This is still a developing story (as of January 28, 2025), but… yes, the Prototype card you just bought from CGC might be fake. And it’s actually a stretch to call them an outright FAKE… rather, they’re more like “less authentic” cards.

Here are some known facts:

  • There are prototype cards which ARE real.
    • Everything I shared on the Known Prototype Cards page is real, this includes their card text, pictures, abilities, etc.
    • This just means that it’s not like all this news was just a gigantic hoax or anything.
  • BUT let’s define “real”. When people are expecting the Prototype cards to be “real”, they’re expecting:
    • ✅ Printed out back in the 1990s (1996 most precisely)
    • ✅ Used by Ishihara and other playtesters to play and refine their upcoming Pocket Monsters Card Game
    • ✅ Printed era-authentic paper, printers and printer ink
    • ✅ Depicts the actual card designs, game text, artwork, etc, used during playtesting during every stage of development
  • Some cards—such as many authenticated and slabbed by CGC—aren’t AS real as expected. A complete writeup of the details can be found here: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 (by PFM of Elite Fourums). This includes:
    • ❌ Printed recently (in 2024, not 1996)
    • ❌ NOT used by Ishihara and other playtesters
    • ❌ Printed using modern paper, printers, etc
    • ✅ They still depict the actual card designs from the original computer files (ClarisWorks, etc)
  • How was this found? When you print something out, the printer—for the sake of forensics—leaves a faintly visible “fingerprint” as it prints.
    • This “fingerprint” is a series of tiny yellow dots which state:
      • When this document was printed
      • The model and serial number of the printer
      • and other minor information
    • Naturally this is used for situations like if someone tries to print money using their printer; the serial number can be used by Police investigators to find who actually printed it
    • In this case it was used by PFM to determine that SOME Alpha/etc Prototype cards were actually printed in 2024, not 1996.
    • For what it’s worth, none of the cards I used had any of these dots, which makes this news a complete surprise. This also means that I feel confident that the images I used are still authentic, playtested cards.
  • For some people, the fact that they are still printouts of the original game design files from the only person who could have them might be enough, as it’s still a taste of what it was like to have them… in a sense, just like how people can enjoy a particular MP3 file, regardless of whether that file came from Napster back in 1999 or a copied ripped from a CD in 2025.
  • However, for others, they wanted more than a copy of the original file, they wanted actual playtested, time-authentic cards. And for the price they paid for it, they feel ripped off.
  • The good news is that CGC is aware of this and is looking into providing refunds to those who bought a verifiable 2024-printed card.
    • FabioPoke states that a CGC rep had said: “Due to the impact of this issue, we are in the process of updating our website with a process to submit these cards for review. Please do not follow the original resubmission instructions. Once the website has been updated, I will follow up with new submission instructions.”
    • I’ll share that link here if you’ve been affected.
  • The other good news is that this isn’t all of them; there are 100% authentic cards from Akabane’s collection. Of course the issue is whether or not YOU have an inauthentic card.
    • My personal observations—for what it’s worth—is that the authentic cards were printed using a laser printer, while inauthentic cards were printed using a inkjet printer. Of course there may be an authentic card that was printed on an inkjet printer, but it doesn’t appear that the inauthentic cards were printed using a laser printer.
    • This of course can change as new info comes up.

This is still very fresh news, so I’m still collecting information and summaries, as well as images to help make it easier for everyone to understand. In the meantime, hold onto your slabbed CGC cards and wait to find out more!