1. Active Rarities
1.1 Common
- Any Normal card featuring the Common rarity symbol (a single solid black circle).
Japanese/Chinese equivalent: Common
1.2 Uncommon
- Any Normal card featuring the Uncommon rarity symbol (a single solid black diamond).
Japanese/Chinese equivalent: Common
1.3 Rare
- Post-Scarlet & Violet Series: Any Holo card featuring the Rare symbol (a single solid black star).
- Pre-Scarlet & Violet Series: any Normal card featuring the Rare symbol (a single solid black star). See 5.1.4.
Japanese/Chinese equivalent: Rare
1.4 Double Rare
- Any (Holo by default) card featuring the Double Rare symbol (two black stars).
- Introduced in the Scarlet & Violet Series. For Japanese TCG: Introduced in the XY Era.
Japanese/(Simplified) Chinese equivalent: Double Rare
1.5 Ultra Rare
- Pre-Scarlet & Violet Series: Any Holo card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- Post-Scarlet & Violet Series: Any Holo card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (two shiny foil stars).
Japanese/(Simplified) Chinese equivalent: Super Rare
1.6 Hyper Rare
- Any card featuring the Hyper Rare symbol (three shiny gold stars).
- Introduced in the Scarlet & Violet Series (for International TCG). See 5.1.2.
Japanese equivalent: Ultra Rare
1.7 Illustration Rare
- Any Holo card featuring the Illustration Rare symbol (one shiny gold star).
- Introduced in the Scarlet & Violet Series.
Japanese/Chinese equivalent: Art Rare
1.8 Special Illustration Rare
- Any Holo card featuring the Special Illustration Rare symbol (two shiny gold stars).
- Introduced in the Scarlet & Violet Series.
- special illustration rare encompasses alternate-art cards for Pokémon ex or Supporter cards, which also feature full-art foil illustrations capturing the character’s unique traits or environment
Japanese/Chinese equivalent: Special Art Rare
1.10 Mega Attack Rare
- Any card featuring the Mega Hyper Rare symbol (to be released in International).
- Introduced during the Mega Evolution Series.
Japanese equivalent: Mega Attack Rare
1.11 Mega Hyper Rare
- Any card featuring the Mega Hyper Rare symbol (to be released in International).
- Introduced in the Black Bolt and White Flare Expansions during the Scarlet & Violet Series.
Japanese equivalent: Mega Ultra Rare
1.12 Shiny Rare
- Any Shiny Pokémon card featuring the Shiny Rare symbol (one single hollow gold star).
- Introduced in the Paldean Fates expansion of the Scarlet & Violet Series.
Japanese equivalent: Shiny
1.13 Shiny Ultra Rare
- Any Shiny Pokémon card featuring the Shiny Ultra Rare symbol (two hollow gold stars).
- Introduced in the Paldean Fates expansion of the Scarlet & Violet Series.
Japanese equivalent: Shiny Super Rare
1.14 Promotional Cards
- Any card featuring the Black Star Promo symbol and any Unnumbered Promo.
1.15 No Rarity
- Any card featuring no Rarity symbol at all.
2 Discontinued Rarities
(Rarities that appeared last in the Scarlet & Violet Series or before.)
2.1 ACE SPEC Rare
- Any card featuring the ACE SPEC Rare symbol (one shiny pink star).
- Introduced in the Temporal Forces Expansion during the Scarlet & Violet Series.
- Not to be confused with the Rare ACE rarity introduced during the Black & White Series. See 5.2.1.
Japanese equivalent: ACE SPEC Rare
2.2 Amazing Rare
- Any cards featuring the Amazing Rare symbol (an white A on a colorful background)
- Introduced in the Vivid Voltage expansion of the Sword & Shield Series.
- Featured only during the Sword & Shield Series.
2.3 Black & White Rare
- Any card featuring the Black & White Rare symbol (one black and one white star).
- Introduced in the Black Bolt and White Flare Expansions during the Scarlet & Violet Series.
Japanese equivalent: Black & White Rare
2.4 Holo Rare
- Any Holo card featuring the Rare rarity symbol (a single solid black star). See 5.1.4.
Japanese equivalent: Holo Rare
2.5 Holo Rare ex
- Any Holo Pokémon-ex card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- Featured only during the EX Series.
- Be cautious of the difference between Holo Rare ex and Holo Rare EX.
2.6 Holo Rare-EX
- Any Holo Pokémon-EX card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- Introduced in the Next Destinies expansion of the Black & White Series.
- Featured only during the Black & White and XY Series.
- Be cautious of the difference between Holo Rare ex and Holo Rare EX.
During Black & White Series: Rare
During XY and XY BREAK Series: Double Rare. See 5.1.1
2.7 Holo Rare-GX
- Any Holo Pokémon-GX card featuring a Ultra Rare symbol (one single shiny foil star).
- Featured only during the Sun & Moon Series.
Japanese equivalent: See 5.1.1
2.8 Holo Rare LV.X
- Any Holo Pokémon X card featuring a gold Ultra Rare symbol (one single shinyfoil star).
- Featured only during the EX Series.
2.9 Holo Rare ☆
- Any Holo Star Pokémon card featuring a gold shiny foil star.
- Featured only during the EX Series.
2.10 Holo Rare V
- Any Holo Pokémon V card featuring a Ultra Rare symbol (one single shiny foil star).
- Featured only during the Sword & Shield Series.
Japanese equivalent: See 5.1.1
2.11 Holo Rare VMAX
- Any Holo Pokémon VMAX card featuring a Ultra Rare symbol (one single shiny foil star).
- Featured only during the Sword & Shield Series.
Japanese equivalent: See 5.1.3
2.12 Holo Rare VSTAR
- Any Holo Pokémon VSTAR card featuring a Ultra Rare symbol (one single shiny foil star).
- Introduced in Brilliant Stars expansion of the Sword & Shield Series.
- Featured only during the Sword & Shield Series.
Japanese equivalent: See 5.1.3
2.13 Radiant Rare
- Any Radiant Pokémon card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- Introduced in the Astral Radiance Expansion during the Sword & Shield Series.
- Featured only during the Sword & Shield Series.
Japanese equivalent: Radiant Rare
2.14 Rainbow Rare
- Any Full Art Rainbow card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
Japanese equivalent: Rainbow Rare
2.15 Rare ACE
- Any ACE SPEC card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- Introduced in the Black & White Series.
- Not to be confused with ACE SPEC Rare (.rareACESPEC), introduced in the Scarlet & Violet Series. See 5.2.1.
Japanese equivalent: Rare ACE
2.16 Rare BREAK
- Any Pokémon BREAK card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- Introduced in the BREAKthrough expansion of the XY Series.
- Only featured during the XY and XY BREAK Series.
Japanese equivalent: Double Rare
2.17 Rare Holo LEGEND
- Any Holo Pokémon LEGEND card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
2.18 Rare Prime
- Any Holo Prime card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
- They have a special card design, using 'leering' eyes and a special design at the edge of the image border)
2.19 Rare Prism Star
- Any Holo Pokémon Prism card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol (a single shiny foil star).
Japanese equivalent: Rare Prism Star
2.20 Secret Rare
- Basically any card that exceeds the set number of an Expansion, and therefore is not part of the Main Set of an Expansion. This rarity is rarely used on itself, since most Secret cards already consist of a differentiating rarity.
2.21 Shining Holo
- During the Neo Series: Any Holo Shining Pokémon card featuring the Shining Holo symbol (exceptions: Neo Revelation).
- During the Sun & Moon Series: Any Holo Shining Pokémon card featuring the Ultra Rare symbol.
Japanese equivalent (for the Sun & Moon Series): Shining Holo
2.22 Trainer Gallery Holo Rare
- Any Holo Rare card that is part of a Trainer Gallery.
Japanese equivalent: Character Rare
2.23 Trainer Gallery Ultra Rare
- Any Ultra Rare card that is part of a Trainer Gallery.
Japanese equivalent: Character Secret Rare
2.24 Trainer Gallery Secret Rare
- Any Secret Rare card that is part of a Trainer Gallery.
2.25 Trainer’s Rare
- Any Holo Trainer card featuring the Trainer’s Rare symbol.
- Found exclusively in Japan during the Sun & Moon Series.
2.26 Triple Rare
- Any Pokémon VMAX or VSTAR card featuring the Triple Rare symbol.
- Found exclusively in Japanese and (Simplified) Chinese TCG. See 5.1.3.
3 Rarity Groups
3.1 Common
- Common
3.2 Uncommon
- Uncommon
3.3 Rare
- Rare
- Holo Rare
3.4 Ultra Rare
- ACE SPEC Rare
- Amazing Rare
- Double Rare
- Holo Rare EX
- Holo Rare ex
- Holo Rare GX
- Holo Rare LV.X
- Holo Rare ☆
- Holo Rare V
- Holo Rare VMAX
- Holo Rare VSTAR
- Hyper Rare
- Illustration Rare
- Rainbow Rare
- Rare BREAK
- Rare Holo LEGEND
- Rare Prime
- Rare Prism Star
- Special Illustration Rare
- Trainer Gallery Holo Rare
- Trainer Gallery Ultra Rare
- Trainer’s Rare
- Triple Rare
3.5 Secret Rare
- Secret Rare
- Black & White Rare
- Trainer Gallery Secret Rare
- Mega Hyper Rare
3.6 Shiny Rare
- Radiant Rare
- Shining Holo
- Shiny Rare
- Shiny Ultra Rare
3.7 Promo
- Promo
- No Rarity
4 International, Japanese and Chinese Equivalents
In Dex, solely the International rarities are mentioned. In Japanese and (Simplified) Chinese, Rarities are often named differently, but are equivalents of International rarities. Here are the equivalents as found in Dex:
Active Rarities
International | Japanese | (Simplified) Chinese |
Common | Common | Common |
Uncommon | Uncommon | Uncommon |
Rare | Rare | Rare |
Double Rare | Double Rare | Double Rare |
Ultra Rare | Super Rare | Super Rare |
Illustration Rare | Art Rare | Art Rare ( |
Special Illustration Rare | Special Art Rare | Special Art Rare |
Hyper Rare | Ultra Rare | Ultra Rare |
Mega Attack Rare | Mega Attack Rare | T.b.d. |
Mega Hyper Rare | Mega Ultra Rare | T.b.d. |
Discontinued Rarities
International | Japanese | (Simplified) Chinese |
ACE SPEC Rare | ACE SPEC | T.b.d. |
Black & White Rare | Black & White Rare | T.b.d. |
Holo Rare | Rare | Rare |
Holo Rare V | See 5.1.1 | - |
Holo Rare VMAX | See 5.1.3 | - |
Holo Rare VSTAR | See 5.1.3 | - |
Radiant Rare | Radiant Rare | Radiant Rare |
Rare Prism Star | Rare Prism Star | T.b.d. |
Shiny Rare | Shiny Rare | T.b.c. |
Shiny Ultra Rare | Shiny Super Rare | T.b.c. |
Trainer Gallery Holo Rare | Character Rare | T.b.d. |
Trainer Gallery Ultra Rare | Character Super Rare | T.b.d. |
Trainer Gallery Secret Rare | T.b.c. | T.b.d. |
- | Trainer’s Rare | - |
See 5.1.3 | Triple Rare | Triple Rare |
5 Clarifications and Exceptions
5.1 Clarifications
5.1.1 The Double Rare rarity was first introduced with the International release of the Scarlet & Violet Series. However, cards that would be considered Holo Rare-EX, Holo Rare-GX or Holo Rare V rarities in International TCG, contain the Double Rare rarity in Japanese and Chinese TCG.
5.1.2 The Hyper Rare rarity was first introduced with the International release of the Scarlet & Violet Series. However, Japanese cards with the Ultra Rare rarity are also called Hyper Rare, its equivalent, in Dex.
5.1.3 Cards that would be considered Holo Rare VMAX or Holo Rare VSTAR rarities in International TCG, contain the Triple Rare rarity in Japanese and Chinese TCG. Therefore, the Triple Rare rarity is used exclusively for Japanese and (Simplified) Chinese TCG. In Chinese TCG, the Japanese symbol is replaced with three black stars.
5.1.4 Ever since the Scarlet & Violet Series, Rare cards have Holofoil by default. Therefore, the specification Holo was irrelevant, resulting in the last appearance of the Holo Rare rarity during the Sword & Shield Series. For Japanese cards, Rare cards has been Holofoil by default since the Black & White Era.
5.2 Exceptions
5.2.1 Even though Rare ACE existed only in the Black & White Series, the Rare ACE rarity and the ACE SPEC Rare rarity are considered the same in Dex: ACE SPEC Rare.