30th Celebration Pokémon Center Preorders Go Live with 6 Hour Wait
Finally – after refreshing my page multiple times and the Pokémon Center accusing me of being a bot, I’ve been granted access to the 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box preorder virtual queue.
While I originally attempted to access the 30th Celebration preorders just a few minutes after they went live, my browser kept constantly reloading before accusing me of being a bot. Finally I’m able to access the virtual queue, however, and this time is actually a bit better than when Pitch Black preorders dropped: my wait time started just over six hours vs. the nine hours for the last preorder drop.
Pokémon Center 30th Celebration preorders drop two months early
Although there’s been plenty of buzz online about the preorder drop, I for one did not expect them to go live until August at the earliest. After all, the worldwide simultaneous release for Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration isn’t happening until September 16, 2026.
However, the entire catalogue isn’t available yet, and preorders via Pokémon Center are limited to just a few products:
Pokémon Center virtual queue keeps crashing
Even as I’m writing this, however, Pokémon Center keeps having issues.
I went from a nice 6-hour queue to a warning message letting me know that the Pokémon Center has essentially crashed
That’s a huge bummer as it likely means I won’t be getting my 30th Celebration ETB at MSRP in six hours. Although, I didn’t get my Pitch Black ETB either despite making it all the way through the wait last time.
Where else can you preorder 30th Celebration products?
While preordering your 30th Celebration products via Pokémon Center will deliver the best value (everything at MSRP), you can still pick up products elsewhere. Right now, preorders are available on TCGPlayer, and you can see my entire 30th Celebration preorder guide for release schedule, market prices, MSRP prices: everything you need to know to make an informed decision that’s right for you.
Just as was the case with the last two sets, it looks like I’ll be picking up my 30th Celebration products on the secondary market for a pretty steep markup.
However, to me that beats sitting around waiting for the Pokémon Center virtual line to work (or not).
