Why a 'Raincoat Pikachu' Promo Card Sold for $8.4 Million
A Pikachu drawn by a fan for a contest, with 100 copies printed as a prize, became the second most expensive Pokémon card ever sold. Even the collecting press struggled to explain the jump.
The short version
The card is a 2015 Japanese promo of Pikachu in a red raincoat, drawn by Y. Fujishima, a winner in a Pokémon Art Academy contest whose prize was 100 printed copies of their own card. A PSA 10 copy sold on Fanatics Collect in late September 2026 for $8.4 million including buyer's premium, after earlier PSA 10s had sold for five and low six figures. Scarcity explains why the card is valuable, but not this price on its own: about two weeks later, another PSA 10 sold for $1,037,000.
A fan's drawing, an $8.4 million result
At the end of September 2026, a Pokémon card nicknamed Raincoat Pikachu sold on Fanatics Collect for $8.4 million. Its full listing name was 2015 Pokemon Japanese XY Promo Art Academy Fujishima Pikachu XY-P, graded PSA 10 Gem Mint. Dexerto, citing Men's Journal, reported that the price includes Fanatics' 20% buyer's premium, which puts the winning bid at about $7 million, and that the auction drew 64 bids. Reports differ by a day on the close: Sports Illustrated lists Sept. 27, Dexerto Sept. 28.
The result made it the second most expensive Pokémon card ever sold, according to Dexerto and Kotaku. Only Logan Paul's PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator ranks higher; Goldin sold it for $16,492,000 on Feb. 16, 2026, according to Guinness World Records.
Where Raincoat Pikachu came from
The card was never sold in packs or stores. It came out of an illustration contest tied to Pokémon Art Academy, a drawing game for the Nintendo 3DS; Wargamer notes that fans uploaded their Pikachu drawings to Miiverse. Fujishima won in the Dress-Up Pikachu category with a Pikachu in a red raincoat, complete with a fitted cover for its tail, holding an orange umbrella. The prize was unusual: each winner received 100 copies of an official promo card printed with their own artwork.
That fixes the supply at the source. There are 100 copies of Fujishima's card, and they reached the market because, Kotaku observed, Fujishima appears to have made many of them available. According to PSA's population report, as cited by Kotaku, 57 copies have been graded PSA 10.
There is a neat echo here. Pikachu Illustrator, the card that still holds the record, was also an illustration contest prize. Guinness World Records, quoting Paul, says 39 were given out to contest winners in 1998.
From five figures to seven
Until recently, PSA 10 copies traded at ordinary high-end collector prices. Dexerto lists Fanatics Collect sales of $12,600 in July 2024 and $19,200 in June 2025. Kotaku, citing PriceCharting, adds 2025 sales of $16,100 and $26,100, then a jump to $156,250 at Heritage Auctions in June 2026, the card's previous high, and a sale of $79,999.99 in August 2026.
The Pikachu was not moving alone. The week before the Pikachu sale, an Art Academy Mudkip by artist Daisuke Ochiai, a card from the same competition, sold for $3.72 million, Sports Illustrated's weekly sales roundup noted. That timing suggests buyers were competing for the Art Academy cards as a group, not just for this one, and a Pikachu is the most recognizable of them.
Rare, but rare enough for $8.4 million?
The usual value drivers are all present: a tiny print run, cards that never reached retail, the top grade and the most recognizable character in the franchise. But those facts were just as true when PSA 10 copies sold in the low five figures, and with 57 PSA 10s on record, the buyer was not acquiring a one-of-a-kind object.
Kotaku called the result hard to explain, given that recent slabs of the same card had sold for far less, and asked Fanatics whether it had any concerns about the sale; it had no reply at publication. The outlet noted claims online that the sale was legitimate and paid, but did not confirm them. None of the coverage identified the buyer or the seller.
The next data point came quickly. On Oct. 11, 2026, another PSA 10 Fujishima Pikachu sold through Goldin for $1,037,000, according to Sports Illustrated. That is still an extraordinary price for a card that sold for five figures a year earlier, but it is roughly one-eighth of the September result. A single auction shows what one buyer paid on one night. It does not reset the value of every copy.
Questions people ask
Why is the Raincoat Pikachu card so expensive?
It is a 2015 Japanese promo from a Pokémon Art Academy contest, printed in 100 copies as a prize for the winning artist, Y. Fujishima, and never sold in stores. A PSA 10 copy sold for $8.4 million in September 2026, though other PSA 10s have sold for far less, including $1,037,000 at Goldin on Oct. 11, 2026.
How many Raincoat Pikachu cards exist?
100 copies were printed for the contest winner. According to PSA's population report, as cited by Kotaku in September 2026, 57 have been graded PSA 10.
What is the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold?
Logan Paul's PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator, which Goldin sold for $16,492,000 on Feb. 16, 2026, according to Guinness World Records. The Raincoat Pikachu ranks second.
Sources
- A Pikachu Pokémon Card Just Sold For An Inexplicable $8.4 Million, The Second-Highest Price Of All TimeKotaku · 2026-09-30
- Pikachu card sells for $8.4 million to become second most expensive Pokemon card everDexerto · 2026-09-29
- This Pikachu in a raincoat is now the second most expensive Pokémon card ever soldWargamer · 2026-10-11
- Another High-End Pikachu Leads Top 5 TCG Sales of the WeekSports Illustrated Collectibles · 2026-10-04
- Pokémon Sweeps the Top 5 TCG Sales Again, Led by PikachuSports Illustrated Collectibles · 2026-10-19
- Logan Paul's rare Pokémon card becomes most expensive ever sold in record-setting auctionGuinness World Records · 2026-02-16
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