As your favorite trading card game continues to grow and flourish, it can sometimes be a bit of a headache to keep up as a collector. Additional variants of your favorite Pokémon? Check. Newly introduced rarities? You betcha. Stylistic choices you loved disappearing for seemingly no reason? Yeah, you better get used to that one.It's no surprise to see this issue slowly catching up with the Pokémon TCG. Our loveable pocket monsters have been dominating tabletops in Japan for twenty-eight years—it's been doing the same thing worldwide for just over twenty-five! I was a whopping two years old when this story first began. I can't remember what I opened in my last booster pack, how on earth am I supposed to remember all of that?!

The problem only escalates if you're interested in collecting products from another region. The Pokémon Company (TPC) uses distinctly different markings and symbols to showcase rarities on Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Thai and Indonesian cards than The Pokémon Company International (TPCI) uses for every other language. There are also entirely unique card backs, intricate designs and a wealth of other exclusivity perks that have more people collecting Japanese product than ever before. With such a disparity in how to identify the biggest hits, opening these coveted booster packs can be a bit of a rollercoaster experience. I know I opened something cool—but exactly how cool?

Thankfully, there's a well-kept history of everything rarity for those hoping to make the jump into the Japanese market. Today, we're taking a closer look at the current rarity system for all Japanese products during the Scarlet & Violet era (which began in January 2023) and a brief look at some of the more popular discontinued rarities you may stumble across if you're cracking open booster packs from a different time.

Sound good? I hope so. I'm not exactly changing my mind now.  

Main Set Rarities

Unlike other TCGs, Pokémon is uniform in separating out its "main set" from the "Secret Rares"—you know, the really good stuff. As a rule, anything with a main set rarity will have a set number lower than the amount announced to be in the product (so, something like the sparkly Terapagos ex as number 088/102 in Stellar Miracle) whereas anything beyond that number will fall into one of the many Secret Rare categories.

Let's begin by going through the main set offerings that'll make up most of your boosters.

Common

• Rarity Symbol: C.
• English Rarity Symbol: Black Circle.

Market Price: $0.09

The least exciting of them all, the "Common" rarity will make up the majority of cards you open and lends itself perfectly to important buildarounds needed to play your decks. They're also one of the easiest to identify, with a big bold "C" next to their set number in the bottom left corner. An example of a Common would be Comfey from SV7 Stellar Miracle.  

Uncommon

• Rarity Symbol: U.
• English Rarity Symbol: Black Diamond.

The next step up, your friendly neighborhood Uncommons tend to bolster out a lot of the same gameplay roles as commons and fill up booster packs that don't contain something bigger. They're a teeny bit more exclusive and can be identified by the "U" in the bottom left corner. A great example would be the curiously shaped Payapa Berry.  

Rare

• Rarity Symbol: R.
• English Rarity Symbol: Black Star