How to collect a living Pokédex

One card of every Pokémon, from Bulbasaur to Pecharunt: what counts, rules collectors add, how to plan the binder and how to track it.

Try it on 151

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A living Pokédex is one card of every Pokémon, from Bulbasaur at #001 to Pecharunt at #1025. Collectors also call it a living dex. Any set and any printing counts, so you can start with the cards you already have. Here’s what counts, how to plan the binder and how to keep track.

What counts

The goal is one card for each of the 1,025 Pokémon through Generation 9. The House of Holos Pokédex counts cards this way:

Any card of that Pokémon counts, from any set, in any printing or language.
Regional forms count toward their Pokémon. An Alolan Vulpix card fills the Vulpix spot, #037.
A card with two Pokémon counts for both. Pikachu & Zekrom-GX fills Pikachu and Zekrom.
Trainer and Energy cards don’t count, since they aren’t a Pokémon.

Set your own rules

The Pokédex counts any card, but plenty of collectors add a rule of their own to make the binder look the way they want:

One era: only cards from one series, so the binder has one look.
Holos or full art only, for a flashier binder.
One language, such as English only.
A favorite illustrator for each Pokémon. See collecting by illustrator.

Choose before you start filling pockets. Changing the rule halfway usually means swapping a lot of cards.

Start with one generation

Some Pokémon have a lot of cards to choose from. In the House of Holos catalog, Pikachu has more than 220 and Charizard more than 100. Others have only a few. A whole Pokédex is a long project, so most collectors start with Generation 1, the original 151, and then move on.

On the Pokédex, the generation buttons show one generation at a time. Signed in, each button shows how many of that generation you have, and Missing only shows just the Pokémon you still need.

Plan the binder

Put the Pokémon in Pokédex number order and leave a pocket for each one you don’t have yet.

Nine-pocket pages: the whole Pokédex fills 114 pages, and Generation 1 fills 17.
Twelve-pocket pages: the whole Pokédex fills 86 pages.
Leave room at the end. New games add new Pokémon, and they’ll go after Pecharunt.

Signed in with cards in your collection, Make a Pokédex binder on the Pokédex page builds the binder for you: one of your cards for each Pokémon, each in its Pokédex-number pocket, with an empty pocket wherever you’re missing one. With a generation picked, the button reads Make a Gen 1 binder and so on. Once the binder exists, the same button opens it.

Print binder placeholders on the Pokédex page makes a printable PDF of card-sized placeholders, one for each Pokémon in view. Cut them out and slip them into empty pockets, so each gap shows which Pokémon goes there. Choose a generation or Missing only first to print just those.

Track it on House of Holos

The Pokédex lists every Pokémon with how many cards it has. Open one, like Pikachu, to see every card of it from every set. Every card’s page links back to its Pokémon too. Once you’re signed in and have cards in your collection, the Pokédex shows how many Pokémon you have, marks the cards you own on each Pokémon’s page, and fills in automatically as you add cards anywhere on the site.