The folio catalog counts 116,641 distinct Pokémon cards in English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, French, German and Italian as of October 29, 2026: 22,953 in English and 27,599 in Japanese, the largest of the six. A card here is one card number in one set, promos included, counted once in its regular print: its 1st Edition and Shadowless prints, its stamped versions and its reverse holo are not counted again (the totals with them are further down). The publisher's own figures count printed cards, not distinct ones: over 85 billion by the end of March 2026. Ours is a catalog count, and some cards may be missing from it.
How many Pokémon cards are there in each language?
Each set counts with its secret rares, and promo series and subsets such as the Trainer Gallery and the Classic Collection count too. A card reprinted in a later set or product, a deck included, counts again, as a card of that set. Not counted: the reverse holo and other foil versions of a number, stamped variants, and edition prints such as 1st Edition (both are in the next section).
| Language | Distinct cards | Sets in our catalog | First set |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 22,953 | 226 | Base Set, January 9, 1999 |
| Japanese | 27,599 | 432 | Expansion Pack (Base Set), October 20, 1996 |
| Simplified Chinese | 8,163 | 54 | Storming Emergence, October 28, 2022 |
| French | 20,087 | 176 | Set de Base, November 1999 |
| German | 19,037 | 137 | Grundset, December 1999 |
| Italian | 18,802 | 150 | Set Base, March or April 2000 |
| Six languages | 116,641 | 1,175 |
folio catalog as of October 29, 2026, recounted every week. A set counts as soon as its cards are listed on the site, which can be a few days before its release, as Delta Reign was in October 2026.
Why the counts differ:
- Japanese is the largest because more of its cards come from outside the expansions. Japanese starter decks and boxes carry their own numbered card lists: 5,519 cards across 165 products in our catalog (766 in Start Deck 100 Battle Collection alone, December 2025), against 523 in English trainer kits and decks. Many are reprints, counted again as cards of their deck. Japanese promo lists hold 2,723 cards, against 1,461 in English. The Japanese game also started first, in 1996; how its cards compare on price is in our guide to Japanese Pokémon cards.
- English has product lines with card lists of their own. The World Championships decks reprint decks played at Worlds, with a different back, and are not legal in tournaments; their 1,324 cards, from the 2004 to the 2025 Worlds, count again as cards of each deck. The trainer kits and McDonald's collections add more.
- French, German and Italian print the international sets, but not every one: Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge (2000) and Legendary Treasures (2013) never came out in French, for example. Our catalog also holds fewer promos in those three languages.
- Simplified Chinese is the youngest of the six editions: it started on October 28, 2022, in mainland China, and its sets fold several Japanese sets into one. Some of its cards exist in no other language, listed in our guide to Chinese exclusive Pokémon cards.
Which card came first, in Japan in 1996, is the subject of what was the first Pokémon card ever made.
Stamped variants and 1st Edition prints
Some cards exist in several versions under one number. A stamped variant adds a mark to an existing card: Prerelease, Staff, a League or championship placing, a store's logo. An edition print is the same card from a separate print run: the 1st Edition and Shadowless prints of the early English sets, the 1st Edition mark of Japanese sets from 2001 to 2016, and Japanese unlimited prints of rare cards. For 17 Japanese sets, Pokémon VS (2001) among them, our catalog files the 1st Edition print as the set itself: it counts among the distinct cards, and the unlimited prints of their rare cards, where listed, among the edition prints. Collectors count these versions apart, so here are the totals with them.
| Language | Distinct cards | Stamped variants | Edition prints | All versions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 22,953 | 705 | 1,042 | 24,700 |
| Japanese | 27,599 | 19 | 4,823 | 32,441 |
| Simplified Chinese | 8,163 | none listed | none listed | 8,163 |
| French | 20,087 | none listed | 676 | 20,763 |
| German | 19,037 | none listed | 676 | 19,713 |
| Italian | 18,802 | none listed | 676 | 19,478 |
| Six languages | 116,641 | 724 | 7,893 | 125,258 |
folio catalog as of October 29, 2026. French, German and Italian edition prints are the 1st Editions of Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket and the four Neo sets. Our catalog lists stamped variants only in English and Japanese.
With the stamped variants, the six languages hold 117,365 cards; with the edition prints as well, 125,258. How to tell a 1st Edition or Shadowless card from a later print is in our 1st Edition and Shadowless guide.
How many English Pokémon cards are there?
22,953 as of October 29, 2026, in 226 sets. On October 29, 2026, the 22,953 English cards were 18,714 Pokémon, 3,543 Trainers and 696 Energy cards; by era:
| Era | Years | Cards |
|---|---|---|
| Base Set to Skyridge | 1999 to 2003 | 1,833 |
| EX | 2003 to 2007 | 2,001 |
| Diamond & Pearl to Call of Legends | 2007 to 2011 | 2,217 |
| Black & White | 2011 to 2013 | 1,604 |
| XY | 2013 to 2016 | 2,123 |
| Sun & Moon | 2017 to 2019 | 3,090 |
| Sword & Shield | 2019 to 2023 | 3,799 |
| Scarlet & Violet | 2023 to 2025 | 4,016 |
| Mega Evolution, Delta Reign included | 2025 to 2026 | 1,372 |
| Across eras: POP Series, trainer kits, McDonald's (2011 to 2021), other promos | 1999 to 2021 | 898 |
| Total | 1999 to 2026 | 22,953 |
folio catalog, October 29, 2026. Each era counts its expansions and promos, with the World Championships decks and other products our catalog files under it; the decks of the 2025 Worlds, released in June 2026, sit with Scarlet & Violet.
The five largest sets all date from 2019 on. At the top is Ascended Heroes, the largest English set to date, released January 30, 2026: 295 cards, 217 in its main numbering plus 78 secret rares. It passed Fusion Strike (November 12, 2021, 284 cards); next come Paldea Evolved (279), Cosmic Eclipse (271) and Paradox Rift (266). The Sword & Shield promo list runs to 307 cards, but it is a promo series, not an expansion. Secret rares and the other rarities are explained in our Pokémon card rarity guide.
The yearly flow has roughly doubled in ten years. Leaving the promo series aside, the English sets and products released in 2014 held 696 cards and those of 2024 held 1,346. The busiest year so far was 2023, with 1,629; 2025 brought 1,358, and 2026 reaches 1,069 with Delta Reign.
On October 29, 2026, 131 of the 226 English sets were expansions and special sets, from Base Set to Delta Reign; the other 95 were promo series, trainer kits, World Championships decks and smaller products such as McDonald's collections. The expansions are listed with their month and card count in our Pokémon set symbols guide, whose 118 symbols are a different count: Base Set has none, the 24 sets since 2023 print a code instead, and the nine POP Series and three small products carry symbols of their own. The 2026 sets and their dates are in Pokémon set release dates.
Cards printed: over 85 billion
How many cards exist and how many have been printed are two different questions. The Pokémon Company had produced over 85 billion cards by the end of March 2026, in 16 languages to date, sold in over 90 countries and regions. About 10 billion of them were made in the twelve months to March 2026, and about half of the total in the four years since March 2022, when it stood at 43.2 billion.
The number of Pokémon is a third question. The official Pokédex numbers 1,025 species as of October 29, 2026, from Bulbasaur to Pecharunt; three more, the first partners of Pokémon Winds and Waves, were revealed on February 27, 2026 for games due in 2027.
The Pokémon with the most cards
Pikachu leads by far: 240 English cards, more than twice Charizard's 104, and 361 Japanese cards, more than three times Charizard's 112. A card counts under the Pokémon it is named after, forms and owners included (Pikachu ex, Ash's Pikachu, Mega Charizard X ex, Dark Charizard), and so do the few Pokémon Tool cards named after one, such as Charizard Spirit Link. A tag team card showing two different Pokémon, such as Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, counts for neither.
| Pokémon | English cards | Japanese cards |
|---|---|---|
 Pikachu | 240 | 361 |
 Charizard | 104 | 112 |
 Unown | 100 | 100 |
 Mewtwo | 95 | 111 |
 Eevee | 94 | 127 |
 Raichu | 77 | 82 |
 Mew | 71 | 83 |
 Meowth | 69 | 79 |
 Rayquaza | 67 | 91 |
 Gardevoir | 65 | 66 |
The ten Pokémon with the most English cards in the folio catalog, with their Japanese count, as of October 29, 2026. Each card counts once, in its regular print: 1st Edition, Shadowless and stamped versions are not counted again. Each Pokémon links to its species page.
30th Celebration (September 16, 2026) alone added 35 Pikachu cards: 30 Pikachu rares, one in every pack as our guide to cards per pack explains, four Pikachu ex and, in its Classic Collection, a reprint of the 1999 Base Set Pikachu. Unown owes its third place to its alphabet: 28 forms, A to Z plus ! and ?, printed across several sets. Counting every language, with a card printed in several languages counted once, our species pages list 645 Pikachu cards and 235 Charizard cards as of October 29, 2026. Pikachu also tops the most expensive Pokémon cards ever sold: a PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator went for $16,492,000 at auction on February 16, 2026, still the record as of October 27, 2026.
Other languages
The game has been printed in 16 languages to date. Besides the six above, our catalog holds six more of them, most only in part, as of October 29, 2026:
| Language | Its sets follow | Printed since | In our catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | The international sets, as English | Base Set (Edición Básica) | 13,514 cards, 128 sets |
| Brazilian Portuguese | The international sets, as English | Base Set (Coleção Básica) | 12,783 cards, 97 sets |
| Indonesian | Japanese sets, often merged differently | August 2019 | 2,728 cards, 65 sets |
| Thai | Japanese sets, shared with Indonesian since 2024 | February 1, 2019 | 6 cards |
| Korean | Japanese sets since the Black & White era | Base Set, 2000 | 6 cards |
| Traditional Chinese | Japanese sets | October 9, 2019 (earlier prints until 2006) | 17 cards |
Base Set was also printed in Dutch, a language our catalog does not cover, and the catalog holds a single card in Polish and one in Russian. Indonesia's own artwork, Pikachu in a batik shirt (four designs), is covered with the rest of the Indonesian exclusive Pokémon cards; the Indonesian cards we hold are listed on our Indonesian page.
FAQ
How many Pokémon cards are there in total?
116,641 distinct cards in English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, French, German and Italian in our catalog as of October 29, 2026, or 125,258 with stamped variants and edition prints. The publisher's figures give no total of distinct cards, and on October 29, 2026 the Spanish and Portuguese cards in our catalog added 26,297 more.
How many English Pokémon cards are there?
22,953 as of October 29, 2026, from Base Set (January 9, 1999) on. With stamped variants and the 1st Edition and Shadowless prints, 24,700.
How many Japanese Pokémon cards are there?
27,599 as of October 29, 2026, the most of any language in our catalog, from the first cards of October 1996 on. With edition prints and stamped variants, 32,441.
How many Pokémon cards have been printed?
Over 85 billion by the end of March 2026, by the company's own count, about 10 billion of them in the year to March 2026.
How many Pokémon sets are there?
Our catalog lists 226 English sets and 432 Japanese sets as of October 29, 2026. On October 29, 2026, 131 of the English sets were expansions and special sets, and 165 of the Japanese ones were decks, starter sets and boxes.
How many Pikachu cards are there?
240 English Pikachu cards as of October 29, 2026, not counting tag teams with another Pokémon; 35 of them come from 30th Celebration. Across all languages, counting a card printed in several languages once, our species page lists 645.
How many Charizard cards are there?
104 English Charizard cards as of October 29, 2026, from the 1999 Base Set holo to the Mega Charizard X ex and Y ex of the Mega Evolution sets.
How many cards are in Base Set?
102, in English (January 9, 1999) as in the Japanese Expansion Pack (October 20, 1996). Base Set 2, released in English in February 2000, has 130.
How many Pokémon are there?
1,025 species in the official Pokédex as of October 29, 2026. The three first partners of Pokémon Winds and Waves, games due in 2027, were revealed on February 27, 2026.
