00:00Pokemon Day 2026 has arrived. The Pokemon company has been spreading joy to fans around the world
00:04for decades from trading cards and collectible blushes on the big screen and the smaller screens.
00:09Fans are celebrating another huge milestone for the beloved brand this year but do the people
00:13of Ken know just how old Pokemon actually is? No, I'm gonna imagine it's like the 90s or something.
00:20Uh not exactly, it's like one of those things that's always been around so I know about 30 so
00:26I suppose it must be 30? It's officially 30 years since Pokemon first entered our lives in Japan
00:32back in 1996, expanding its reach to Western audiences just two years later in 1998 with the
00:37release of Pokemon Red and Green. Today there are over a thousand species of Pokemon found within
00:41countless shows and games. I visited We Love Collectibles, a family-run game store in Margate,
00:46to see how the local community are celebrating. Our community is based around both collectors
00:51and players. We see a massive age range with collectors sort of as young as two, three and
00:55four all the way up to around 60 and 70. We started off by visiting some local card shows
01:01and also some national events. Pokemon is definitely our main sort of focus in the store.
01:05People tend to know Pokemon just because of their existing knowledge. To be honest with you it's
01:10it's kind of a international craze really and has been for the last sort of 30 years. We're really
01:14excited for Pokemon Day. We always love taking part in the celebration. At We Love Collectibles we'll
01:19definitely be watching the Pokemon Day announcements to see all the cool stuff that gets announced this year
01:23and for our community we've actually got a Pokemon Day event including some really cool little giveaways
01:29and we've got a play event during the day as well that has a little bit of a spin on
01:33it to keep all
01:35the local players on their toes. So it's going to be a really fun day for the community and we're
01:39really
01:39excited. Here in Ken you can find one of the leading stores for trading card grading in the UK.
01:43I'm here at the Subcentre in Hermbo to speak with director Dan Davies about the recent surge in popularity of
01:49Pokemon card collecting. So here at the Subcentre we provide grading services for PSA, Beckett,
01:54CGC and TAG. They are the four main US-based grading companies. Card grading is where a professional
02:01grading company will assess your card's condition and give it a score from one to ten and we offer
02:07those services here at the Subcentre where people can bring their cards in. They can ask us for advice.
02:11We service customers from Ireland to Australia so it is a global business and I think it's great that
02:18we're here in Kent as well. So it really does help thrive businesses in Kent because it's not just us
02:24that will benefit from these people coming here. All the local businesses here, all the other local
02:28toy stores, game stores, they all pick up business from that. But it's not just trading and grading.
02:32The Subcentre also helps to host the Kent Card Show in Maidstone. With over 350 vendors and special
02:37appearances from Pokemon celebrities such as Jason Page, the singer of the original Pokemon theme
02:42song and the voice actor for Professor Oak, Stuart Zagnett. The Kent Card Show is one of the fastest
02:47growing trading card events within the UK. How are you celebrating Pokemon Day this year? Chloe Smith for KMTV.
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