Raichu · Skyridge, what to know.
About the Raichu card
Raichu is card 27 of 182 in Skyridge, released in May 2003, a Rare. It is a Stage 1 Lightning-type with 80 HP.
As a Stage 1, it evolves from Pikachu, which places Raichu deeper in its line and means most collectors hold it alongside the cards it evolves from.
Illustrated by Yuka Morii.
About Raichu in the Pokémon world
The fully evolved Pikachu. Larger, orange-yellow body, with a long tail. Rare in the wild; usually requires a Thunder Stone evolution. Base Set holo Raichu is one of the famous "where is mine" cards. Its print run had inconsistent centering, and a famously rare prerelease variant exists.
What is Raichu worth?
Raichu is a non-holo Rare. In Skyridge, value concentrates in the holo rares, so a Raichu trades modestly, though a clean, well-centered 1st Edition copy in PSA 10 is scarcer than the print run suggests and carries a real premium. Check the live price above for the figure by grade.
Print variants and how to spot them
Confirm the print and finish on Raichu before pricing it, since variant and rarity set the market more than the card name alone.
Grading and condition
Non-holo Rares like Raichu are easier on surface but no kinder on centering. Wizards-era cards were less protected than the holos, so high-grade Raichu survivors can be scarcer than expected, with edge whitening the usual cap.
If you are collecting Raichu
For Raichu, check centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface under angled light. Non-holo Rares from this era are cheap enough that a PSA 10 submission on a clean Raichu can make sense.
