Pokémon card condition guide

Near Mint means a card looks almost untouched, Lightly Played shows small wear you notice on a close look, and Moderately Played shows wear you see straight away. Check the corners, edges, surface and back under good light before you agree on a condition.

The definitions below are Bartr’s own plain words. Marketplaces publish their own, for example TCGplayer’s card conditioning overview, and a store or a vendor may judge a little more strictly or loosely.

The five conditions

• Near Mint (NM). Looks almost untouched. Sharp corners, clean edges, a clean surface. At most a tiny mark you have to look for.
• Lightly Played (LP). Small wear you notice on a close look: a little whitening on an edge or corner, or a light scratch. Still looks good in a sleeve.
• Moderately Played (MP). Wear you see straight away: clear whitening, scuffs, scratches across the surface, or a small dent.
• Heavily Played (HP). Heavy wear all over: worn corners, lots of whitening, scuffing, and small creases or bends.
• Damaged (DMG). A big crease, a tear, water damage, writing, or anything that changes the card itself.

Signs by condition

What to check on the front

• Corners. Are they sharp, or soft and rounded?
• Edges. Any white specks or chips along the border?
• Surface. Tilt the card under a light to find scratches, scuffs and dents.
• Creases. A crease shows as a line that catches the light.
• Print lines. Thin lines from the factory. They are not wear, but many people count them when they judge a card, so mention them.

What to check on the back

• Whitening. The blue border shows wear first, so look along every edge.
• Corners. Wear on a back corner is easy to miss from the front.
• Marks and dents. Look for dents, marks from a binder ring, or anything pressed into the card.

How to talk about condition at a table

Condition is the part of a trade people most often disagree on, so say it out loud before you talk numbers. A few ways to do it politely:

• “I would call mine Lightly Played. There is a little whitening on the back, here.”
• “Can I take a look at yours out of the sleeve, under the light?”
• “I see a small dent on this one. Are we both calling it Moderately Played?”
• “We see this one differently. Want to skip it and look at another card?”

Agreeing on condition first makes the rest of the trade much easier, because both of you are pricing the same thing.

Raw condition and grades

These conditions describe raw, ungraded cards. A graded card has a number from the grading company instead. What grade will my card get? explains how graders look at the same wear.

Quick answers

What is the difference between Near Mint and Lightly Played?

A Near Mint card looks almost untouched, with at most a tiny mark you have to look for. A Lightly Played card shows small wear you notice on a close look, such as a little whitening on an edge or a light scratch.

What does Moderately Played mean?

Wear you can see straight away: clear whitening on edges or corners, scuffs or scratches on the surface, or a small dent. The card is whole, but nobody would call it clean.

Who decides a card’s condition?

For a raw card, the two people at the table agree on it. Marketplaces publish their own condition definitions, and a graded card has a grade from the grading company instead.

Does condition change what a card is worth?

Yes. A played or damaged copy usually sells for less than a Near Mint one, which is why it helps to agree on the condition before you agree on a number.