Summary
How can you spot a fake Pokémon card?
With the explosion of the Pokémon market in French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Indonesian, counterfeits are becoming increasingly credible. This Quest Corner guide teaches you how to recognize a fake Pokémon card using several techniques employed by many collectors: light test, watermark, paper structure, font, and print quality... 
1. Light test & internal watermark
The light test is one of the most reliable methods for verifying that a Pokémon card is authentic. Each printing language has an internal watermark: a tinted center layer that acts as an anti-counterfeiting device.
Watermark color by language:
- French 🇫🇷: black watermark, low light.
- Japanese 🇯🇵: blue watermark, moderate light.
- Chinese 🇨🇳: light blue tending towards green.
- Indonesian 🇮🇩: blue-green.
- Korean 🇰🇷: purple (modern prints).
Watermark color scheme
2. Paper thickness & structure
Pokémon cards are constructed like a "sandwich": printed front, dark center layer, printed back. This layer makes it easy to identify a counterfeit card.
- French: thick, stiff paper.
- Japanese: refined and flexible.
- Simplified and Traditional Chinese: similar to Japanese.
- Indonesian: similar to Japanese.
- Korean: fine and smooth.
3. The special case of the Chinese market
Chinese counterfeits are among the most widespread. Here are the two most reliable tests:
- Serial number in bold: if the number on the seal sticker is too thick, it's fake.
- Embossed Pokémon logo: a genuine card in simplified Chinese (never traditional Chinese) has an embossed Pokémon logo in the lower left corner. A logo printed with less embossing and a bold serial number = counterfeit.
Comparison: Authentic Card vs. Counterfeit Card Simplified Chinese
Official simplified Chinese cards (i.e., not traditional Chinese) have an embossed Pokémon logo (clear relief). Counterfeit cards only have a printed logo, which is often very poorly printed.
Authentic card
Embossed logo, clear and raised, printed on the card.
Counterfeit card
No Pokémon logo in the lower left corner, or very poorly printed.
4. Fonts, borders, and print quality
Modern counterfeits imitate the colors, but fail in the details: font, borders, sharpness, card back, holography, etc.
Obvious signs of a fake card:
- Blurred or pixelated text.
- Irregular edges.
- Back too light or too saturated.
- Flat holography.
- Spelling mistakes.
5. Anti-fake checklist
- ✔️ Watermark compliant.
- ✔️ Consistent thickness.
- ✔️ Clear text.
- ✔️ Centered borders.
- ✔️ Embossed logo (for Chinese women).
- ✔️ Correct holography.
Conclusion
With these techniques, you can authenticate most Pokémon cards. For Asian cards (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Indonesian), Quest Corner remains one of the most trusted sources in France.
1 comment
Tomtess
Hello, is the Poké Ball on the back of the Chinese cards redder, a brighter red, and is the blue darker than on the French cards? Thank you in advance.
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