Holographic Charizard: The $500,000 Piece of Cardboard

When the Pokémon Trading Card Game launched in North America in January 1999, it hit the elementary school ecosystem like a meteor. Within weeks, every recess was a trading floor. Kids who couldn't do long division were calculating card values with the precision of Wall Street analysts. The holographic Charizard from the Base Set became the holy grail — a piece of cardboard that commanded awe, envy, and a level of social currency that no amount of actual money could buy at age nine. Schools started banning the cards, which only made them more desirable. Parents who didn't understand what was happening found themselves spending hundreds of dollars on booster packs, performing the same slot-machine ritual their children had perfected: open, hope, disappointment, repeat. Decades later, a pristine PSA 10 First Edition Charizard would sell for over $400,000 at auction, vindicating every kid who had ever said "these will be worth something someday" and devastating every parent who had thrown them away during spring cleaning.