Pokemon Japan Takes Action Against Resealed Booster Boxes

Starting in September, Japanese booster boxes will feature a new tamper-proof design. To open one, you’ll need to tear a perforated line along the top of the box. Previously, you simply lifted the flap to open one.

This new method will “damage” the box to make it obvious it’s been opened. This is no doubt a countermeasure by Pokemon to combat the increasing number of resealed booster boxes making it to the secondary market. In recent years there have been numerous reports of Japanese fans opening booster boxes, only to find the booster packs contain no chase cards. This is because members of Team Rocket are filling the boxes with tampered packs and reselling them.

As we reported last year, Japanese stores began to remove the shrink wrap from boxes at the point of sale to make it obvious that box was now out in the wild. This way, fans would be discouraged from buying an opened box on the secondary market because they wouldn’t know if it had been tampered with. That decision proved to be effective, although it upset some fans who wanted to keep sealed boxes in their collection. This new design solves both issues.

No word yet if a similar change will come overseas.