Pokémon Card Sale Leads to Brawling in California Costco

Danica Davidson January 23, 2025

Costco is selling Pokémon 151 Blooming Waters Premium Collection packs, but one store got more than it bargained for when people became violent trying to get the cards.

You can find all the original 151 Pokémon in the pack, and there might be some special cards there as well that are worth more. Instead of being at their usual price of $120 to $150, the packs were on sale for about $60, and people rushed for them. At Los Angeles’s Atwater Village Costco, a viral video came out of two men brawling over the cards. “Get the f–k off of me bro,” is shouted in the midst of the fighting.

While some people there wanted to alert the authorities, it does not appear that anyone called the police. No one got arrested. It also does not appear that anyone got hurt, or at least nothing serious.

Since the fight, Costco has a new policy: “1 unit per membership per day,” so people can get a pack a day instead of loading up on them.

Unfortunately, this is not the only time we’ve seen people get out of whack over Pokémon cards, some of which go for a lot of cash. This isn’t even the first time people have gotten violent in a store over them. Take, for example, the story of an Ohio man who got punched and tasered by police after stealing cards and then reportedly attacking the police when they came after him. For something even more extreme, there was a case of a man who was shot and killed stealing cards. There’s been talk lately about how some members of the yakuza (the Japanese mafia) like to use Pokémon cards to launder money.

Still, while these lurid stories make the news, most people who love Pokémon are not violent and are not going to cause trouble.

Source: New York Post

____

Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.