Rare Pokémon cards are locked up in one of the most secure locations in the United States. The Surging Sparks Pikachu, which includes a full art illustration of the little yellow guy adorned in a Stellar-type Tera crown, is sitting in a Lucky Box vending machine in the Pentagon food court. Good luck getting into that, card robbers.
404 Media reports that the Lucky Box vending machine, which is essentially a gacha machine for rare, graded cards of both the sports and trading card game variety, was seemingly put up in the United States’ military headquarters around Christmas Eve last month.
In a now-deleted Threads announcement, Lucky Box posted that it had set up one of its loot box machines in the Pentagon food court, and among the potential prizes which the machine’s display touts could be yours if you blindly give it some cash is the aforementioned Pikachu card. Based on photos posted on the Army subreddit, the machine also has an image of a giant Charizard card on the side of it, but it’s unclear if that’s just decoration or if the original fire-breathing dragon card is also in that specific machine. Taking your chances at a Luck Box machine can cost anywhere from $100 to $200.
Lucky Box’s social media accounts include photos of big winners, some of whom won rare Pokémon cards, while others won autographed jerseys from various sports teams. But it doesn’t look like they’ve posted anyone scoring something big in the middle of the Pentagon yet. In fact, most of its posts feature the boxes in Las Vegas, where over 20 of the machines are found. The winners that are featured are finding some pretty valuable Pokémon cards, though, from a rare Venusaur to the ancient Mew promo card from Pokémon: The First Movie’s theatrical run.
Pokémon cards are already pretty much considered gambling by people who crack packs open by the dozens in the hopes of scoring a quick buck, but it’s still striking to see that concept demonstrated as blatantly as it is here, with valuable cards locked away in a machine that requires people to shell out hundreds of dollars for a small chance of scoring one.. Thank goodness the most powerful military in the world is keeping its eye on the machine until the lucky winner comes along.
