The complete guide to collecting Pokémon cards in binders

Two binders, two jobs

A set binder and a generation binder answer different questions. The set binder asks whether I have every card in that set, in collector-number order, with nothing skipped because it is plain. The generation binder asks whether I have one card of each species in that Pokédex range. Any printing counts there, and any language counts. Mixing the two jobs in one binder is how I used to lose track of a missing common.

I keep the long version of the day-to-day sorting in how I organise a binder. The short version is the one I wish I had written down earlier: pick the job before you buy the pages. A nine-pocket page is a grid. It does not care about the story on the card. I do, so I decide the order first.

A set binder follows the card list

The Base set is the example I still open when I explain this. It came out on 9 January 1999 and the public list has 102 cards. The binder page follows that list: number 1, then 2, then 3, including the trainers and the energy. If the list has a card, the binder has a slot. I do not leave a hole because the card is a common, and I do not pull a holo to the front.

The full order of series and sets is in Pokémon card sets in order. I use that timeline when a bulk box mixes eras. A Jungle card does not belong in the Base binder, even when the art feels like the same year. The set page is the card list and the checklist. I mark a line only when that card is in the binder.

A third binder follows a theme instead of one set or one species slot. Themed binders collect every English printing of a creature, an artist, or a kind of card. All Pikachu cards is the list I open when the pile is full of that face.

A generation binder follows the Pokédex

A generation binder holds one card of each species. Generation 1 is the original 151. Generations 1 through 9 are 1,025 species. How I complete a Pokédex binder is the long note on doing that without turning it into a hunt for rare printings. The Gen 1 checklist stays with the first 151, because that is the binder most people mean when they say the original set of creatures.

Pikachu shows why the rule matters. The species page lists every printing in the public data, across many sets. The generation binder needs one of them. A bulk Pikachu fills the slot. A later illustration rare also fills the slot. I do not keep every printing in that binder. That is the set binder's job, and only for the set I am building.

Bulk is how the slots get filled

Most of the cards that finish a line come from bulk. I say that with affection. Bulk is the ordinary pile: commons, uncommons, duplicates, and the Magikarp that shows up again. What I do with bulk is the sorting method. How I read a card is how I find the collector number and the set symbol when the pile is mixed.

I sort by set before I sort by creature. A card that matches an open line in a set binder goes there. A spare that matches an empty species line can move to the generation binder. Anything left stays in the bulk box until a checklist needs it, or until a finished binder is ready to leave.

The public tracker is the checklist, not a shop

The home page is the public count: how many different cards are logged, and which binders have moved. The collections hub is the working list. It groups sets by series, links each generation binder, and links a page for every species. A filled bar means I have logged the card. It does not mean anything about a selling price. Public pages never show one.

When a line on the screen and the card in the binder disagree, the binder wins. I only call a binder complete after I have turned the pages. The screen is there so I can see the hole before I forget it. That is the whole tracker.

Sleeves, kids, and a binder that leaves

A card that lives in a binder gets a sleeve first. Protecting cards is the note on sleeves, nine-pocket pages, four-pocket pages, and where I do not store a binder. I started with a tin from the newsagent and learned the damp shelf the hard way. The sleeve is the part I do not skip, even for a common that exists in every bulk box.

Collecting with a child is the note I use when a kid sits down at the table. One binder, one job, and permission to stop. Donating a finished binder is what happens when a binder is complete and I hand it on. I hand over a finished binder, not a handful of loose extras. The public list records the recipient and the date.

If I had to leave one instruction on a slip of paper, it would be this. Pick the binder's job. Open the matching checklist. Sleeve the card that fills a hole. Mark the line only after the card is in the pocket. Stop when the table gets messy, and start the next sitting at the same hole. The rest of these notes are that instruction, written out for the question I actually get asked: page size, bulk, the 151, the full Pokédex, the number on the card, storage, a child at the table, or a binder that leaves the house.