Why I built PokéChecks
A $9.90 lesson I'll never forget
The story behind PokéChecks — and why it matters
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My dad was visiting Chicago on a business trip and went to Chinatown, where he picked up two Pokémon booster packs for $4.95 each as a gift for me. When I got them, I opened one — but something didn't add up straight away.
The packaging said 2016, but the cards inside were from two completely different sets — 2021 and 2022. I tore them apart to check for the black ink layer that real Pokémon cards always have. It wasn't there. They were fakes. That's why I built PokéChecks — so nobody else has to find out the hard way.