Brothers with record Pokémon card collection share how obsession began in the schoolyard

A pair of Pokémon-obsessed brothers tell us all about their record-breaking collection in the latest episode of our podcast What’s The Record?

Owen and Conner Gray (UK) own the world’s largest collection of Pokémon cards, which stood at an astonishing 48,339 unique items when it was verified in 2024.

The collection includes many rare cards that alone are with thousands, so putting a price on this incredible collection would be a big job for your calculator.

Watch the episode in full here…

Sitting down at our London HQ with host Will Munford and Caitlin Hyem, one of the fantastic editors of the Guinness World Records books, the brothers told us how it all began, how difficult it was to collate and catalogue the collection, and why their Pokémon cards are currently in Florida, USA.

Owen said: “For me, it started in 1999, in school, the first packs were released and I started collecting them and trading them at school with my friends.

“I started collecting all mine and my friends’ cards and putting them in sleeves, and while everyone else was in the playground swapping them and damaging them, I needed to file them, and that became my initial obsession with it.”

Conner added: “I collected them a bit when I was younger, but I’ll confess I was a bit more of a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan than Pokémon.

“When I got older, Owen asked me if I wanted to come over and collate his collection, I knew he was much bigger at collecting than me.”

At the time, Conner had no idea how vast Owen’s collection was, and was a little taken aback when his brother said it would probably take “a few days” for them to get the work done.

Conner and Owen with GWR’s Will Munford

Spoiler alert, it took longer than that.

Sucked into it, Conner joined his brother’s mission to grow the collection and nine years later, they’re still going.

Read about more record-breaking collections in our dedicated section.

As they chat, Will shares a devastating story from his youth, reflecting on how he unknowingly gave up potential wealth by trading a base set Charizard he found in a pack he’d received for Christmas. These cards can now sell for several hundreds depending on their condition.

But Owen made him feel a little better by admitting he traded his first fully complete set for a box of Pogs.

The nostalgia is rife in this episode!

While we had them in the studio, we put the siblings’ Pokémon knowledge to the test with a surprise record attempt.

We challenged them to the most Pokémon evolutions identified in one minute.

Adjudicator Emma Salt oversees the attempt

Check out the episode to see how many they managed and if they left with another record in their collection.

Watch What's The Record? on YouTube or listen on Spotify.

Header image: Conner and Owen with GWR’s Will Munford, Caitlin Hyem and Adjudicator Emma Salt