{"id":13137,"date":"2026-05-26T09:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T02:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=13137"},"modified":"2026-05-26T09:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T02:16:16","slug":"why-are-people-obsessed-with-and-stealing-pokemon-cards-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/why-are-people-obsessed-with-and-stealing-pokemon-cards-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are people obsessed with (and stealing) Pokemon cards\u00a0again?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1973, Japanese food company Calbee started attaching free collectable baseball player cards to its potato chip packets (and continues to do so today). It was mimicking a trend that had already taken off in tobacco markets in Japan and overseas. Baseball, Japan\u2019s national sport, was an obvious choice for Calbee to attract consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some four years later, rival company Lotte joined the trend, launching a chocolate wafer snack with Bikkuriman \u201csurprise man\u201d stickers. These stickers quickly caught on \u2013 and eventually spawned an entire fantasy world that made its way to anime and manga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by \u9577\u702c\u667a\u4e5f (@nagasetomoya_)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n