Pokemon Prize Pack Series 1: The 'Secret' Pokemon Cards You Can Only Get At Local Stores

Competitive "Pokémon" battles aren't just something that exists in video games — "Pokémon TCG" is a thriving card game that The Pokémon Company works hard to support. Promoting these in-person events can be tricky, but special edition cards can help get gamers in the door. Luckily for players, new "Pokémon" Prize Packs are being sent to retailers that include even more cards to collect.

Crossovers between restaurants like McDonald's and "Pokémon" aren't uncommon, and collaborations often yield special edition cards that fly off the shelves. However, there's another way to collect special Pokémon cards while interacting with your community, and that's at your local card/game store.

An announcement from The Pokémon Company in November 2022 explained that the old Play! "Pokémon" card packs were being replaced with new Prize Packs. These special bundles were sent out for stores to promote "Pokémon" League play, so many of them will be at local game stores. The packs will come out in multiple Series with no end in sight. Here's what's in the Prize Packs.

While you won't find the rarest Pokémon card of all time in the Series 1 Prize Packs, you will get a random assortment of six cards out of a 200-card pool, as The Pokémon Company explained in a blog post. These cards combine fan favorites, meta cards, and even cool energies to round out a beautiful deck. Some specific cards available in the Packs include Snorlax, Charizard VMAX, and Path to the Peak.

These cards are also Standard legal, so they'll be able to be added to any Standard deck and used in competitive play. Considering the packs themselves are rewards for participating in League games, players should be able to find something worth adding to their deck, whether it's for cosmetic reasons or to improve its effectiveness.

The Series will rotate every six months starting in February 2023, meaning the available cards will change periodically. This should also, hopefully, keep up with whatever the meta is in "Pokémon TCG."