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When Palworld<\/em> developer Pocketpair announced an official trading card game, fans joked that the monster collecting game was officially coming after Pok\u00e9mon’s lunch. Now that the Palworld<\/em> Official Card Game is actually out, the joke isn’t nearly as funny. Turns out, popular trading card games can be awful for anyone who genuinely wants to play or collect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, the Palworld <\/em>TCG is already being overrun with scalpers looking to make a quick buck. Cards for monsters like Cattiva, Chillet, and Jormuntide are all selling on eBay for thousands of dollars each. The game has only been on the market for about a dat as of this writing, yet some cards are commanding prices comparable to modern Pok\u00e9mon chase cards. Worse, many local card shops are sold out of the Palworld <\/em>TCG. This is despite Pocketpair having sold 3.5 million packs by early July.<\/p>\n There are a few things worth considering here when it comes to Palworld<\/em>‘s sudden price explosion. Everything hitting shelves right now consists of first-edition cards from the inaugural set. Whether buyers intend to hold on to the TCG products in the long term or to make a quick buck, such cards are of interest to both collectors and scalpers alike.<\/p>\n The weeks leading up to release, as well as the immediate period after a new set, tend to be a wonky time for trading card game prices. People are willing to pay extraordinary premiums to own the best cards in any given game before everyone else. Once a new set is available to the wider public, fear of missing out pushes people to spend more than they should on a card or sealed product.<\/p>\n It can take weeks for prices to stabilize. The Morpeko special illustration card in the Pok\u00e9mon set that came out in July, for example, was selling for $200 before it hit retail stores. Now, a couple of weeks later, the card’s market price has dropped by about 35% to roughly $127.<\/p>\n This phenomenon is visible in the Palworld<\/em> TCG as well. As noted by GamesRadar, the TCG’s Cattiva Gold Soul card sold for $4,000 prior to the game’s launch. That same card with perfect centering can now be purchased for $999. The price tag is still extraordinary, but a 75% drop is massive. At the same time, it’s ironic that a game with monster designs that some people feel are a “rip off” is selling just as well as Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n Palworld<\/em> fans do have good reasons to feel wary at the moment. The consensus around the new trading card game has largely been positive, and Palworld<\/em> itself has already proven to have long-term appeal. If demand for the game remains strong, a scalping crisis is inevitable. We’ve seen it happen with Lorcana<\/em> and with One Piece<\/em>. It could be that months from now, when you ask someone why they’re standing in line at Target, they’re going to say it’s not for Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n