After spending 2 years and $40,000 collecting every Pokemon card pack ever made, streamer Ludwig's collection is only worth $3,000

Streamer Ludwig spent $40,000 on Pokemon cards and they turned out to be worth a grand total of $3,000, a 93% loss. Ouch.

On February 7, streamer Ludwig finished a project years in the making. "It is going to span 30 years of Pokemon cards," he says on stream. From Prismatic Evolutions to the first-ever Base Set, Ludwig was going to open one of every single Pokemon card pack ever made.

"This was two years in the making," he explains. "When I was really into Pokemon collecting, I talked to IslandGrown [a Pokemon streamer] and I said 'Hey, I have an idea. I want to open every Pokemon pack ever made.' He said, 'Cool, I'll work on it.' And I sent them some money up front."

Fast forward to February 7, and Ludwig opened them all on stream as part of his Pokemon week. Rather than making thousands, or even breaking even, the cards he pulled were only worth a total of $3,000. As someone who's recently gotten into Pokemon TCG Pocket, I'm all too familiar with opening dozens of packs only to find nothing you actually want. It's brutal.

What's worse is Ludwig reckons the unopened packs as a collection were worth around $33,000. He claims the first pack alone "last sold for over $13,000."

But, cards are meant to be collected and played with, not sealed and never viewed. He went back in time, opening the newest pack first and ending on the first pack. You can watch the full stream for yourself to see all the highs and lows, but I'll be real with you, it's mostly lows. If you want to get right into the pack opening, skip ahead to 14 minutes in.

Still, it's a fun thing to do, and it's certainly better than scalping the most recent packs as soon as they hit store shelves and leave little kids crying because they can't play with their toys.

In the meantime, check out all the best Pokemon TCG Pocket cards.