepress are printed in sequence. Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black combine as tiny overlapping dots to create the full-color image seen on the finished card.
The basic process for each printed layer can be represented as:
printing plate → rubber blanket → card sheet
Printing several color layers in the correct positions builds the complete image.[10][8]
Front and back printing
The front and back of a card are printed separately. Trading-card backs are generally printed first, followed by the fronts.[8]
Special printing and finishing
After the main card image is printed, some cards receive additional layers or finishes to create holographic, textured, or other special effects.
Controlling holographic areas
On some holographic cards, the reflective material covers more of the card stock than is visible on the finished card. A white opaque layer covers areas where the holographic pattern should be hidden, while other areas remain uncovered so that the foil stays visible.[8]
The basic process can be represented as:
holographic stock → opaque layer → color printing → visible holographic areas
Changes to the opaque layer can also alter how much of the holographic material remains visible. Some Neo Revelation cards have a "Double Holo" variation caused by changes to the white opaque layer used during printing.[13]
Texture application
Some cards receive a raised texture over the printed artwork. The texture pattern is prepared separately from the main image and applied over the normal CMYK print layers. Textured cards first appeared in the Pokémon TCG with Next Destinies.[5][8]
The process can be simplified as:
printed card sheet → texture layer → finished textured sheet
Other finishing processes
Available production equipment can also support methods such as foil stamping, embossing, cold foil, and cast-and-cure effects. The availability of these methods does not by itself show that a particular Pokémon card or rarity uses them.[14]
UV curing
Ultraviolet (UV) curing is used to dry the final printed layers before the sheets are stacked.[15]
Once printing and finishing are complete, the sheets can move on to cutting and inspection.
Cutting and quality control
After printing and finishing, the large sheets are cut down into individual cards measuring 63 mm × 88 mm.[16] The cards are first cut into rectangles with pointed corners, and their rounded corners are created in a separate cutting step.[8]
The process can be represented as:
printed sheet → rectangular cards → corner rounding → finished cards
Quality control
Cards are checked throughout production to make sure the printing and cutting remain properly aligned. During cutting, employees periodically check the card borders, and cards are pulled from production for additional quality checks. These checks help identify problems with printing, alignment, and cutting before the cards continue to packaging.[5]
Packaging and product assembly
After cutting and quality checks, the finished cards are assembled into booster packs, preconstructed decks, and other Pokémon TCG products.
Collation
For booster packs, cards are "collated" into the groups needed for each pack. The contents are randomized, but the randomness follows a set structure rather than selecting every card independently. As of May 2026, a standard booster pack contains 10 game cards: four common cards, three uncommon cards, and three foil cards, with at least one of the foil cards being rare or higher. Each pack also includes one Energy card and one code card for Pokémon Trading Card Game Live.[17][18]
The available sources do not explain the machinery or rules used for modern booster collation.
Booster packaging
The artwork printed on a booster wrapper represents the expansion and does not indicate which cards are inside that particular pack.[17]
Once the cards for a booster have been assembled, they are enclosed in the printed wrapper. The wrapper is heat-sealed around the cards, creating the crimped seals at the ends of the finished pack.[8]
The basic process can be represented as:
collated cards → booster wrapper → heat sealing and crimping → finished booster pack
Retail product assembly
Finished booster packs can be sold individually or assembled into larger products such as Elite Trainer Boxes, collections, and tins. Booster packs included in larger products use the same randomized booster format as packs sold individually and do not have a special rate for particular cards.[18] These products may also include promotional cards, card sleeves, dice, counters, dividers, or other accessories depending on the product.
Preconstructed decks are assembled differently because their contents are fixed rather than randomized. Each copy of the same preconstructed deck contains the same 60 cards, allowing it to be played directly from the package.[18]
Warehousing and distribution
After packaging and product assembly, finished products move into secure warehouse and fulfillment areas before shipment. MPG states that it operates in a secure, climate-controlled environment and maintains a fulfillment center providing warehousing and logistics support.[9]
Inventory, orders, and outgoing shipments are tracked electronically as products move through fulfillment. Completed orders are then prepared for shipment to locations in the United States and internationally.[9]
Process overview
The overall production process can be summarized as:
Development
Planning an expansion → Adapting Pokémon concepts → Designing individual cards → Playtesting and balancing → Illustration
↓
International production preparation
Localization → Production artwork
↓
Prepress
Arranging cards on printing sheets → Proofing and color control → Color separation and printing plates
↓
Card materials
Card stock → Holographic stock
↓
Printing
Offset lithography → Front and back printing
↓
Special printing and finishing
Controlling holographic areas → Texture application → Other finishing processes → UV curing
↓
Cutting and quality control
Cutting → Corner rounding → Quality control
↓
Packaging and product assembly
Collation → Booster packaging → Retail product assembly
↓
Warehousing and distribution
↓
Suppliers and consumers
Some steps vary depending on the type of card or product. For example, holographic and textured cards require additional materials or finishing steps that are not used for every card.
Production figures
The documented Ultra Prism production process included several figures showing the scale of international Pokémon TCG manufacturing. These figures describe the facilities shown at that time and should not be treated as current production capacity.[5]
| What was measured | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Cards on a printing sheet | 121 cards, arranged in an 11 × 11 grid[5] |
| Printing press output | Approximately 220,000 double-sided sheets, equal to about 26.62 million card positions, per day[5] |
| Holographic stock production | Approximately 15,000 sheets per day[5] |
| Printing press length | Approximately 120 feet (37 m)[5] |
| Printing press cost | Approximately US$8.5 million[5] |
| Packaging output | Approximately 2.5 million packages per day[19] |
Manufacturing errors
Some Pokémon cards leave the factory with part of the printing, finishing, or cutting process applied incorrectly. These error cards, along with related manufacturing defects, can provide evidence of how the separate stages of production are carried out.[8]
| Error | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Missing or shifted color | CMYK colors are printed as separate layers that must line up correctly.[8] |
| Texture errors | Texture is applied as a separate layer over the printed card.[8] |
| Miscuts or square corners | Cutting the cards and rounding their corners are separate steps.[8] |
| Holographic material errors | Holographic material is added to the card stock separately from the printed image.[20] |
| Incorrect card back | The front and back of a card are printed in separate stages.[21] |
| Sheet sticking | Printed layers must be fully cured before the sheets are stacked.[15] |
Color and printing errors
Because the printed image is built from separate color layers, a missing or misaligned layer can noticeably change the appearance of a card. These errors can affect one or more of the cyan, magenta, yellow, or black layers used to create the normal CMYK image.[8]
Errors can also occur between the two sides of a card. One unusual example is a group of German Base Set cards that received a Magic: The Gathering back instead of the normal Pokémon card back. A Growlithe with this error has been documented.[21]
Holographic and texture errors
Holographic errors can include missing foil or visible joins between pieces of holographic material. One documented Team Rocket Dark Charizard contains overlapping holographic material and tape beneath the foil where the end of one roll appears to have been joined to another.[20]
Texture errors can leave the raised pattern missing, incomplete, shifted, inverted, or applied to the wrong side of a card.[8]
Cutting errors
If a card is cut in the wrong position, part of a neighboring card or the unused edge of the printing sheet can appear on the finished card. Cards can also have square corners if they do not pass correctly through the corner-rounding step.[8]
Other manufacturing defects
Printed sheets can sometimes stick together if the final ink or texture layer is not fully cured before they are stacked. This can damage the card surfaces when the sheets are separated. This condition is known as sheet sticking and is considered manufacturing-related damage rather than an error card.[15]
Japanese production
Creatures, Inc. has been involved in the planning, development, and creation of the Pokémon Card Game since 1996.[1]
Some early Japanese Pokémon cards were manufactured at Nintendo facilities in Kyoto Prefecture. A 1999 Nintendo Online Magazine factory report showed a Pokémon Card Game booster production line at Nintendo's Uji Ogura Factory in Uji.[22] Nintendo identifies the Uji Ogura Plant as a former manufacturing site in Uji.[23] At the factory, sheets of already-printed Pokémon cards were cut into individual cards, sorted into randomized groups for booster packs, given their final shape, and packaged.[22] Because the sheets arrived already printed, the report does not identify where the printing itself took place.
Most of the detailed manufacturing process described elsewhere in this article comes from the documented international workflow. Japanese-language cards have not always used the same physical specifications as their international counterparts, with differences documented in card backs, layouts, and holographic patterns.[24] For example, early Japanese Base Set Holofoil cards used the Cosmos Holofoil pattern, while the original English release used a different holographic pattern.[24]
Limitations of available information
The sources reviewed here do not document every part of Pokémon TCG production. They do not identify the exact materials used for current card stock, the current printer or printers of Japanese-language cards, or the machinery and rules used for modern booster collation.
Manufacturing methods can also change over time and between facilities. For this reason, historical production footage and documented examples describe how cards have been made at particular times rather than a single process used for every Pokémon card.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ポケモンカードゲーム事業 - 株式会社クリーチャーズ
- ↑ The Pokemon Company International to Buy Millennium Print Group - PokéBeach
- ↑ About Millennium Print Group
- ↑ Company Information - The Pokémon Company
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 Unprecedented Video Showing How Pokemon Cards are Made from Start to Finish! - PokéBeach
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 How Pokemon Cards Are Made in 8 Steps - IGN
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 How Pokemon Cards Are Made - GameSpot
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 CGC Cards Error Guide
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Company Overview - Millennium Print Group
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 CGC Trading Cards Catches Counterfeit Pokémon Center and Lucky Stadium Cards
- ↑ CGC Trading Cards Certifies a Non-Holo Base Set 2 Charizard Error
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Altered Card Alert: Holo Filler Card - CGC
- ↑ CGC Cards Now Recognizing Pokémon TCG's Neo Revelation "Double" Holo Variants
- ↑ Equipment - Millennium Print Group
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 CGC Clarifies Stance on Sheet Sticking and Pokémon Cards
- ↑ Creatures office - nendo
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 What can I expect in a Pokémon Trading Card Game booster pack? - Pokémon Support
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 What types of Trading Card Game products are available? - Pokémon Support
- ↑ Leaked internal video reveals for the first time ever how Pokémon cards are made from start to finish - NextShark
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 CGC Trading Cards Certifies a Holographic Dark Charizard with a Surprising Printing Error
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 CGC Trading Cards Certifies a Pokémon Growlithe with a Magic Back
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 ポケットモンスターカードゲームができるまで（任天堂オンラインマガジン） - ポケブーン
- ↑ Utilization of the land of the Nintendo Uji Ogura Plant - Nintendo
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 CGC Cards Certifies Several Cosmos Holo Test Print Pokémon Cards
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This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |
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