What is the Pokémon Card Rip Test?
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By: Oliver Copeland
- Published:
- Last Updated: December 10, 2023
You’ve probably heard people refer to the “rip test” to determine whether or not a Pokémon card is fake. The rip test will destroy your card, but the results are conclusive. Don’t worry, you don’t have to rip your card in half. In this article, we cover why the rip test works and why you don’t need to use it.
What is the Pokémon Card Rip Test?
The ‘Rip Test’ is a procedure used to authenticate a Pokémon card by ripping the card in half, and checking for the black line, which will indicate that the card is authentic. Bo black line will indicate that the card is fake.
Pokémon cards are printed on a special kind of thick paper called card stock. Card stock is made of multiple layers of hardwood and softwood. The card stock that is used for Pokémon cards happens to have a black graphite laminate layer in it.
The graphite laminate layer serves two purposes:
- To adhere the layers of the card stock together
- To add rigidity to the card
The manufacturing process of Pokémon cards does not include gluing layers together, but instead uses the graphite layer as a binder. Most fake Pokémon cards are one layer with a printed face or foil sticker in some cases.
In other words, fake cards do not have a black graphite layer.
The easiest and quickest way to see if a card has this black graphite layer is to rip the card in half.
This will obviously destroy the card, so it is not a useful test in most cases. However, if you’ve received a booster pack or booster box that you suspect is fake, you can rip one of the inexpensive common cards to see if it is authentic or not. If there is no black layer, then the cards are probably all fake.
Be careful. If you rip your card, it will become virtually worthless. No one will buy your ripped card.
The black layer in the middle of the card can actually be found without ripping the card. You’ll need a good camera with a zoom function, a magnifying glass, or keen eyes. The black layer can actually be seen from the side of the card.
Rip Test Alternative (The Light Test)
If you don’t feel like ripping your card in half, (we don’t blame you!) then you can use the Light Test.
- Shine your phone light behind your Pokémon card.
- Does the light easily pass through it?
- If not, the card is authentic.
- If yes, the card is probably fake.
Once again we can attribute this characteristic to the graphite laminate layer of the card, which prevents most light from passing through it.
If you suspect the card is fake, look for other obvious mistakes:
- Poor spelling/bad grammar
- Incorrect font
- Incorrect energy cost or HP
- Incorrect spacing between words
- Incorrect holo pattern.
Does The Rip Test Work on Other Trading Cards?
We (regretfully) tested a few other trading card games we had on hand to see if they had a black graphite layer in the middle.
| Card Game | Does the Rip Test Work? |
|---|---|
|
Digimon |
No
|
|
Flesh & Blood |
Yes
|
|
Lorcana |
Yes
|
|
Magic: The Gathering |
Yes
|
|
One-Piece |
No |
|
Pokémon |
Yes |
|
UniVersus |
No |
|
Yu-Gi-Oh! |
No |
Whether or not the rip test works will depend on the card stock that the trading cards use as well as where they are made. For example, Japanese Pokémon cards do not have a black layer, but a light blue layer instead.
Final thoughts
Ripping your card is the last resort. However, the rip test can be utilized to determine if a booster box is full of fake cards. If the black layer is missing, all the cards are likely fake. Be careful though, because Japanese Pokémon cards won’t have the black layer. They will instead have a light blue layer. Even though it is blue, not black, the test remains conclusive as counterfeits will not have a colored layer at all.
Hi, I'm Oliver. I've been collecting Pokémon cards for 25+ years. I hope you enjoyed your read and learned something. Learn more about me on the About page.
