The FastScan TCG blog
Practical guides for getting through a pile of cards. Our figures are dated and measured, and our method also says what does not work yet.
How to catalog bulk Pokémon cards without losing your evenings
A pile of Pokémon cards to inventory? A six-step method: sort only as much as you need, scan in batches, resolve uncertain matches, and end up with a clean collection.
Scanning a Pokémon card binder page by page: method and measured results
Can you scan a whole Pokémon binder page with one photo? The method, the settings that help, and our test on 45 real pages, including its limits.
Pokémon card scanner apps: how to compare them
Collectr, PokéCardex, Eyevo, DittoDex, TCGplayer... What each app states about price, scan limits, offline use and French cards, and a simple test to decide.
Holo vs reverse holo: how to tell them apart on a Pokémon card
On a holo card only the artwork shines. On a reverse holo everything shines except the artwork. How to tell by eye, the exceptions, and what a scanner can see.
Where to find the number and set on a Pokémon card
A Pokémon card's number is printed in a bottom corner. How to read it, what 158/128 means, and what the set code and regulation mark are for.
Scanning Pokémon cards offline: what works and what doesn't
At a convention, in a basement or on a plane, can you scan Pokémon cards with no signal? What works offline, what waits for a connection, and how to check.
Scanning French Pokémon cards: what to check
Not every scanner lists French among its card languages. How to check that an app recognises your French cards and counts them separately from their English equivalents.