NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darien Woods.

And Ricky Mulvey.

Yep. I'm here to talk about Pokemon cards. It's one of the hottest speculative booms right now. Cardlatter

tracks the sales data of cards, and it says that an index of thousands of rare Pokemon cards

is up about 170%. That's over the last year alone. Pokemon cards have become sort of an asset class.

In other words, something you can invest in, like a stock or a precious

metal. Fans have always loved the characters and collected the cards, sometimes paying

big bucks. But now, speculators aren't buying and selling because they love the characters.

They're chasing rapid price appreciation and media hype.

And the values of many rare Pokemon cards have held up, at least for now.

At the same time, gold and the broader stock market have declined over the past couple

months.

Still, parts of this market are walking and cracking like a bubble.

So, we went to the Denver Card Show to meet the visitors and vendors, those selling into the boom.

I'm trying to get around 475 for it right now.

And those buying.

I mean, it's going to hold its value later on.

And ask why you or your parents threw out those old Pokemon cards.

I used to have a bunch.

I don't know where they are now.

Neither do I.

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