We’re pretty used to eye-watering prices for Pokémon TCG cardboard products, but how about for Pokémon skateboards? A recent collab between the pocket monster company and Santa Cruz Skateboards, which sold out in literal seconds, saw thousands of people buying sealed, unknown decks, which are now changing hands for tens of thousands of dollars.
This isn’t Pokémon’s first foray into skateboards, as there’s the enormously popular Bear Walker collab that you can still buy today. However, the Santa Cruz match-up went a step further. It put sealed Pokémon boards up for sale, with customers not knowing which of 15 designs they were ordering, in a way that mimics opening up TCG packs. It also included an astonishingly tiny chance of “pulling” a gold skateboard from the packaging, with five golden designs—Eevee, Gyrados, Pikachu, Charizard and Mimikyu—thrown in the mix, limited to just 50 of each.
For $US110 each, the decks themselves are incredibly reasonably priced (an average-priced regular skateboard will run you about $US50-$US100), which likely explains why most people who visited the website at exactly 9 a.m. EST on September 13 found that they were instantaneously sold out. And that was despite a purchase limit of five per person. Since then, those who did manage to pick some up have either held onto the decks, or gone to eBay in an effort to cash out early.
Why? Because the decks have wildly different valuations all based on which Pokémon appears after you tear open that packaging. Putting aside the unlikely chance of pulling one of the 250 golden boards, customers had a one-in-fifteen chance of getting a board with something as desirable as a Gengar, Charizard or Pikachu. But also a one-in-fifteen chance of getting Magikarp. Sure, we all love Ivysaur, but we all want Mewtwo. So, of course, selling them sealed means you could make more money, or vastly less, depending upon what’s inside. As such, every opening has proven social media manna.
Take, for instance, this glorious opening by a lady with a parrot on her head.
Even the biggest Pokemon YouTubers didn’t get any advantage on this one. Both Poke Vault and PokeRev had to buy scalped ones on eBay for prices between $US300 and $US500.
Now, with the hype even higher than before, a sealed board will likely cost you around $US1,200, over 10 times the original price.
And a gold foil Charizard deck? $US20,000 please. And only because you’re tardy. Others have sold for $US15,000.
This guy got one!
It really helps that the decks look awesome. Big, bold designs for the monsters, against more subtle, detailed backgrounds. But yeah, this is probably going to end up getting even sillier when it comes to prices.
Oh, and it’s important to me that you know that the optional grip tape really looks like a pair of my boy’s pajamas.
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