What is a holo rare Pokemon card?

A holo rare is a rare Pokemon card whose artwork has a shiny holofoil finish, marked with the same black star rarity symbol as a non-holo rare. In the early Wizards of the Coast sets it was the top rarity a booster pack could hold, rarer than a non-holo rare: Base Set's 16 holo rares are numbered 1 to 16 of 102, which is why Charizard is 4/102.

Newer sets work differently. Since Scarlet & Violet, every card of rare rarity or higher in a booster pack is foil, so new sets no longer split rares into holo and non-holo.

Before you buy one

• Use the number to pick the twin. In Jungle and Fossil, each holo rare also has a non-holo twin with a different number: Jungle Vaporeon is 12/64 as a holo and 28/64 as a non-holo. The card number tells you which one a listing is, so check it.

• Keep reverse holos out of a holo search. A plain "holo" search also returns reverse holos, because those titles contain the word. Add the number, and exclude "reverse" when you want the holo rare only.

• Know the foil of the era. Base Set, Jungle and Fossil used a "starlight" pattern, and Base Set 2 through Call of Legends used "cosmos", which later became a common pattern on promos. If the foil in the photo doesn't fit the set, ask the seller about it.

You can track one holo rare by its card number on ChaseBoard, and add "reverse" as an exclude word to keep the reverse holos out.