Holo and reverse holo
On a holo card, the picture shines with holographic foil. On a reverse holo, the foil covers the rest of the card and the picture stays matte. The Pokémon Company International calls reverse holos parallel foil cards.
How to read it
CGC, the card grading company, recognises a holo by the holographic shine on the Pokémon’s picture box alone, and a reverse holo by the foil across the whole card except the picture box. It adds that only certain cards in a set have holo versions, while most have a reverse holo version. Wargamer agrees about reverse holos (matte art, the rest foil) and notes that the reverse holo finish is used on uncommon cards too.
Also searched as: holofoil, holo pokemon card, parallel foil, reverse holo pokemon card, reverse holo vs holo.
This page says what a marking on a Pokémon card means, from The Pokémon Company International’s rulebooks and announcements and published guides. Pokémon and its card markings belong to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., GAME FREAK inc. and The Pokémon Company; the drawings are simplified sketches, not the cards’ own artwork. It doesn’t authenticate, grade or value any card.
Where the guides differ
Wargamer describes a normal holo as foil over the entire card, art included; CGC limits the shine to the picture box.
Parallel foil
The Pokémon Company International’s name for reverse holos is parallel foil; its Sword & Shield rulebook credits a designer with the “pattern design for parallel holo cards”. Kotaku noted in 2023 that reverse holos were now called “Parallel Set”. For the Scarlet & Violet Series, The Pokémon Company International gave the foil round the artwork a pattern recalling the tiles of Paldea, and printed the expansion code as black text in a white box rather than white in a black box, to show the card is part of the parallel foil set. The card’s rarity symbol doesn’t change: the black circle, diamond and star still mark parallel foil cards.
How many in a pack
Kotaku reported that every Scarlet & Violet booster pack has at least two reverse holos and one regular holo card.
Read next
- Next in Pokémon card symbolsCircle symbolA small solid black circle at the bottom of a Pokémon card marks it as a common card, the lowest of the three basic rarities.
- The same shape in South American flagsFlag of ParaguayParaguay’s flag is red, white and blue in equal horizontal stripes with a round emblem in the centre of the white, and its two sides are different. The front carries the national coat of arms, a yellow star in a wreath of palm and olive inside the words “República del Paraguay”; the back carries the Treasury seal, a lion below a red cap of liberty on a pike with the motto “Paz y Justicia” (Peace and Justice). The newspaper ABC Color writes that the colours came to be read as justice (red), peace (white) and liberty (blue).
More pokémon card symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines, squares and rectangles or stars.
Sources
- Understanding Pokémon Rarity Symbols and Card Features (CGC), Understanding Pokémon Rarity Symbols and Card Features, CGC Cards news article 12438, CGC (Certified Guaranty Company), Holofoil vs. Reverse Holofoil
- All Pokémon card rarity symbols explained (Wargamer), Matt Bassil, “All Pokémon card rarity symbols explained”, Wargamer, Wargamer, Holo Rare
- Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet Revamps Pokémon TCG Card Aesthetic, Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet Revamps Pokémon TCG Card Aesthetic, pokemon.com news, 30 March 2023, The Pokémon Company International, Parallel foil paragraph
- Pokémon TCG Scarlet & Violet’s New ex Cards Are Ridiculously Powerful (Kotaku), “Pokémon TCG Scarlet & Violet’s New ex Cards Are Ridiculously Powerful”, Kotaku, March 2023, Kotaku, Terminology; foil cards in every pack
- Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules (Sword & Shield rulebook), Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules, Sword & Shield expansion rulebook (2020), PDF, The Pokémon Company International, Credits
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
Added .