How is it ever proven or demonstrated as to the final number of secret Pokemon cards in a series? These are the cards that are numbered higher than the set number e.g. 194/192 and tend to be holos, rainbow holos etc. The cards released on the official website only number up to the "official" amount.
2 Answers
The full set list including secrets is published in a booklet that comes with the Elite Trainer Box for each major set. Beyond that, major retailers and streamers often unbox several cases during the day or two prior to the release and determine every card that way.
Finally, it is known well before the Worldwide (English/European) release what is possible due to the Japanese released sets always coming earlier. While it’s possible some secret rates from a Japanese set don’t make it into the corresponding worldwide set, in general most or all potential ones do.
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I like this answer based on the Elite Trainer part, but I have a further query. If retailers actually do that, what is the definitive list? Without the full secret list, they'd surely have to resort to opening an Elite Trainer box too? Jun 20, 2020 at 15:23
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Retailers open packs before the ETBs are available often (as they get packs first, due to prereleases). The possible list is known from Japan, and they typically confirm all of the possibles very quickly. There are often also leaks of the full list - but again the official is the ETB booklet.– JoeJun 20, 2020 at 15:51
Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, official simulator of the card game, has all cards available, including all secret rares. You can access all cards e.g. through Collection mode with checkbox Show Not Owned checked.
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Oh, good idea - and they have an API don’t they? The discord server I’m on uses a bot that hits some API, don’t remember if it’s an official one or not but I believe there is an official one ...– JoeJun 20, 2020 at 14:55
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There is no official API unfortunately. The data of PTCGO might be extracted though and they are used in e.g. pokemontcg.io Jun 20, 2020 at 15:09
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Thanks Kate, I love all your answers but on this occasion, I'm not registered in TCGO. Jun 20, 2020 at 15:24