The 30 Pikachu of 30th Celebration
Thirty designs, thirty illustrators, one guaranteed in every 30th Celebration booster pack. This is the full board: which have been shown, who drew them, and where each one lands in the English and Japanese sets.
The 30 Pikachu are numbered inside the main set. The English set number is the Pikachu number plus 22 — the run is contiguous from 023/128 to 052/128 — and the Japanese number is the Pikachu number plus 16, from 017/103 to 046/103. The x/30 number is the same card in both printings.
Those offsets are a pattern read off the cards shown so far, not an official statement. Where a printing has not been shown, its number below is marked projected: it is the offset applied, not a number read off a card. 5 English and 30 Japanese numbers are confirmed today.
Completing the run is the hard part. With one guaranteed Pikachu per pack and no published per-design odds, thirty packs yields about 19 distinct designs and completing all thirty takes about 120 packs on average.
Frequently asked questions
How many Pikachu cards are in 30th Celebration?
Thirty, each illustrated by a different artist, with one guaranteed in every booster pack.
What is the set number of each of the 30 Pikachu?
The English set number is the Pikachu number plus 22, so the run occupies 023/128 to 052/128 of the 128-card set. The Japanese number is the Pikachu number plus 16, running 017/103 to 046/103. Pikachu 06/30, for example, is 028/128 in English and 022/103 in Japanese. The offsets hold on every card shown so far, but they are a pattern rather than an official statement, so numbers for printings that have not been shown are marked projected.
Why does my 30th Celebration Pikachu have two numbers?
The 30 Pikachu are numbered inside the main set, not as a separate subset, so each card carries its ordinary set number and its Pikachu number in a Pikachu-shaped marker. Both refer to the same card.
Is the Pikachu number the same in English and Japanese?
Yes. The x/30 number belongs to the artwork, not to the print run, so the same design is the same x/30 in both. Only the set number differs, and within the block the English number is always 6 higher than the Japanese one.
How many packs does it take to get all 30 Pikachu?
About 120 on average, if every design is equally likely. Thirty packs yields roughly 19 different Pikachu rather than 30, because duplicates start immediately. No per-design pull rates have been published.
Is there an English booster box for 30th Celebration?
No. There is no booster box among the English products for this set; packs reach collectors inside sealed products such as the Booster Bundle, the Elite Trainer Boxes, the Ultra-Premium Collections and the tins. The 20-pack booster box belongs to the Japanese release.
Are the English and Japanese cards the same artwork?
The artwork is shared and the numbering is not. The same design sits at a different set number in each printing, which is why the checklist lists both.
