https://www.elitefourum.com/t/many-of-the-pokemon-playtest-cards-were-likely-printed-in-2024/52421 Elite Fourum Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 Articles prototype pfm January 27, 2025, 1:19am 1 About the tracking dots Most home and office printers add metadata to printed sheets in the form of very tiny yellow dots (sometimes called a machine identification code) that can't be seen with the naked eye. The layout of the dots are different between printer brands and some don't leave any at all. Information like serial number and sometime the print time is encoded in these dots. They can act as a "signature" for the printer that law enforcement uses as document forensic evidence (like in cases of forged currency). Example of yellow tracking dots Example of yellow tracking dots2000x2068 5.44 MB To view the dots you need to a magnifying glass or high resolution image and you need to adjust the colour channels to emphasize the yellow. More info: How to Find Yellow Dots in Prototypes - DIY Guide Important note: The dots are printed on by the kind of printers you and I would buy. Things like magazines, posters, and real Pokemon cards will not have dots. They are printed by large industrial offset printers. How to read the dots Different brands use different dot encoding patterns, and not all of these can be decoded. The companies don't reveal this information so any known pattern has been cracked by someone from the general public. The most well known of these is was broken in 2005 and often referred to as the "Xerox DocuColor" code - named for the printer models used to discover it. Some brands other than Xerox also use this same pattern. In this case, a 15x8 grid repeats like a checkerboard across the entire printed sheet. Each repeated grid has the same dots. The columns represent binary numbers For example, the eighth column encodes the year in binary. "2024" would appear as "011000" which is 24 in binary. Eevee example Eevee example876x741 106 KB Xerox DocuColor code Xerox DocuColor code512x384 91 KB If you have a "Xerox DocuColor" style code, you can use @mika's decoder implementation here to decode it: Yellow Dot Decoder - Fake Prototype Playtest Cards Tracking dots on the "prototype" Pokemon cards A slew of cards that were originally believed to be early prototype and cards used for playtesting have been appearing in public auctions starting in 2024. Most are believed to trace back to Takumi Akabane - someone who was involved in the early development of the TCG. He was also involved in the authentication of these cards. The combined sales across all auction websites likely exceeds $10M. Individual cards were selling between four to six figures, based on the variant and the popularity of the Pokemon. Because these cards are printed from a home/office printer, many of them have tracking dots. And many have a dot pattern that suggest a print date in 2024. Beta playtest Beta playtest1380x884 84.2 KB Beta playtest dots Beta playtest dots1920x1339 142 KB Dot pattern Dot pattern1824x986 177 KB Dot pattern decoded Dot pattern decoded1750x1584 162 KB Note the decoding result. We see this serial number reoccur across many cards. image Checking the dots can be done with public images if they are sufficiently high resolution. Such as this signed one from the "Takumi Akabane Collection" where the autograph was witnessed by CGC: 1996 Pokemon Japanese Beta Playtest Mounted On Card Eevee AUTO CGC 10 GEM MINT 1996 Pokemon Japanese Beta Playtest Mounted On Card Eevee AUTO CGC 10 GEM MINT642x1082 95.1 KB image image1920x1483 425 KB The dots reveal the 2024 year and the same printer serial number. Variant breakdown The development of the Pokemon TCG was an iterative process, and many prototype and playtest variants have surfaced. Based on evidence inherent in the cards, this is what I can put together to the best of my ability Note: only Alpha playtest and Beta presentation have any documented evidence of their existence that predates 2024 Alpha prototypes Alpha prototype (HQ) Alpha prototype (HQ)1920x3134 723 KB Alpha prototypes (LQ) Alpha prototypes (LQ)1920x3230 703 KB * there are no yellow tracking dots since they were printed in b&w * 2 variants, we can call them HQ and LQ: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #8 by pfm * easily distinguished by the background * there is one set of HQ, all other copies appear to be LQ * LQ appear to be copies of HQ, as they pick up the same printing artifacts seen on the HQ version. HQ: inconclusive. LQ: likely a copy of HQ, when the copy was made is inconclusive. Alpha prototypes Alpha prototype with 1996 dots Alpha prototype with 1996 dots1041x1738 452 KB Alpha prototype with Konica Minolta-style dots Alpha prototype with Konica Minolta-style dots1920x3134 566 KB * Most carry a unique dot pattern (different from beta) Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #18 by pfm * Likely from a Konica Minolta (Japanese brand) or Epson printer Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #421 by pfm * Some copies have BOTH alpha dots and "xerox" dots that can be dated. The hypothesis is that some alpha cards were scanned/ copied (picking up alpha dots) and reprinted in 2024: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #143 by pfm * the alpha with inflated pop reports are more likely to have the double pattern (many trainers): https://www.cgccards.com/ population-report/tcg/pokemon/2/test-prints-oddities-other/692/ alpha-playtest-thick-lines/13952?populationID=1288703 * a small handful have noticeably higher quality backs such as the three starters and this gyarados: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #59 by pfm High quality back: dated to 1996 for the three starters Alpha pattern only: inconclusive. Double dot pattern: all observed copies so far have 2024 dots Beta playtest Beta playtest (HQ) Beta playtest (HQ)1920x3230 662 KB Beta playtest (LQ) Beta playtest (LQ)1920x3140 676 KB * two variants, HQ and LQ: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #299 by pfm * HQ has yet to be observed with any dots * LQ has always been observed with 2024 dots * there only only appears to be 1 HQ beta per Pokemon, implying the vast majority of betas have 2024 dots * HQ betas have subtle traces of the alpha pattern on the back, suggesting that the HQ beta back was scanned/copied from a card that has the alpha print pattern - this implies the HQ betas were printed after the alphas and the authenticity is contingent on the authenticity of the alphas: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #745 by pfm * it is unlikely that the LQ are simply scans/copies of HQ given that not a single print artifact or dirt spec has yet been observed to be transferred from HQ to LQ HQ beta: inconclusive LQ beta: all observed copies so far have 2024 dots Delta playtest, Alpha presentation and Gamma playtest Delta playtest Delta playtest1920x3184 780 KB Alpha presentation Alpha presentation1920x3184 832 KB Gamma prototype Gamma prototype646x972 58.1 KB * There are few of these graded but they all look similar to LQ beta and all observed and tested copies of all three variants have 2024 dots * No copies of Gamma have been graded. The art does not match any existing card. Beta presentation Beta presentation Beta presentation1920x3134 985 KB * No hi-res scan available yet, but I see no evidence of dots so far * They match well with the corocoro images and the print quality suggests a different printer was used for these than anything mentioned so far * inconclusive so far Image summary made by @BANKS image image1219x425 101 KB Acknowledgements Thanks to @tediorso for suggesting this avenue of investigation. Thanks to @mika @linkdu83 and @HumanForScale for helping with data collection and analysis Thanks to @BANKS for working on information summary 204 Likes Yellow Dot Decoder - Fake Prototype Playtest Cards Pokemon Card Prototype Discussion Thread Number 1 Trainer trophy printed on "uncut sheet" appears to have been printed in 2024 Have you ever been scammed? Efour Digest - Daily summary of activity Efour Digest - Daily summary of activity Pokemon Card Prototype Discussion Thread Yellow Dot Decoder - Fake Prototype Playtest Cards Pokemon Card Prototype Discussion Thread Efour Digest - Daily summary of activity Pokemon Card Prototype Discussion Thread Dyl January 27, 2025, 1:40am 2 Holy Shit [giphy] 61 Likes godcomplex January 27, 2025, 1:43am 3 Are any of these 2024 prints raw or have they been "authenticated"? 1 Like casual January 27, 2025, 1:45am 5 Incredible research. What a dangerous game people are playing buying these, pkonno really DID have a printer in his basement. 26 Likes BANKS January 27, 2025, 1:46am 6 Taking into consideration the personal stake that you have in these cards, you're the goat 49 Likes lyleberr January 27, 2025, 1:46am 7 Does it have to be a scan or can you do this from a photo of a playtest? Does it have to have color? 1 Like pfm January 27, 2025, 1:46am 8 Another observation I want to mention. The alpha prototypes were likely designed in a tool called ClarisWorks 4 which was available in 1995. Here I emulated an old mac and ran it: clarisworks_pikachu clarisworks_pikachu644x484 10.1 KB When looking at alpha prototypes there is clearly a set that is higher quality than the others. Consider Pikachu CSG1401030938-002_OBV CSG1401030938-002_OBV1920x3134 723 KB CSG1401039446-034_OBV CSG1401039446-034_OBV1920x3184 679 KB CSG1401042270-026_OBV CSG1401042270-026_OBV1920x3140 614 KB Consider the dots in the background: image image1920x1438 199 KB image image1920x1461 145 KB Also note the shared print artifact that goes through the "Pikachu" text. It's not limited to Pikachu. CSG1401030938-004_OBV CSG1401030938-004_OBV1920x3134 690 KB CSG1401039446-035_OBV CSG1401039446-035_OBV1920x3184 631 KB CSG1401042270-025_OBV CSG1401042270-025_OBV1920x3140 604 KB 44 Likes casual January 27, 2025, 1:46am 9 Personally, I think it makes sense to go after the grading companies here This is a disaster They should be fully refunding people 48 Likes pfm January 27, 2025, 1:47am 10 # BANKS: Taking into consideration the personal stake that you have in these cards, you're the goat I will lose thousands. 61 Likes lyleberr January 27, 2025, 1:49am 11 image image506x499 87.6 KB 26 Likes ddk January 27, 2025, 1:49am 12 The tragic irony of pfm believing in these cards for months only to be the one to discover the truth behind them... 39 Likes gengarbrigade January 27, 2025, 1:50am 13 Proud of you @pfm. You didn't have to release this and yet you did all the same. You solved one of the biggest mysteries this hobby has seen in years. If anyone was going to do it, it was going to be you. 76 Likes Dirge January 27, 2025, 1:51am 14 I am stunned and impressed beyond words. Holy shit. Does this mean they're all fakes or just some of them? 9 Likes BANKS January 27, 2025, 1:51am 15 That's what separates Greek heroes from timmys, PFM went the distance 13 Likes Will January 27, 2025, 1:51am 16 Great analysis as always pfm, amazing stuff 9 Likes Alec January 27, 2025, 1:54am 17 I think the most reasonable take is some are certainly not 1995/1996 playtest cards as we've been led to believe, and the rest are at least questionable. 13 Likes pfm January 27, 2025, 1:56am 18 # Dirge: Does this mean they're all fakes or just some of them? I'm still digging into it. All I can say is that I've seen evidence of 3 different printers for the coloured variants and one of them has 2024 in the metadata (majority of the beta). The majority of the alpha have a different set of print dots. for example: image image1708x978 117 KB I have a guess at the printer brand. I don't believe print time is encoded but the printer model should be in there. In other words: * High quality beta = no dots * Low quality beta = dots in the OP * Alpha playtest = dots above This is my general observation, there are exceptions 24 Likes fourthstartcg January 27, 2025, 1:59am 19 Well there you go. I won't speak in absolutes as it still seems like there is some information to come, but if this proves to reflect the entirety of the playtest cards it can't be seen as anything other than an epic failure of CGC's authentication practices. #Pokemon Card Prototype Discussion Thread People are supposed to take the word of CGC that these are authentic, relying on hypothesized secret documentation that proves their authenticity that somehow can't be released, described, or alluded to in any way. This is the complete opposite of how CGC originally built their test print authentication practices. This was the original problem with the cards, that we had to rely on "trust me bro" from CGC and Akabane, with none of the in-depth analysis that CGC is known for. Because they didn't do it, pfm had to, and digs up very questionable results. I am hard pressed to imagine a more disingenuous and exploitative process. It appears like these cards and their release were deliberately engineered to fool the community. CGC at best was negligent in their duty as a grading company, and at worst was complicit in the process. 68 Likes Dirge January 27, 2025, 2:01am 20 Should I be impressed that you managed to do all this or should I be horrified that CGC didn't have the means to catch this? 42 Likes neverforget50in07 January 27, 2025, 2:01am 21 At times like these, I'm glad I'm risk adverse. 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