How to track your Pokémon card collection

Once a collection outgrows a shoebox, it gets hard to remember what you have. Which printing of that Charizard is it? How close are you to finishing a set? Tracking it answers those questions and makes trading and buying easier. Here’s what to record, the main ways to do it, and how to pick.

Decide what you want to know

Collectors track for different reasons, and the reason decides the tool. Before you pick one, think about which of these matter to you:

• What you own: each card, its printing and how many copies.
• Set progress: what’s left to finish a set, or a master set with every printing.
• What you paid: so you know what the collection cost you.
• What it’s worth: market prices, if you follow values.
• Where the cards are: which binder, box or deck each one lives in.

What to record for each card

Whatever you use, the same details make a record useful later:

• Set and number. The number in the corner, like 199/165, pins down the exact card, even when a Pokémon has dozens of cards. See how to read a card’s number.
• Printing: normal, holo or reverse holo, or 1st edition on older cards. They share a number, so note which one you have. How to tell a reverse holo from a holo helps.
• Condition, from Near Mint to Damaged. See card conditions explained.
• Quantity, if you keep doubles.
• Grade and cert number, for slabs. See what card grades mean.
• What you paid, if you want to know your cost later. It’s easiest to note at the time.

The main ways to track

A spreadsheet

A sheet with a row per card and columns for set, number, printing, condition, quantity and price paid. It’s free, private and works exactly how you like. The catch is typing every card by hand and keeping set lists up to date yourself. If you start here, you can move it into an app later. Most apps, House of Holos included, can import a spreadsheet.

Collectr

Collectr is a portfolio app for more than 25 trading card games, Pokémon among them. It adds cards by camera scan and has a trade analyzer and social showcases. It’s free to start. A paid PRO tier adds unlimited scanning, exclusive filters and collection export.

Dex

Dex is a Pokémon collection app on iPhone, Android and the web. It covers international, Japanese and Simplified Chinese expansions. It treats each printing as its own card, and it has Pokédex-style species collecting, market prices from several marketplaces, and friends with a trade finder. The free plan includes every card and expansion. The paid Dex+ adds the camera scanner, unlimited folders, card notes and CSV export, among other things. Dex’s help says CSV export is on iOS.

Pokéllector

Pokéllector is a website, with mobile apps, that indexes Pokémon cards by set. It covers English and Japanese sets. You can look up cards and keep track of the ones in your collection, and it lists upcoming sets.

House of Holos

House of Holos is a free Pokémon collection tracker on the web. It’s built around English set and master set checklists, binders you arrange page by page, a wishlist and a log of the packs you open. You can start without an account, then sign in to save across devices and download your collection as a CSV. It does not provide market prices; you can record what you paid and your own wishlist targets. There’s no camera scanning, and an iPhone app is coming soon.

How to choose

A few questions narrow it down fast:

• Do you want market values front and center? Pick an app that shows them. House of Holos does not provide market prices.
• Do you collect other games too? Collectr covers many. Dex, Pokéllector and House of Holos are Pokémon only.
• Do you add cards in big batches? Camera scanning saves time. Check whether an app includes it free or only on a paid plan.
• Do you care about set completion? Look for base set and master set progress and how the app handles printings.
• Can you leave with your data? Check whether export is free and which format it uses, so switching later is easy.

You don’t have to pick just one. Plenty of collectors keep values in one app and set progress in another.

Start tracking in House of Holos

1. Open a set from Sets, or start with the newest one on the home page.
2. Tap + on each card you own. Use ⋯ to pick the printing and condition.

3. Already tracking somewhere else? Import it from Collectr, Dex, TCGplayer, PriceCharting, Dragon Shield or a spreadsheet, and check every match before anything is saved.

4. Sign in with your email or Google to keep your collection on every device.