How Hard Is It To Buy Pokémon Cards At Best Buy?

Pokemon icon (l) woman shares Best buy experience (c) Best Buy storefront (r)

A woman says she became the 'enemy' of a group of 'Pokémon nerds' after buying a tin for her son at Best Buy.

Did you throw away your Pokémon cards when you thought you were too old for them? Well, maybe you shouldn’t have—because some of those Pokémon cards are going for ridiculous prices on the resale market.

Whether it’s nostalgia, a love of the franchise, or just a modern day Tulip Mania, Pokémon cards have become a hot collectible in recent years. One card recently sold for just under $16.5 million, and overall, Pokémon cards have beat both the S&P 500 and Bitcoin in terms of growth over the past year.

This doesn’t mean you should sink your precious few dollars into some cards from the 90s, however. The Pokémon card mania is almost definitely a bubble, and chances are high that it will pop in the relatively-near future.

Still, if there’s a gold rush on, people are going to try their hand at digging. One TikTok user saw some of these modern day treasure hunters firsthand—and she says the experience nearly ended with her being attacked by “a bunch of … Pokémon nerds.”

Pokémon Fans And A Trip To Best Buy

In a video with over 821,000 views, TikTok user Lex (@where_to_lex) recounts a recent experience at Best Buy.

According to Lex, she was visiting Hobby Lobby when she noticed a long line extending out of a Best Buy. After looking it up, she discovered that the store was having a big sale. Lex was in the market for a new laptop, and so, she joined the line.

However, when she got there, she realized that the people were clearly waiting for more than just a good sale.

“When I walk up, I see that there are, like, tents, and people have chairs and umbrellas,” she recalls. “Like, they have been there for a while.”

Lex then joined the line. After trying to make small talk with some of the other people in line, she discovered the true reason for their quest: “The Pokémon tins.”

“I now know what I’ve gotten myself into,” she states.

A Mad Scramble

As her son is a fan of Pokémon, Lex decided to pick up a tin for him. Still, as the line progressed, Lex believed that she was going to be too late to actually get a tin.

But, as she got closer, she realized that she and her line partner would actually get the tins they wanted. Unknown to Lex, but this simple fact would make her the enemy of everyone else in line.

“They shout, ‘That’s all the tins. No more tins are available,’” Lex recounts. “I freeze because all of these other people behind us—here’s like, probably 50 people behind us still. And they’re like, ‘Are you kidding me? There’s no more tins! We gotta go to another Best Buy!’”

Soon, Lex realized that she and her line partner were about to become the focal point of the crowd’s anger. And so, she made a run for it.

“People are glaring at me. They’re pissed. I have now become the enemy,” she states. “I’m walking out to my car. There are people … pitter-pattering behind me. I’m like, ‘What the f—?’”

Lex concludes by calling it the “craziest experience,” adding that it “tops any Black Friday story that I ever had.”

Why Are Grown Adults Freaking Out Over Pokémon Tins?

In her story, Lex met one person who appeared to be buying the tin to finish out their collection. However, many of these tins are purchased not by fans, but by scalpers.

The secondhand Pokémon tin market has exploded alongside the rise of the market for individual cards. While some sellers will open the tins and seek out the best cards for resale, many will simply sell the sealed, unopened tin as-is, knowing that they can cash in on the potential of the tin having good cards even if it, in reality, does not.

In response to this growing scalper’s market, many stores have instituted limits on how many tins a single person can buy on a trip to their store. For example, some Target locations have limited Pokémon customers to one or two items each.

Some online retailers are also participating in these limitations. To offer another example, Amazon UK customers who wish to buy these limited edition products need to enter a lottery; if they are selected, they will be allowed to purchase the product.

Viewers Are Frustrated

In the comments section, many users expressed their frustration—not that Lex managed to get a tin but that the Pokémon market had become so wild.

“As a current collector, it’s both funny and depressing,” wrote a user. “What you experienced is a bunch of scalpers buying them to resell them. It’s dumb af. They should be embarrassed lol.”

“Those weren’t pokemon nerds. They were resellers. Real fans are much nicer I promise!” exclaimed another.

“As a Best Buy employee. Trust me when I say it annoys us as well especially when they lose it on us over cards,” shared a third. “Two weeks ago my house flooded in the floods in Indiana. Some dude was pissed over me telling him I’m not sure when we’d get more cards. I told him my house flooded, you getting Pokémon cards is the least of my worries and walked away.”