A Hidden Pikachu Just Blew Up a Bulbasaur Card's Price (No, Really)
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
A previously unnoticed, tiny Pikachu silhouette hidden in the background of a Bulbasaur #37 Pokémon promo card has caused its price to skyrocket, driven by collectors' intense desire for the rare and expensive 'Treekachu' Pikachu ex #276 card.
Bloody hell, mates, the Pokémon TCG market is once again proving itself to be a glorious, chaotic vortex of demand and desperation. You know the drill: getting your mitts on any new Pokémon cards is a wizard's quest these days, let alone the ultra-rare stuff that costs more than my annual supply of magic dust. But sometimes, the market just goes absolutely bonkers in the most unexpected ways, and a recent discovery involving a certain Bulbasaur card is fair dinkum proof.
The current 'unobtainium' everyone's salivating over is Pikachu ex #276, affectionately dubbed 'Treekachu,' from the Ascended Heroes set. This full-art beauty is so sought after, you'd be lucky to snag one for a grand, and a top-tier PSA 10? Forget it – you're looking at over four large. It’s a proper digital dragon guarding treasure, that one.
So, when folks couldn't snag their Treekachu, they naturally turned to the next best thing: the Crown Zenith 'Leaf Pikachu,' which also gives off those lovely verdant vibes. That card's price quadrupled in '25, then doubled *again* in '26. A sensible escalation, if you can call any of this sensible, given the general card shortage.
But here's where the magic – or perhaps, collective delusion – really kicks in. People became so utterly desperate for a slice of that Treekachu pie that they started reaching for something entirely unrelated. Enter Bulbasaur #37, a promo card from March 2026, part of a set celebrating the beloved starters. It was already popular, but then someone, bless their eagle eyes, spotted it.
Zoom in. Squint a bit. Enhance! And there it is, tucked away in the background of Bulbasaur's leafy forest scene: a tiny, barely-there silhouette of a Pikachu. A secret Treekachu! Or, well, a secret forest Pikachu. It's the kind of Easter egg that makes you wonder 'what happens if...' you really dig deep into every card.
And wouldn't you know it? The market responded like a startled Snorlax after a jolt of caffeine. This Bulbasaur card, which used to fetch a respectable twenty quid, suddenly shot up to sixty! Daily sales on TCG Player soared from a hundred to over seven hundred almost overnight, according to Patricia Hernandez's excellent piece over at Polygon. The price chart looks like a rocket launch, straight up into the digital heavens.
Now, here's the kicker, and where my inner wizard starts squinting at the tea leaves: that hidden Pikachu? It's probably a cheeky nod to Viridian Forest from the original Red and Blue games, not a direct reference to Treekachu itself. Which makes the whole surge even more hilariously indicative of collector desperation. People are so keen for *any* proximity to the 'hot' card that they'll chase a spectral, barely-visible hint of it on an entirely different Pokémon's card! It's wild, it's chaotic, and frankly, it's brilliant in its absurdity.
What a wild ride, eh? It's a proper testament to the power of community discovery and the sometimes-bonkers logic of collector markets. While Bulbasaur #37 is still relatively affordable in the grand scheme of things (unlike those cards that cost a yearly salary – proper madness, that), this phenomenon shows how a tiny, hidden detail can trigger a price explosion. It just goes to show, sometimes the greatest treasures aren't the ones on the card's front, but the little secrets lurking in the background. Keep your eyes peeled, mates, you never know what you might uncover next! Big shout out to Patricia Hernandez over at Polygon for uncovering this gem!
Tags: Pokémon TCG, Collectibles, Market Trends, Easter Egg, Card Collecting
Original article: Polygon