An anonymous collector named Kabuto King has gone viral for collecting “every first edition Kabuto in the world,” and has amassed 1,783 cards since their initial release on X in August.
The first edition Kabuto card from the Pokémon Fossils series released in 1999 was far from a glamorous card before Kabuto King’s Quest became an internet sensation.
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According to TCGPlayer, near-mint first edition samples can be purchased for less than a dollar ahead of the Kabuto King hunt. Today, the going price for an NM card is $37.43.
On Tuesday morning, the Kabuto King account posted an update to the set, which features 35 newly added cards as well as a full box of cards, both original and flat.
GameStop, always quick to latch onto any Internet meme with a hint of absurdity, announced on Monday that it would be giving Kabuto King “first dibs on any PSA-graded Kabutos traded at GameStop.”
Prices for the cards have increased significantly, with four PSA 10 copies on sale Tuesday morning with four-digit price tags: $1,025, $1,045, $1,199 and $1,225.
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A meme coin called $KABUTO has been launched to help Kabuto King acquire more cards, with all creator fees going to collectors. The Solana-based token launched this week and has gained 263.3% in the past 24 hours.
This isn’t the first time a collector or speculator has tried to corner the market on a previously ignored card, whether to “move” the market or simply for the love of the game.
Earlier this year, a collecting group called the “Pickle Vault” intentionally raised the price of Ben John’s Leaf Pickleball rookie cards from $20 to more than $200, for a total of 3,935 cards, 950 of which were acquired.
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Will Stern is a reporter and editor at cllct, the premier collecting culture company.