Welcome to Rare Candy's "Spotlight On" series, where we feature the history and stories behind some of the rarest and coolest cards and collectibles.
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In Japanese, daisuki (大好き) means to love or really like something. I As manga fans know, if you were to admit your feelings to your crush, you might say to them, “Daisuki desu!” And if you were trying to tell your crush how obsessed you are with Pokémon, you might say, “Pokémon Daisuki!” (though your mileage may vary on how far that will get you with your crush!)
The Pokémon Daisuki Club (ポケモンだいすきクラブ) is also Japan’s biggest official fan club for all things Pokémon. Most of Pokémon’s global fanbase hasn’t gotten the chance to join this prestigious organization, but its legacy — and its exclusive merch and prizes — still loom large over the franchise to this day.
When Did It Start?
Upon first launching in 2004, the Pokémon Daisuki Club was meant to be for fans of the whole Pokémon franchise, including video games, card games, anime, manga and everything in between.
It was also loosely inspired by the Pokémon Lovers Club (translated to “Pokémon Fan Club” in English) that exists in the video games, where there’s a clubhouse in every region. If you’re an old-school fan of Pokémon Red and Blue, you probably remember getting a bike voucher from the Fan Club Chairman in Vermillion City!
However, the Daisuki Club was hardly the first real live fan club to ever exist — there was also the original Pokémon Fan Club in the late ‘90s, as well as a Pokémon Players Club specifically for trading card enthusiasts beginning in 2004. In fact, the Players Club and the Daisuki club overlapped until Players Club was shut down in 2007, making the Daisuki Club the preeminent club for Pokéfans.
All of these clubs, however, required a legal Japanese address (and still do, in the Daisuki club’s case!) in order to officially join. From there you paid an annual membership fee and received a nifty Daisuki Club member card. The Pokémon Daisuki Club still exists to this day, and continues to put out exclusive merch, contests, and special promotions for its members. However, you still need an address in Japan to join — for everyone else there’s the Pokémon Trainers Club, which operates internationally.
What Made It Worth Joining?
Unlike the Vermillion City Fan Club, you didn’t walk away from the Daisuki Club with a free bike in tow — but back in its heyday, there were (and still are!) plenty of awesome perks and opportunities to score exclusive merch.
For example, in 2006 Daisuki Club members could enter a raffle to score an exclusive Crystal White Nintendo DS Lite system Pikachu on it — and in 2007, they added three more variations: Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup, the three starter Pokémon from that year’s Diamond and Pearl games.
In 2014, celebrated horror manga artist Junji Ito collaborated with The Pokémon Company on some officially spooky illustrations for a Halloween-themed “Kowapoke” (“Scary Poké”) event, and t-shirts of his Banette — which, in case you’re unfamiliar, is a haunted doll seeking revenge on “the child that disowned it” — were given out as limited edition Daisuki Club prizes.
Not that all the Daisuki Club promotions involved raffles or prizes — there were also free activities like interactive roundups of all the different Pokémon Game Boy “cries,” or these printable papercraft projects.
And then, of course, there were the cards.
The Exclusive Daisuki Action Point Cards
After the Pokémon Players Club was folded into the Daisuki Club in 2007, members could earn “Action Points” through various activities, like visiting stores with “Official Gym” status, entering tournaments and contests, and buying certain products.
With these points, Pokémon fans could upgrade their Daisuki Club membership, complete with a new, fancier card. Once they hit Gold rank at 1,200 points, they’d start earning exclusive promo cards, beginning with either a DPt-P or L-P Pikachu depending on when you joined.
At 3,200 points, Super Rank members would receive a DPt-P or L-P Cresselia and a Darkrai:
Another 2,000 points later, and Hyper Rank members landed this Undaunted L-P Raichu:
Achieving Special Rank (the first rank not to be named after a Pokéball) at 7,200 points earned you both an Undaunted L-P Umbreon and Espeon:
And at the Master Rank of 8,600 points, members landed one of today's collecting grails — a holographic Master Scroll item card.
What Going on with Daisuki Now?
Unfortunately the Action Points system didn’t last very long, and was abruptly shut down in August 2010. As a parting gift, existing members from Silver Rank onward were awarded the prizes for one rank higher than their current one.
As a result, the cards earned via the Action Point system have become exceedingly rare — even more so if they’re from the original DPT-P promotions or from the higher, harder-to-achieve rankings.
The Pokémon Daisuki Club still exists to this day, and continues to put out exclusive merch, contests and special promotions for its members. However, you still need an address in Japan to join. For everyone else there’s the Pokémon Trainers Club, which operates internationally.
Looking for an Daisuki Club card of your own? Keep an eye on Rare Candy's auctions where new exciting cards are made available every week!
