No single test is proof. Use several together, and when a card is valuable, buy from sellers with a strong track record or buy it already graded.
Fast checks (no tools)
- 1The light testHold the card up to a bright light. A genuine card has a thin black layer in the middle of the cardstock and lets almost no light through. Most fakes glow noticeably or look uniformly grey.
- 2Texture & finishGenuine modern holos and full arts have a distinct textured feel and a crisp gloss. Fakes are often too glossy, too matte, or slippery, with a “plasticky” holo.
- 3Colour & saturationCompare to a known-real card from the same era. Fakes are frequently over-saturated, slightly blurry, or have a colour cast (often too blue or too yellow).
- 4Font & spacingCheck the energy-cost symbols, the HP number and the bottom copyright line. Wrong font weight, uneven letter spacing or a fuzzy set symbol are giveaways.
- 5The backThe blue border around the back should be even on all sides. A wildly off-centre back, a purple-ish blue, or a blurry Poké Ball are red flags.
Checks with a loupe or phone macro
- 1Rosette / dot patternReal cards print with a fine, regular CMYK rosette pattern. Many fakes show a coarser or irregular dot grid, or visible pixelation, especially in dark areas.
- 2Black is really blackOn a genuine card, black text and borders are dense. On fakes, magnify a black area and you'll often see it's made of tiny cyan/magenta/yellow dots rather than solid black ink.
Weight and the stack test
A genuine card weighs roughly 1.7–1.8 g. If you have a jeweller's scale, an obviously light or heavy card is suspect. Without one, stack the suspect card with cards you know are real and flex the stack gently — a fake often feels stiffer, thinner or more flexible than the rest.
Context matters
A “1st Edition” stamp on a card from a set that never had a 1st Edition print run, a “GX” or “VMAX” card that predates that mechanic, absurd HP values, or a rare card being sold far below market in a bulk lot are all strong signs of a counterfeit or a “proxy”. PokeHive's Card Identifier will tell you which real card an image is closest to — a scan that matches nothing is worth a second look.