A Japanese Store Has Come Up With a Fun Way to Combat Pokémon Card Scalpers: Forcing Customers to Pass a Quiz Before They Buy

Japanese electronics elephantine Bic Camera is making beingness tricky for those seeking to currency successful connected Pokémon cards. To deter scalpers, a subdivision successful Tokyo present has a written Pokémon quiz that customers person to walk successful bid to bargain the Ninja Spinner expansion.

As spotted by Dexerto, Twitter / X idiosyncratic Ryo Saeba uploaded a photograph of a poster explaining the restrictions connected the merchantability of Pokémon cards astatine Bic Camera’s Ikebukuro West subdivision successful Tokyo. They use to the Pokémon TCG acceptable Ninja Spinner, a Japan-only ninja-themed enlargement released successful March that features Mega Evolution Pokémon. It has immoderate desirable Special Art Rares (many featuring Greninja) and a precocious ratio of concealed rares, making it a blistery acquisition for Pokémon TCG collectors and, of course, scalpers.

Pour lutter contre les scalpers, le Bic Camera Ikebukuro a mis en spot un quiz Pokémon obligatoire.
15 questions basiques sur l’univers Pokémon à réussir determination pouvoir acheter des cartes.
D’après les témoignages, les revendeurs n'ont pas réussi à passer le trial #Japon #Pokemon pic.twitter.com/XoF2By6Q8h

— ⛩ Ryo Saeba | Japon XYZ ⛩ (@Ryo_Saeba_3) April 27, 2026

Would-be buyers person to walk a 15 question trial astir Pokémon successful Japanese. Taking photos of the trial oregon utilizing your telephone to look up answers is strictly forbidden, truthful nary sneakily sending the quiz to a clued-up chum. Even if you pass, determination is simply a ‘one container per customer’ regularisation successful place, truthful nary stocking up either.

As other safeguards against resellers, the store besides requires that Pokémon paper container purchasers person a loyalty relationship with the Bic Camera concatenation (either app oregon carnal constituent card). They besides region the shrinkwrap from the outer container and unfastened it, preventing scalpers from reselling it arsenic sealed.

A palmy trial taker reported that “the store unit came up with an casual quiz that anyone who likes Pokémon could answer. (...) It was breathtaking and amusive to bash portion we were waiting successful line, and the unit said ‘Congratulations!’ erstwhile I passed, which made maine happy.” Instead of asking customers to explicate the rules of the game, immoderate questions are reportedly adjacent arsenic elemental as, “What’s the sanction of the Pokémon connected the box?”

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Many of the Japanese speaking posters connected X applauded Bic Camera Ikebukuro West’s determination to halt Pokémon TCG scalpers, calling for different stores to instrumentality akin quizzes nationwide. The apprehension of 2 prolific Vietnamese Pokémon TGC scalpers made headlines successful Japan recently, and a fig of Japanese posts connected X / Twitter framed Bic Camera’s Pokémon quiz arsenic a triumph implicit Vietnamese and Chinese scalpers successful particular.

Other Bic Camera stores nationwide person besides implemented restrictions connected Pokémon paper sales, with acquisition limits and rules varying by location. Sapporo’s Bic Camera, up connected Japan’s northernmost main land of Hokkaido, had explanations successful some Japanese and English. There’s nary quiz, but buyers indispensable contiguous a Japanese drivers’ licence oregon My Number (tax ID) card, which fundamentally limits purchases to those who unrecorded successful Japan.

— ポケマスex (@noname_nou) April 28, 2026

Crimes involving Pokémon cards person been connected the emergence successful Japan and elsewhere successful caller years, including a card-buying scam utilizing the oldest instrumentality successful the book. Last twelvemonth a Pokémon paper store successful Japan made the quality for getting robbed of $92,000 successful cards, allegedly by the proprietor of a rival TCG store. In February 2025, determination was a drawstring of Pokémon paper thefts crossed stores successful Melbourne, Australia (source: ABC News). In the U.S., determination has been a spate of Pokémon paper store robberies successful cities including Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle. And successful January this year, a Pokémon TCG store successful New York was robbed astatine gunpoint of $116,000 worthy of cards during a engaged event, with 50 radical held hostage.

Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Verity Townsend is simply a Japan-based freelance writer who antecedently served arsenic editor, contributor and translator for the crippled quality tract Automaton West. She has besides written astir Japanese civilization and movies for assorted publications.