Pokémon hosts 24-hour livestream marathon unboxing with gifts for children’s charities

WE’VE all had marathon sessions whether that’s binge-watching your favourite TV show, or completing a game in one mammoth session. The Pokémon TCG fans among us will also know the feeling of grabbing a few booster boxes, and opening them all at once.

Pokémon Goes Big

Pokémon has taken it to the extreme by hosting a 24-hour-long livestream where over 1.5k booster packs were opened. This means that the streamers taking part opened more than £6k ($7k) worth of trading cards alone. The livestream also included openings of other Pokémon merch, including hauls from the Pokémon Center. In the end over 20k cards were opened and put into collector’s binders.

Gifts for Children’s Charities

Pokémon has gifted the binders to children’s charities like Barnado’s in the UK, but it seems that the charity won’t be selling the cards to raise money. Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo’s, said: "We appreciate this amazing – and unique - donation from Pokémon, which will bring joy to so many children. At Barnardo’s, we support thousands of children across the UK to help them live happy and hopeful lives – I know many of them will appreciate this kind gift and enjoy building their card collections!" It’s unclear how the charities will use the cards but hopefully they’ll be of use to them.

Pika Power

Pokémon is one of the biggest franchises in the world, and the vast majority of the money it makes comes from merchandise and the Trading Card Game. It’s clear that Pokémon has been pushing the TCG part of its empire with the launch of the TCG Pocket app, which gets people into card collecting for free. Personally, I both play TCG Pocket and collect the physical cards, but people should be aware that booster packs are a form of loot box. It’s lovely to see so many people getting involved in card games, as long as they are still financially responsible.

If you want to read more about Pokémon, check out how to get a free Mew card in TCG Pocket.