Random Incredibly Rare Pokémon Cards That Could Pay Off Your Student Loan Debt (18 items)

(#10) Espeon
- Fictional Character
How Much It's Worth: Nearly $3,500 for a PSA 10

Why It's Worth So Much: Gold Star cards were first introduced in the EX line of play. They depict the shiny version of the Pokémon. In the games, these Pokémon had a slightly different coloring from their common counterparts.

Out of all the shiny variants, Espeon is the most valuable because it was distributed by the Pokémon Players Club and given only to people who met certain criteria at events.
(#9) Venusaur
- Fictional Character
How Much It's Worth: Up to $6,500

Why It' Worth So Much: Like many of the most valuable Pokémon cards, Venusaur was the main prize in its own base set. In the '90s, a regular Venusaur was hard to come by through trading because of its sheer popularity - but a holographic Venusaur was even rarer (who'd want to give that up?). Today, a holographic first edition base-set Venusaur without a shadow around the image box is the most coveted.
(#14) Magikarp
- Fictional Character
How Much It's Worth: Between $2,000 and $4,000

Why It's Worth So Much: Though Magikarp is largely known as the worst Pokémon in the game and a useless side character in the anime, only 30 to 100 of these cards exist. This card was given to top qualifying players on the second day of a 1998 Pokémon conference in Osaka, Japan.
(#8) Pikachu
- Fictional Character
How Much It's Worth: It's so rare you can't find it on eBay. The price is largely unknown, but it's sure to be exorbitant.

Why It's Worth So Much: No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 trainer cards are always rare. They're only handed out to winners at official Trading Card Game world championships. This adorable, holographic Pikachu card was only given to four winners of the very first Japanese Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament; therefore it's the rarest.
(#16) Pokémon Snap Cards

How Much It's Worth: It's hard to tell the exact value because these cards are exceedingly rare, but they have allegedly sold for $8,000 according to Kotaku.

Why It's Worth So Much: Nintendo ran a promotion for their now-forgotten 1999 N64 game Pokémon Snap. They invited players to send their best in-game Pokémon photos to a Japanese magazine, and the best shots were transformed into trading cards.
(#18) Chansey
- Fictional Character
How Much It's Worth: Up to $1,000, but commonly between $200 and $500

Why It's Worth So Much: If you happen to nab a first edition shadowless Chansey, you've got your hands on one of the rarest Pokémon cards in the original trading card game. Even if normal Pokémon are the second-most common in the game, this particular card was available only in the original 1999 base sets.