PokeTracker

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember, my brother and I open a Pokémon booster pack together. It’s our weird little tradition - but last Christmas, it almost didn’t happen. I remember walking into the first store and the shelves were cleared. Second store: same story. Long lines, no stock, yet prices through the roof. I ended up at home with 15-20 tabs open, bouncing between stores and random listings, just trying to find one pack that wasn’t 5x retail. Through all that chaos (and from chatting with a few shopkeepers along the way) I realised something that’s probably obvious to collectors but not to everyone else: TCG collectibles are as much a financial investment for some as they are a hobby for others. But finding legit stock at fair prices is becoming hard due to shrinking supply and rising demand. So I built something simple: a tool that lets you see Pokémon stock across Aussie stores instantly. No shady bot checkouts, no scalping tricks - just a way to help collectors and investors find real stock without refreshing 20 tabs or overpaying to find a better deal later. There doesn't seem to be anything else exactly like this locally. Sure, there’s Google Shopping or sites that cover every TCG internationally, but nothing that goes deep into just Pokémon TCG here in Australia - every era, every language, every set you might be hunting. Other people rely on those companies that provide Discord restock alerts, but those don’t cover the 100s of sets and constant stock shifts collectors care about day to day. That’s what I wanted to solve. How could I give the average enthusiast the ability to find what they want, and compare it against the market within 10 seconds. Interestingly enough, the bit I’m most proud of has nothing to do with the tech. It’s that I stuck with it. I finished it. I backed myself to build something real, even if it flopped. And the excitement from that’s been worth more than any pack we could’ve opened last Christmas.