Did the Pokémon Company ever reconfirm the existence of a 4th print for their trading cards? No, there is no evidence from official sources or reliable reports that The Pokémon Company has ever publicly reconfirmed or even mentioned a specific “4th print” in their production history. Fans often speculate about print runs based on card scarcity, secret rares, or market shortages, but the company keeps details like exact print numbers or editions tightly under wraps to protect the collectible value and avoid scalping issues.
To understand why this question pops up so much in Pokémon communities, let’s dive deep into how Pokémon trading card production actually works. The Pokémon Trading Card Game, or TCG, exploded in popularity since its launch in 1996 in Japan and 1999 worldwide. Over the years, The Pokémon Company has printed billions of cards—more than 75 billion as of March 2025, according to their official website. That’s a mind-blowing number, like enough cards to circle the Earth several times if laid end to end. But despite these huge volumes, they’ve never broken down prints into public labels like “1st print,” “2nd print,” or anything numbered beyond the very first sets.
Early sets, like Base Set from 1999, did have clear “1st Edition” stamps on the left side of the cards. Those were special limited runs before mass production kicked in. Spotting a 1st Edition Charizard today can fetch thousands of dollars because they were the absolute first batch. After that, prints just got numbered prints like “2nd print” or “3rd print” on some cards in later waves of the same set. You can check the fine print near the bottom: it might say “©1995, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00 Nintendo” and then a number indicating the print run. But this stopped around the late 1990s or early 2000s. Modern sets, from Sword & Shield era to Scarlet & Violet and beyond, don’t label prints at all. No “4th print” stamp, no mention anywhere.
Why the secrecy? The Pokémon Company learned fast from the early days. When print runs were obvious, savvy collectors hoarded the lower prints, driving up black market prices and frustrating new players. Now, they treat all cards in a set as equal unless it’s a special promo or secret rare. This keeps the game accessible. Production happens in massive facilities run by partners like Millennium Print Group, which The Pokémon Company bought in April 2022. That company churns out about 26.6 million cards per day across plants in North Carolina and the Netherlands. From March 2022 to March 2023, they hit a record 11.9 billion cards. The next year dropped a bit to 10.2 billion, but still insane.[1]
Shortages have been a big headache, especially in 2025. Demand skyrocketed with sets like Surging Sparks or Prismatic Evolutions, leading to empty shelves worldwide. The Pokémon Company admitted they’re printing at “maximum capacity” multiple times on their news site and social channels, but the bottleneck is pure physical space for printers. To fix this, Millennium Print Group just signed the biggest U.S. manufacturing lease of 2025 on December 16—a whopping 1.27 million square feet in North Carolina. That’s like adding a small city’s worth of factory floor. Developers wouldn’t name the tenant officially, calling it a “Morrisville-based global company,” but Pokémon insiders like PokeBeach and Triangle Business Journal confirmed it’s them.[1] This move ties back to 2022 when TPCi President Kenji Okubo said they wanted to super-size Millennium into a “state-of-the-art” powerhouse.
Even with all this expansion news, zero mention of print numbers. No press release, no tweet, no blog post on pokemon.com says “hey, we’re doing a 4th print.” Their news page is full of fun stuff—holiday animations, promo cards like Raichu ex, competitive play tips, and teases for games like Pokémon Legends Z-A—but nothing operational like print runs.[3] It’s deliberate. They drop hints about supply issues to manage expectations, like “we’re working hard to restock,” but never specifics that could be exploited.
Fan theories fill the gap. On forums like Reddit’s r/PokemonTCG or PokeBeach, people dissect card stock feel, ink quality, or rarity pulls to guess print waves. Some claim “4th prints” exist in sets like Brilliant Stars or Crown Zenith because certain pull rates dropped late in the production cycle. Others point to misprints or international variants. But these are guesses, not facts. No leaked docs, no insider whistleblowers, no reconfirmation from TPCi. Remember the 2022 acquisition? Okubo’s quote was about growth, not print labels.[1]
Historically, print details were more open in Japan with Wizards of the Coast handling early English prints. Wizards printed up to 11 print runs for some Base Set cards before Pokémon took over in 2003. After that, Creatures Inc. and TPCi standardized everything without numbers. Wikipedia covers the franchise basics—Game Freak develops games, Creatures handles TCG production logistics, Nintendo publishes—but no print run deep dives.[2] Trademarks like Pokémon Legends Z-A show they’re busy with new IPs, not revisiting old print talk.[4]
What about reconfirmations? Fans sometimes misremember old announcements. In 2021, during the Pokémon GO boom spillover, TPCi said they’d ramp up printing for sets like Chilling Reign, but no “4th print” callout. 2023’s Paldea Evolved had restocks, yet again, no labels. 2025’s lease news is the closest to a “reconfirmation” of anything—it’s them saying “we’re printing more, period.”[1] But not about a numbered 4th edition.
If you’re hunting rare cards, focus on black star promos, illustration rares, or special reverse holos instead of phantom print hunts. The company’s silence protects the magic: every booster feels like it could have that god pack. Shortages prove demand is hotter than ever, with daily output that could fill warehouses overnight. Yet they balance it to keep prices reasonable—most packs hover around $4-5 street price despite hype.
Digging into collector archives, early 2000s sets like EX Series had subtle print indicators via copyright years, but nothing post-2003. Modern era? All cards look identical across “prints.” Holographic foils might vary slightly in cut quality from machine wear, but that’s not official. TPCi controls the narrative tightly, like how they own the anime with Shogakukan or manage events through Play Pokémon.[2][3]
Rumors spike during shortages. In 2024, Twitch streamers claimed “4th print Charizards” from Evolving Skies restocks, but photos showed standard 1st edition stamps—no new numbers. PokeInsider reports focus on capacity, not editions.[1] Official silence means no reconfirmation.
For proof hunters, check pokemon.com directly—no archived posts on prints. Social media? Their X account (formerly Twitter
