Pokémon Card Condition Guide: Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played and More
What Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged mean for Pokémon cards, how to check your cards, and how condition changes the price.
Updated September 30, 2026
When you buy or sell a raw (ungraded) Pokémon card, its condition is described with a short label like NM or LP. These labels have a big effect on the price, so it is worth learning what they mean.
The condition scale
| Condition | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Near Mint (NM) | Looks basically new. At most a tiny white speck on an edge or corner. No scratches, dents or creases. |
| Lightly Played (LP) | Small signs of use: light edge or corner wear, a few light scratches. No major damage. |
| Moderately Played (MP) | Clear wear: whitened edges, worn corners, scratches or scuffs, maybe a light crease. |
| Heavily Played (HP) | Heavy wear everywhere, creases, bends or strong whitening, but still complete. |
| Damaged (DMG) | Tears, water damage, writing, holes or missing pieces. |
European marketplaces such as Cardmarket use a slightly different scale (Mint, Near Mint, Excellent, Good, Light Played, Played, Poor), but the idea is the same.
How to check the condition of your card
- Use bright light, ideally daylight or a lamp you can move around.
- Check all four corners for rounding or white showing through.
- Turn the card over. Edge wear shows up much more clearly on the dark blue back.
- Tilt the card under the light to spot scratches, print lines and dents on the surface, especially on holo cards.
- Look at the centering: are the borders about the same on all sides?
- Feel for creases and bends. Even a small crease drops a card to Moderately Played or worse.
How condition changes the price
The market prices on our card pages are for cards in good, near mint shape. Lightly Played copies usually sell for a bit less, Moderately Played for clearly less, and Heavily Played or Damaged cards for a fraction of the Near Mint price. For expensive cards, the difference between conditions can be hundreds of dollars.
Charizard
4/102 · Base Set
$944.53
Dark Charizard
4/82 · Team Rocket
$381.69
Lugia
9/111 · Neo Genesis
$531.39
Blastoise
2/102 · Base Set
$222.34
Live market prices, updated daily. Tap a card for all versions and its price history.
Condition vs grading
Condition labels like NM are an informal description by the seller. Professional grading gives a precise number from 1 to 10 and seals the card in a case. A card sold as Near Mint could grade anywhere from about a 7 to a 10. Learn more in the grading scale explained, or get a free estimate with our AI grading tool, which checks every corner and edge up close.
Keep your cards in top shape
The best way to protect value is to protect the card. Read how to store Pokémon cards to keep your collection in the condition it is in today.
