A video has surfaced online of a man in Pasadena, California, being arrested by authorities after allegedly hiding inside a Best Buy overnight just to be the first in line for a Pokemon drop.
The actions of this man have gathered the attention of the online Pokemon community, who dropped comments below that condemn his thought process. This also sparked a larger conversation concerning scalpers within the Pokemon trading card game community.
The video in question features a man being escorted out into a parking lot by what appear to be the police. According to the post, the man had hidden inside the department store in anticipation of a Pokemon TCG drop the following day.
Typically, fans wait outside stores for up to several hours just for the chance to get their hands on a single box. This has also brought on a culture called ‘scalping,’ in which people purchase multiple boxes of Pokemon cards with the intention of selling them at a price far above MSRP.
Employees allegedly noticed him on the cameras after 1 am, which is when authorities were called to check on the situation. According to others who were also waiting in line at the same Best Buy, he was there for the Pokemon 151 drop.
Reactions to California Man Sneaking Into Best Buy Overnight for Pokemon Card Drop
Commenters were quick to give their opinion on the situation, with many condemning scalpers as a whole, with one person saying, “Pokemon scalpers will do literally anything but get a job Next they’re gonna just kill each other over a few walmart packs sold at full retail but 15% more on the secondary market.“
Others poked fun at the events, claiming that the police only intervened to get cards for themselves, saying, “They brought out the SWAT team, K-9 unit and the Navy Seal to arrest the Pokémon scalper hiding and camping inside the Best Buy back room to grab the all the boxes of Pokémon cards. 🪖🪂🚁📦👀🃏.”
Pokemon card scalping has long been an issue within the community, with some claiming that the Pokemon Company itself knows about it. One person wrote, “Blame Pokémon. Their marketing teams. Sales teams. They cause all of this. They know just how stupid people really are.”
It appears that after the man was removed, the store went on to sell the cards as normal that morning. It is unclear of what exactly happened to the man after the fact.
