Better Catch 'Em Fast

Tomorrow at 12 PM EST, '1999 Pokémon 1st Edition Complete Set' (Shadowless, PSA 10) is set to IPO on Rally. The financials:

• Market Cap: $125,000
• Number Of Shares: 5,000
• Price Per Share: $25.00
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The Background

• The year is 1998… Summer has ended. Boy bands, Britney Spears and Aerosmith dominate the airwaves. Google was just founded as an alternative to Yahoo!. Amazon just expanded beyond books into CDs and DVDs. The Yankees just won the first of a three-peat of World Series titles. And you? You haven’t put your Game Boy down for the past 12 hours. Why? Because Pokémon versions Red and Blue were released in the US on September 30th 1998, and you’re too busy capturing, training, and battling your Pokémon. The rest, as they say, is…

• Pokémania… Pokémon, which originally launched in Japan in 1996, quickly became an international cultural phenomenon. The original video game series is the second best-selling video game franchise only behind that plumber with a mustache. The media franchise boasts 122 video games, a hit TV show with over 20 seasons on air, and 22 films, including 2019’s live action movie Pokemon: Detective Pikachu with Ryan Reynolds voicing Pikachu. That film grossed $433 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time. But it doesn’t stop there…

• Base. Set. Catch.… In 1999, Pokémon teamed up with Wizards of the Coast (the team behind Magic: The Gathering) to release the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The 1st Edition Base Set sold out in no time. Today, almost 29 billion cards have been produced globally in 13 languages spanning 77 countries. In addition to cards featuring the actual Pokémon, the main cards used to battle, “Trainer cards” and “Energy cards” are required to perform “Attacks”. Rally has acquired a 1999 1st Edition complete base set of the original 102 cards, all of which are graded PSA 10. It includes 69 Pokémon (16 of which are holographic), 25 Trainer cards, and 7 Energy cards. 16 of the 102 cards are particularly rare with regard to their PSA 10 condition and population, and these 16 cards range from 1 of 337 to as rare as 1 of 46. The set also includes a variant Pikachu card – a color-corrected card, since Pikachu was printed with both red and yellow cheeks, for a total of 103 cards. Cheeky.

The Takeaway

• Caught 'Em First… This asset is currently 5% sold out in early access. However, it’s important to note that early access has a Share Limit of 5 shares per investor. The early access share limit is evidence that Rally expects a high level of demand for this asset. The 5 share limit will not carry over into the IPO.

• Gotta Check 'Em All!… Rally bought the 1999 Pokemon Base Set Shadowless 1st Edition for $119,310 from Goldin Auctions in May, 2020. In September, 2019, it sold for $107,010 at auction.
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• Charizard x Fireball… Looking to fire up your Friday happy hour? A Holographic Charizard #4 in PSA 10 condition has sold for as much as $40,000 by itself. Rally is giving away a PSA 8 version of the card, which goes for around $2,000 on eBay. The giveaway starts at 4 PM EST tomorrow. You can enter for your chance to win this and other Pokemon related prizes here.

• New Sector, High Demand… This offering is Rally’s first foray into card games as an asset class. Rally is clearly expecting high demand and has priced the shares accordingly: #POKEMON1 has the second highest “Total Shares” ever offered on the platform for non-Share Limit $1.00/share IPO’s (of which there have been 3to date). The highest was Honus Wagner’s T206 Card, which IPO’d with 10,000 shares at $55.00/share. We expect a quick sell out for the most hyped IPO since the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie Card. Catch your shares at 12 PM EST tomorrow on Rally.
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