Pre-order reservations for the Pokémon Center's 30th-anniversary Trading Card Game collection have officially launched, but customers are encountering significant technical difficulties. The Pokémon Center's website is struggling to cope with the exceptionally high demand, a common occurrence for popular drops but exacerbated this time around.
The upcoming set, slated for release on September 16, is one of the most anticipated Pokémon TCG releases of the year. Shortly after its announcement, retailers like GameStop began listing products with markups as high as 500%. Resellers are offering the Ultra Premium Collection, which has a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $129.99, for as much as $783 on the market. This collection includes two versions of the UPC, alongside other products such as the Knock Out Collection and Tech Sticker Collection.
The Pokémon Center is one of the primary venues for purchasing TCG products at their MSRP. The surge in traffic is attributed to both resellers aiming for profit and regular fans seeking to avoid inflated reseller prices, leading to the severe strain on TPC's website.
Users attempting to access the site often face connection errors rather than a countdown timer. If the website does load, they may encounter a Captcha that freezes after confirmation. Successfully navigating these initial hurdles leads to a virtual queue that some report can last up to seven hours, with wait times reportedly remaining stagnant or increasing over time. Some users experience blank white pages with no interactive elements, while others face further errors even after reaching the end of the queue, with products failing to load or checkout processes failing.
Some fans have reported being flagged as bots and banned for reloading pages too many times, a consequence of the site's instability. Despite these issues, there are reasons for fans to remain patient. During a previous drop for the Pitch Black set, customers who joined the queue hours after it opened were still able to purchase available products. Leaks suggest that TPC has been printing the 30th-anniversary set well in advance of its release to meet anticipated demand. The wide variety of products in this set means individual items may take longer to sell out.
Customers attempting smaller purchases and checking out immediately may have a higher chance of success, as larger orders can increase the likelihood of encountering errors. The constant site crashes also mean that users waiting in the queue might be moved up faster than expected.
The Elite Trainer Box is anticipated to be the most difficult item to acquire. Unlike versions sold elsewhere, the Pokémon Center's Elite Trainer Box includes extra booster packs and an additional promo card. Maintaining a stable internet connection and avoiding the use of VPNs or bots could improve a user's chances of purchasing the 30th-anniversary set at MSRP.