Set symbol

How to read it

Dexerto describes the mark as the one that identifies the set a card belongs to: it used to be a symbol, and the latest expansions use three letters, followed by the language of the set (EN for English). The Pokémon Company International’s own rulebooks label it the expansion symbol on the Sword & Shield cards of 2020 and the expansion code on Scarlet & Violet cards. Kotaku, reviewing the first Scarlet & Violet packs, reported that set symbols were gone, replaced by letter and number codes in a black box, and that collectors no longer had to memorise more than the 150 or so earlier set symbols.

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Base Set has none

Dexerto’s list of sets gives Base Set, released on 9 January 1999 with 102 cards, no symbol; set symbols run from the Jungle set of 1999 on. Wargamer uses this to tell 1st Edition cards apart: on sets after Base Set, the set’s symbol sits on the right-hand side of the card.

A white box

The Pokémon Company International says the expansion code is normally white text in a black box, and on parallel foil cards, its name for reverse holos, white with black text, to show the card belongs to the parallel foil set. From Scarlet & Violet on, Basic Energy cards carry an expansion code at the bottom left as well.

Look-alikes

The regulation mark, also at the bottom left, is a single capital letter in a white box. Card Gamer notes that before regulation marks, the set symbol was what players used to work out whether a card was legal in tournaments.