Guide5 min read
Pokémon card rarity symbols: what every circle, diamond, and star means
How to read the rarity symbol on any Pokémon card, from a black circle to three gold stars, plus how often each rarity turns up in a pack and how to spot a secret rare.
Guide
1 in 92packs per two-gold-star Special Illustration Rare in Destined Rivals
New to pull rates? The terms in 30 seconds
- “1 in 92 packs”
- On average, you'd open 92 packs to pull one. It's an average, not a promise: you could hit it in pack 3 or go 300 without one.
- SIR (Special Illustration Rare)
- Full-art cards with special artwork. Usually a set's most valuable pulls.
- IR (Illustration Rare)
- Art cards of single Pokémon. More common than SIRs, and often collected as a set.
- Hyper Rare
- The gold cards. Among the rarest pulls in modern sets.
- Double Rare / Ultra Rare
- The ex and full-art cards that make up most of a set's hits.
- Booster box / ETB
- A booster box has 36 packs. An Elite Trainer Box (ETB) has 9, plus sleeves and accessories.
On this page
A Pokémon card’s rarity is the small symbol in the bottom corner, next to the card number. A circle is common, a diamond is uncommon, and a star is rare. Since Scarlet & Violet (2023), the number and color of the stars tell you how rare: black stars are the lowest tier, silver next, and gold stars are the rarest cards in the set.
Key takeaways
- ● Circle = Common. ◆ Diamond = Uncommon. ★ One black star = Rare (always holo in current sets).
- Two black stars = Double Rare (the regular Pokémon ex). Two silver stars = Ultra Rare (full art).
- One gold star = Illustration Rare, two gold stars = Special Illustration Rare, three gold stars = Hyper Rare (the gold cards).
- Star color matters more than star count. Two black stars and two gold stars look alike at a glance; in Destined Rivals they’re 1 in 5 packs vs. 1 in 92.
- A card number higher than the set total (like 238/182) means a secret rare.
Rarity symbols in Scarlet & Violet and Mega Evolution sets#
| Symbol | Rarity | What the card looks like | Odds per pack in Destined Rivals |
|---|---|---|---|
| ● Black circle | Common | Regular card | Several in every pack |
| ◆ Black diamond | Uncommon | Regular card | Several in every pack |
| ★ One black star | Rare | Holo artwork | In most packs |
| ★★ Two black stars | Double Rare | Pokémon ex in the standard frame | 1 in 5 |
| ★★ Two silver stars | Ultra Rare | Full-art Pokémon ex or Supporter | 1 in 15 |
| ★ One gold star | Illustration Rare | Full-art scene of a regular Pokémon | 1 in 12 |
| ★★ Two gold stars | Special Illustration Rare | Full-art scene of a Pokémon ex or Supporter | 1 in 92 |
| ★★★ Three gold stars | Hyper Rare | Gold, textured card | 1 in 145 |
Mega Evolution sets (from September 2025) and some special sets add a few more:
| Symbol | Rarity | Where you’ll see it |
|---|---|---|
| Gold four-point star with a black border | Mega Hyper Rare | Gold Mega Evolution Pokémon ex, one or two per Mega Evolution set. Replaces the three-gold-star Hyper Rare. |
| Two pastel stars, pink and green | Mega Attack Rare | Full-art Mega Pokémon ex with the attack name written large across the art. Introduced in Ascended Heroes. |
| One magenta star | ACE SPEC Rare | Powerful Trainer or Special Energy cards, limited to one per deck. Temporal Forces through Prismatic Evolutions. |
| One outlined gold star | Shiny Rare | Shiny (alternate-color) Pokémon in Paldean Fates. Two outlined stars is a Shiny Ultra Rare. |
Special sets also bring one-off rarities, such as 30th Celebration’s Futuristic Rares and Prismatic Evolutions’ Poké Ball and Master Ball pattern cards. Each set page lists its own.
How often each rarity shows up#
Here’s every rarity we have measured pull rates for in Destined Rivals, rarest last:
| Rarity | How often | Per pack | One specific card | How sure we are |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Rare | 1 in 5 packs | 19.8% | 1 in 8617 cards | Very sure8,655 packs |
| Illustration Rare | 1 in 12 packs | 8.5% | 1 in 27123 cards | Very sure12,282 packs |
| Ultra Rare | 1 in 15 packs | 6.5% | 1 in 33922 cards | Very sure12,098 packs |
| Special Illustration Rare | 1 in 92 packs | 1.1% | 1 in 1,00911 cards | Very sure11,924 packs |
| Hyper Rare | 1 in 145 packs | 0.69% | 1 in 8686 cards | Very sure12,446 packs |
"One specific card" assumes every card in a rarity is equally likely. "How sure we are" reflects how many packs were counted: more packs, tighter estimate.
That last column is why the one two-gold-star card you want is so much harder than its rarity’s odds suggest: the rarity’s luck is split across every card that shares the symbol.
How to tell if a Pokémon card is rare#
- Find the symbol in the bottom corner, next to the card number. Stars are rare; gold stars are the rarest.
- Check the card number. If it’s higher than the set total (238/182), it’s a secret rare, numbered after the main set.
- Look at the finish. Full-art cards with texture you can feel are Ultra Rare or better. A shiny picture on an otherwise flat card is a regular holo Rare.
- Then check the price. Rarity sets the odds, but demand sets the price. A popular Pokémon’s Illustration Rare can outsell a Special Illustration Rare of a less popular one. Our guide to checking card prices walks through it.
Full art, holo, and other terms#
- Full art: the artwork covers the whole card, not just a picture box. Ultra Rares, Illustration Rares, Special Illustration Rares, and Hyper Rares are all full art. “Full art” isn’t a rarity by itself.
- Holo and reverse holo: a holo has a shiny picture; a reverse holo has shiny everything else. See holo vs reverse holo.
- Secret rare: any card numbered above the set total.
- TAG TEAM GX: a 2019–2020 card type showing two or three Pokémon together. They give up three prize cards when knocked out, and their full-art and alternate-art versions are some of the era’s chase cards.
- Trainer card: Items, Supporters, Stadiums, and Pokémon Tools. Supporters with full-art or illustration versions get Ultra Rare and Special Illustration Rare symbols too.
What’s on a Pokémon card#
Beyond rarity, every Pokémon card has the same parts:
- Top: name, stage (Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2), HP, and type symbol.
- Middle: attacks, each with its Energy cost and damage, and any Ability.
- Bottom: weakness, resistance, and retreat cost.
- Bottom corner: illustrator, regulation mark (a letter that says which tournament formats allow the card), set symbol, card number, and rarity symbol.
Energy types
The game has eight basic Energy types: Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, and Metal. Pokémon can also be Colorless (attacks payable with any Energy) or Dragon (which usually needs two kinds of Energy and has no basic Energy card of its own). Fairy was a type until Sword & Shield in 2020, when it was folded into Psychic.
Basic Energy cards are the least valuable cards in the game, usually counted as bulk. Holo Energy cards from special sets like 151 are a small exception, worth a little more.
Where these numbers come from#
Pull rates come from verified openings in our evidence registry; see the Destined Rivals page for sources and sample sizes. Rarity symbols are from the cards themselves and The Pokémon Company’s set guides.