The Pokémon Trading Card Game just keeps selling out Over the past year, The Pokémon Company’s game has seen a large upswing in popularity Share this story Movies, concerts, and travelling have yet to return to our daily lives, but Pokémon is holding strong during the current pandemic. Opening a pack of Pokémon cards and shifting past the commons in search of a new shiny holographic rare offers a special type of dopamine rush that goes back to 1999, the year the Pokémon Trading Card Game first released in the United States. 22 years later — and a year into COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. — Pokémon cards have been booming just in time for the franchise’s 25th anniversary.