How crazy is the rush to buy Pokémon cards? In the early morning of April 29, a Best Buy in Pasadena, California, staged a real-life incident that looked like the plot of a movie: In order to be the first to buy a new batch of Pokémon cards, a 45-year-old man hid in the store overnight after the store closed.
What happened: The surveillance camera captured someone walking around the store late at night
According to NBC Los Angelesreport, the incident occurred just after 1 a.m. on April 29. Pasadena police received a report from a Best Buy employee who said they saw a man walking in the closed store through the store’s real-time surveillance video.
When police arrived, an employee with a key assisted in opening the door, and upon entry they found 45-year-old Patrick Keys. No signs of forced entry were found at the scene, so police speculated that Keys may have stayed in the store before closing and showed up after closing. Keys was arrested on a burglary charge without incident.
Scene outside the store: Pokémon collectors queued up all night
At the same time that Keys was arrested, a group of Pokémon card enthusiasts lined up all night outside Best Buy, waiting to buy the new batch of cards. A woman waiting in line outside the store told NBCLA: “I just came here to wait for the Pokémon restock, and I went to the restroom, and within 15 minutes when I came back, I found police everywhere.”
This is not an isolated incident. In recent years, the Pokémon trading card market has continued to boom. The price of specific rare cards on the second-hand market can reach thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, leading to rampant scalpers and frequent reports of queue conflicts, thefts and even violence.
Pokémon Card Scalper Chaos: From Violence to Hiding in Stores Overnight
This incident is just the latest chapter in the scalping chaos in the Pokémon TCG. The Pokémon Company has struggled to keep up with demand for popular cards in recent years, and its limited-release strategy has fueled the resale market. This has happened in the past:
- violent conflict: On Pokémon card replenishment days at Target, Walmart and other retail stores, physical conflicts broke out many times among people queuing up.
- theft: In 2024, Pokémon cards worth tens of thousands of dollars were stolen.
- Scalper robot: Professional scalpers use automated robots to scan goods, making it almost impossible for ordinary collectors to buy popular products on the official website
Now there’s one more item on that list: hiding in a Best Buy overnight and waiting for it to open.
Source: KOCPC Chinese