The Real Reason Pokemon Cards Cost So Much (It's Not Scalpers)

Pokémon cards are expensive not because of scalpers, but because the company intentionally designed the trading card game with scarcity mechanisms like rarity tiers, chase cards, and parallel versions (e.g., the $30 vs $900 Charizard), which creates artificial scarcity that drives up prices through supply and demand, similar to how slot machines exploit psychological addiction mechanisms.