Skip to content
Pokemon Deal Finder
← All guides

Pokemon Promo Card Numbers Explained: SWSH, SVP, BW, XY

Published 16 September 2026 · Last checked against the official sources 16 September 2026

In this guide

A promo card's number does not look like a set card's number, and that is the point of it. Instead of "25/102" you get "SWSH042" or "BW90" or a black star. The prefix tells you the era; the rest tells you which promo. This page decodes the patterns, era by era, with a real card from each, and then covers the three kinds of "promo" that do not follow the pattern at all.

Reading the prefix

Promo numbering by era, as this site's catalogue files it. Each era's promos are one set, so the prefix plus the number identifies the card.
EraWhat the number looks likeExampleFiled on this site as
Wizards of the Coast (1999–2003)A plain number with a black star, e.g. #8 — the original "Black Star promos"Mew #8WoTC Promo, numbered out of 53
Diamond & Pearl / PlatinumDP + numberDP45Diamond and Pearl Promos
HeartGold & SoulSilverHGSS + numberHGSS03HGSS Promos
Black & WhiteBW + numberBW90Black and White Promos
XYXY + numberXY110XY Promos
Sun & MoonSM + numberSM124SM Promos
Sword & ShieldSWSH + three digitsSWSH042SWSH: Sword & Shield Promo Cards
Scarlet & VioletSVP + three digits (the SVP prefix is often dropped in listings)053SV: Scarlet & Violet Promo Cards
Mega EvolutionThree digits093ME: Mega Evolution Promo
One promo from each era. Catalogue scans, complete card faces; each links to its own page. The number style on the card is the era; the number itself is the card.

The practical consequence: a search for a promo needs the prefix. "Pikachu promo" matches hundreds of cards; "Pikachu SWSH020" matches one. The price checker accepts the number as printed, prefix and all.

Three "promos" that do not use a promo number

  • Prerelease stamps. A prerelease card is a normal set card with a stamp added, so it keeps the set's own number. Our catalogue files it under the era's promo set with the stamp noted in its name, and it is a different card from the unstamped one with the same number.
  • Professor Program and other stamped set cards. Same idea: a set number, a stamp, a separate entry. The Voltorb below reads 066/193 because that is its set number; the program mark is what makes it a promo.
  • Japanese promos. Japanese promo numbering is its own system, written with a suffix rather than a prefix — "227/S-P", "88/SM-P", "150/XY-P". A Japanese promo is a different product from the English promo of the same Pokemon, priced separately.
Three promos whose numbers look like something else: two stamped set cards keeping their set number, and a Japanese promo with a suffix instead of a prefix.

Same Pokemon, many promos

The other trap is assuming a Pokemon has one promo. Pikachu has dozens across every era, several within a single era, and in the Scarlet & Violet promos a card can exist twice at the same number — once plain and once as a Pokemon Center exclusive, which the catalogue files as separate entries. If a listing names a Pokemon and says "promo" without a number, it has not identified the card.

Two Sword & Shield era promos and a Japanese one. The number, not the Pokemon, is the identity.

What this page does not do

  • It is not a checklist. Promo runs are long — the Sword & Shield promos alone run past SWSH300 — and we hold many but not every number. The era pages linked from each card list what we track; none of them claims to be complete.
  • It does not say which product a promo came from unless the card itself says so. Promos are distributed through tins, boxes, events and shops, and that history is not something we can verify from a scan.
  • It gives no prices. Each linked card page carries its own recent-sold market reference, dated and with its condition stated; those references are not guaranteed values.

For the general method of working out which page prices the card you are holding, see how much is my card worth; for where the number is printed on the card and the other cases that confuse people, the set-and-number guide.