The Best Pikachu Cards – The Rarest, Most Expensive, and Strongest

Pikachu is one of those characters that everyone will recognise, but when it comes to the trading card game, how do you know which cards are the best? Of course, that depends on what you think is the best – the most expensive, the rarest, the strongest, or the ones that are just plain cool? We’ve turned Detective (Pikachu!) to find out.

Don't miss our article on the rarest and most expensive Pokemon cards overall!

The Coolest Pikachu Card

Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat

Perhaps the most contested of the sections, the coolest Pikachu card is very much in the eye of the beholder. However, our personal pick is the Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promotional card put out as part of a Pokémon x Van Gogh Museum collaboration. It was initially only available at the museum, before widening release a little some time later. Stylising Pokemon on cards is nothing new, but he does suit the style particularly well, leading to a really gorgeous, cool promotional card that we really wish was in our own collection.

The Most Expensive Pikachu Card

1998 Pocket Monsters Japanese Promo "Illustrator" Pikachu

The most expensive Pokemon card ever is the Illustrator Pikachu card, and was the same one that was reported on in more general news as being purchased by Logan Paul– who set the record for the most expensive purchase at $5,275,000, and got taken to Logan’s entrance into Wrestlemania. New infamy aside, the card was a prize for a Japanese art competition, and this card – specifically the 1998 Pocket Monsters Japanese Promo "Illustrator" Pikachu – of which there are only about 41 confirmed copies in existence, with only 27 graded through PSA, and only one at a PSA 10 rating

Of course it’s not the only expensive Pikachu card, as PriceCharting shows recent eBay sold listings, and PSA shows others through action, and a combination of both can be indicative, if not exact, of the amount of money spent on cards at the moment. Of which, there are a few honourable mentions:

Pikachu 20th Anniversary Festa #279/XY-P

A Japanese promotional card from the XY era, this one can be found for around $8,600 when it’s graded to a PSA 10, although its average price sits around $7,500. There are 1,103 PSA Graded 10 of these in the world.

Poncho-Wearing Pikachu

There are 232 PSA 10 Poncho Wearing Pikachu’s, which are from the same period as the 20th Anniversary Festa above. The 2016 card was released with Special Boxes that were available at Pokemon Centers, celebrating Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y, with promotional cards that saw Pikachu cosplaying as the two. A PSA 10 average cost sits at $4,637 at the time of writing.

Mario Pikachu #294

Yes, two massive pop culture figures joined for a fantastic promo, with Nintendo’s Mario meeting with Pikachu, and seeing our favourite yellow friend dressed up as our favourite Italian plumber. There was another with him dressed as Luigi, which is a high value card but manages to miss out on our list. There’s 1760 at a PSA 10, with an average sale price of $5,969.97.

The Rarest Pikachu Card

Pikachu E-Reader Sample Card

Although most will point to the Pikachu Illustrator card, there is at least one card living in even more scarcity – if you count it as an official card at all that is! There are just 19 registered with PSA, and these were cards used at press events to show off the e-reader technology available for the Game Boy that would unlock special extras within games. The cards were not intended to be available to the public, which is why this entry is contestable, but as they did, they’re a grail for Pikachu collectors.

The Strongest Pikachu Card

Pikachu VMAX Rainbow Rare

Our pick for the strongest Pikachu card is the Pikachu VMAX Rainbow Rare from Vivid Voltage. Strength is relative to the set it releases with and the competitive cards at the time, but this one is not only a big punch card, but is also very pretty and sought after one, and the combination we believe makes it the best.

New to Pokemon? Check out our beginner's guide to Pokemon. Potentially sitting on a goldmine? Hear from auction house Goldin directly on selling your cards.