Pokémon Misprints and Error Cards: How to Identify Them

A Pokémon error card is a card that left the factory different from how it was meant to be made, such as a miscut or a missing ink layer. It only counts as an error when the evidence shows the fault happened during manufacture, not afterwards in a binder or a workshop. An odd-looking card can just as easily be ordinary variation or damage, so this guide is about telling those apart before anyone attaches a name to a card.

What counts as a documented error?

There are two kinds of documented error, and they need different evidence. The first is a text or design mistake on every copy of a card, which The Pokémon Company corrects in its official errata document. Those cards are all the same, so there is nothing to prove about your copy beyond its set and number.

The second is a one-off production fault on a particular card, such as a sheet that missed a colour or a card that slipped in the cutter. These are what most people mean by a misprint. Each one has to be shown on the card itself, and the useful test is whether a grading company that publishes its error categories would recognise the feature. Until that happens, the accurate label is a description of what you can see, not an error name.

This guide sticks to English cards and the error types that CGC Cards and The Pokémon Company document on their own sites, not every feature collectors have nicknamed.

Compare printing, cutting and missing-layer observations

According to CGC, Pokémon cards are printed by offset lithography in four inks (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) on sheets that typically hold 100, 110 or 121 cards. Holofoil and texture are separate layers added to the card stock. After printing, the sheet is cut into cards and the corners are rounded by a die in a separate step, so each stage has its own faults.

Printing faults include a colour plate out of register, where one ink sits visibly to one side, a front misaligned against its back, extra ink in the wrong place, and an obstruction where debris blocked ink from reaching part of the card. Cutting faults run from a minor miscut (CGC's line is at least half an alignment dot in a corner, or some of the design missing without another card showing) through a miscut showing part of at least one other card and a major miscut showing parts of at least two, to a square-cut corner that missed the rounding die. Missing-layer faults include a card missing one or more of its four inks, and a holo or textured card that came out without its holofoil or texture.

The table below lists documented specimens. The first three are errata that apply to every copy. The rest are single examples pictured by CGC in its error guide; your card is not confirmed just because it resembles one of them.

Sun fading is the main look-alike CGC names for a missing ink layer, and it makes the point about its second missing-ink example, a 2020 Metal Energy missing its red and yellow layers, rather than the Ninetales. It says a sun-faded card can look very similar, but under UV light a sun-damaged card has lost its normal UV reaction, while a true missing-layer error reacts normally.

Separate damage and alteration from manufacture

A crease, a dent, whitening on an edge or a scratch across the holo happened after the card was made, however fresh the pack looked. Those are condition, and they belong in a condition description rather than an error claim. Our condition standard sets out how we will describe them on raw cards.

Alteration is the harder case. PSA's grading standards list trimming, restoration, recolouring, pressed creases, cleaning and altered stock among the reasons a card can be returned without a numeric grade. CGC prints "Authentic Altered" on a card that is genuine but altered, and names recolouring and trimming as examples.

A trimmed edge is hard to judge from one photo. PSA describes a card that appears trimmed as having a hooked look along the edge, edges unusually sharp for the issue, an inconsistent tone to the edge colour, or a wavy, unnatural look. Those are details that a single image, taken at one angle, can easily hide.

So do not decide a card's origin from one photograph, yours or a seller's. Light and angle change how ink and foil look. A feature that only shows up in one image, or that the seller cannot reshoot, is an observation and nothing more.

Record the evidence properly

If you think you have an error, the aim is a write-up that someone else could check without holding the card. Write down and photograph the following:

• Set name and card number exactly as printed, including any stamp such as 1st Edition or a prerelease mark.
• Language and finish (holo, reverse holo or non-holo).
• The observed feature in plain words, and where it is on the card.
• Front and back photos square on, in even daylight, with nothing trimmed out of the frame.
• An angled photo under a single lamp to show texture, foil and any raised lines.
• A normal copy of the same card beside it, or the official card image from the Pokémon TCG Card Database on pokemon.com.
• The card laid against a ruler next to a normal copy, so any difference in size shows.
• Where the card came from, and whether you pulled it from a sealed pack yourself.

If you have a UV torch, note whether the card reacts the same way as a normal copy. That is the check CGC uses to separate a missing ink layer from sun damage.

What grading and authentication sources can confirm

CGC Cards publishes a named list of error types and describes itself as the first third-party grading service to authenticate and grade major error trading cards. Its error guide covers miscuts, missing layers, crimps from the pack seal, wrong backs and many more, each with a pictured Pokémon or other card game example. It also sets limits. CGC will not grade any square-cut card from the Wizards of the Coast era without provenance tracing it to a Wizards of the Coast employee, because so many cards cut from uncut sheets exist. It says it keeps an internal registry of known uncut sheets, and that it adds new miscut types as submissions require.

PSA's published grading standards treat cutting differently. Its "N8 Miscut" code covers cards whose factory cut is abnormal for the issue, and a card given that code comes back without a numeric grade. PSA says such a card can be encapsulated as "Authentic" at the grader's discretion, if "Auth" is listed on the submission form as the desired minimum grade. We did not find a list of named error types on PSA's grading standards page. If you plan to send an error to PSA, read its current standards and ask before you submit. Our grading guide explains how grading works more broadly.

Neither company promises in advance to recognise a feature. A slab confirms what the grader saw on the day, under its rules at the time. It does not make a card more desirable than buyers decide it is.

Buying or selling an unusual card

If you are selling, describe what is there rather than what you hope it is. "Yellow ink appears to be missing across the whole front, photos under daylight and UV below" is more useful to a buyer than an error name with no evidence behind it. Include the comparison photo and say plainly that the card is ungraded. Our guide to selling Pokémon cards covers listing and posting.

Do not assume every error attracts a premium. A slightly off-centre card or a faint print line is ordinary variation, not an error.

If you are buying, ask for the photos in the list above before paying. Treat square-cut corners and dramatic miscuts on older cards with extra caution, since uncut sheets have reached collectors and cards cut from them can be passed off as factory errors. For a graded card, check the certificate number on the grader's own site, as described on our authenticity page.

Most counterfeits also lack a texture layer, so a missing texture is a reason to check for a fake before anything else. Our guide on how to spot fake Pokémon cards is the place to start.