The numbers · counted
How many Pokémon cards are there?
As of October 4, 2026, the public card catalog lists 21,256 printed English Pokémon cards in 201 sets and 12,781 Japanese cards in 116 sets, card by card. These are counts of what the catalog lists, not official figures, and they are worked out again each time this site is built.
How many English Pokémon cards are there?
The catalog names 21,256 printed English cards one by one, in 201 sets. Each numbered card in a set counts once: a reverse-holo or other finish of the same number is not counted again.
| Pokémon cards | 17,825 |
|---|---|
| Trainer cards | 2,863 |
| Energy cards | 568 |
The phone game, Pokémon TCG Pocket, adds 2,480 digital cards in 15 sets. They were never printed, and they are left out of every other figure on this page.
How many Japanese Pokémon cards are there?
The catalog names 12,781 Japanese cards one by one, in 116 sets. That is a floor, not the total: it has 68 more Japanese entries with no card list (older sets, and some entries that repeat another), and they are left out of every figure on this page.
How many Pokémon TCG sets are there?
201 printed English sets and 116 Japanese sets that the catalog lists card by card, promo runs and decks included. The newest English set is 30th Classic Collection (September 16, 2026); the newest Japanese set is ストームエメラルダ (Storm Emeralda) (July 31, 2026). Every set has a page.
| Year | Sets |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 4 |
| 2000 | 5 |
| 2001 | 3 |
| 2002 | 4 |
| 2003 | 6 |
| 2004 | 8 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 9 |
| 2008 | 6 |
| 2009 | 6 |
| 2010 | 7 |
| 2011 | 8 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2013 | 6 |
| 2014 | 10 |
| 2015 | 8 |
| 2016 | 8 |
| 2017 | 9 |
| 2018 | 6 |
| 2019 | 9 |
| 2020 | 6 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 10 |
| 2023 | 11 |
| 2024 | 7 |
| 2025 | 9 |
| 2026 | 6 |
There is no such table for Japan here: the catalog lists no Japanese set card by card for some years, and a row of noughts would read as years without sets.
What was the first Pokémon card set?
The first cards were printed in Japan: 拡張パック (Expansion Pack), released October 20, 1996. The first English set was Base Set, released January 9, 1999.
Which Pokémon is on the most cards?
Pikachu, on 228 printed English cards and 64 of the Japanese cards the catalog lists by name. A card counts for a species when the catalog says it shows that species, so a card with two Pokémon on it counts for both. All 1,025 species have a page of their cards.
| Species | English | Japanese, listed |
|---|---|---|
| Pikachu | 228 | 64 |
| Charizard | 112 | 57 |
| Unown | 97 | 54 |
| Eevee | 91 | 50 |
| Mewtwo | 91 | 35 |
| Raichu | 76 | 39 |
| Meowth | 68 | 29 |
| Lucario | 64 | 31 |
| Gyarados | 61 | 25 |
| Rayquaza | 60 | 19 |
Who has illustrated the most Pokémon cards?
5ban Graphics, credited on 1,784 English cards in the catalog. It credits 410 illustrators by name on the English cards, and each has a page of every card they drew. These credits count the phone game's cards too.
| Illustrator | Cards | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 5ban Graphics | 1,784 | 2011 to 2026 |
| Ken Sugimori | 1,123 | 1999 to 2026 |
| Mitsuhiro Arita | 741 | 1999 to 2026 |
| Kouki Saitou | 726 | 2003 to 2026 |
| Kagemaru Himeno | 710 | 1999 to 2026 |
| Masakazu Fukuda | 521 | 2003 to 2026 |
| Ryo Ueda | 464 | 2003 to 2026 |
| Atsuko Nishida | 441 | 1999 to 2026 |
| Midori Harada | 381 | 2003 to 2026 |
| Shin Nagasawa | 353 | 2009 to 2026 |
What is the largest Pokémon TCG set?
Ascended Heroes (2026), with 295 cards counting its secret rares, 217 without them. Promo runs, which gather years of cards under one name, are left out of this one.
| Set | Cards | Numbered | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascended Heroes | 295 | 217 | 2026 |
| Fusion Strike | 284 | 264 | 2021 |
| Paldea Evolved | 279 | 193 | 2023 |
| Cosmic Eclipse | 271 | 236 | 2019 |
| Paradox Rift | 266 | 182 | 2023 |
How these are counted
Everything here is counted from TCGdex, a public catalog of the cards, as it stood on October 4, 2026. Kiradex reads the catalog's sets and cards and counts them; no figure is typed in. A set is counted when the catalog lists its cards one by one (4 English and 68 Japanese entries it does not are left out), in the year the catalog dates it. The catalog is an open project and is not complete, most of all for older Japanese sets, so read these as what is catalogued, not as an official total.
The same figures as a file a program can read: numbers.json.
Kiradex is an independent collector's tool, not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Creatures Inc., GAME FREAK inc. or The Pokémon Company.