{
  "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/real-reddit-card-questions-ai-answers",
  "slug": "real-reddit-card-questions-ai-answers",
  "title": "16 Card Questions, Nine AI Models: 8 Real Prices Flagged on the Wrong Grade",
  "summary": "We gave nine AI models 15 questions collectors posted on Pokemon card subreddits, plus one of our own, with the same price data to answer from. What our checks caught included real prices from that data attached to the wrong grade or the wrong card.",
  "section": "Research",
  "published": "2026-11-15",
  "readMinutes": 9,
  "publisher": "moonstone",
  "findings": [
    {
      "value": "8",
      "measures": "real prices our check paired with the wrong grade or card",
      "basis": "one model, across its 16 answers"
    },
    {
      "value": "6 of 16",
      "measures": "answers where one model handled our buy, hold or sell call the way the data had it",
      "basis": "the best model managed 15 of 16"
    },
    {
      "value": "5",
      "measures": "questions one model never answered",
      "basis": "it ran out of room to write 8 times"
    }
  ],
  "tables": [
    {
      "title": "The 16 questions, by kind",
      "columns": [
        "Kind",
        "What they asked (trimmed)",
        "Where",
        "Photo"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Kind": "What's it worth",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "What is the value of this base set charizard? Bit of scratching on the holofoil, whitening on the back...",
          "Where": "r/PokemonCardValue",
          "Photo": "Yes"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "What's it worth",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Rough unlimited 1999 charizard. What kind of value is it in?",
          "Where": "r/PokemonCardValue",
          "Photo": "Back only"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "What's it worth",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Rayquaza 123/124... When I look at sold on eBay, my card's condition seems to be between cards that sold for $350 to $800",
          "Where": "r/PokemonCardValue",
          "Photo": "Yes"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "What's it worth",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "If a PSA 10 is $75k, how much is this worth, being rare and low pop? Should I sell or hold?",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "Yes, a PSA 9"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Is this price good",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "...a Mega Greninja SIR in NM condition for $106.00. Will it go even lower or is it the right time?",
          "Where": "r/PokemonTCG",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Is this price good",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Would you pick this up for $100 (PSA 9)?... I really love the art",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "Yes, a PSA 9"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Is this price good",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "A store has Pitch Black booster boxes listed for $165.99 each. Is it worth buying now?",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Is this price good",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Thoughts on the Mewtube as a raw card? It's going for $800 to $900 raw",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "Yes"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Where is it going",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Ascended Gengar, where is the floor?... I'm planning on buying this dip but wondering if I'm early",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "Yes, an app screenshot"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Where is it going",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Will all the Mimikyu chases go up after the movie?",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Where is it going",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "I'm thinking about buying a Japanese Moonbreon (Umbreon VMAX)... Would you buy now or wait?",
          "Where": "r/pkmntcgcollections",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "What should I buy",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "$1000 to invest in cards (graded, raw, etc). What would you guys buy?",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "What should I buy",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "I have 6 Fusion Strike booster boxes. Are there better plays in this market?",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "What should I buy",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Do any gold stars matter investment-wise?... Also, do grades matter, like do I need at least a PSA 5?",
          "Where": "r/PokeInvesting",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Should I grade",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "All Mew grading submission. I'm thinking about grading my cards in batches by Pokémon, first Mew, then Mewtwo, then Charizard and Blastoise. Thoughts?",
          "Where": "r/PokemonTCG",
          "Photo": "No"
        },
        {
          "Kind": "Ours",
          "What they asked (trimmed)": "Which sells for more, a PSA 5 or a PSA 8 Torchic Star?",
          "Where": "We wrote it",
          "Photo": "No"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "All nine models on the 16 questions (run November 3, 2026)",
      "columns": [
        "Model",
        "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5",
        "Passed the question's own checks",
        "Handled our call correctly",
        "Seconds to first words",
        "Cost per answer",
        "What went wrong"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Model": "DeepSeek V4.1 Flash",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "4.69",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "14 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "15 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "1.3",
          "Cost per answer": "$0.00096",
          "What went wrong": "1 price flagged on the wrong grade"
        },
        {
          "Model": "GLM 5.3 Flash",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "4.31",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "14 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "12 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "7.3",
          "Cost per answer": "$0.00119",
          "What went wrong": "Slow to start"
        },
        {
          "Model": "DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "4.12",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "12 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "13 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "2.4",
          "Cost per answer": "$0.00091",
          "What went wrong": "8 prices flagged on the wrong grade"
        },
        {
          "Model": "GLM 5.3",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "4.00",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "12 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "10 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "10.1",
          "Cost per answer": "$0.00505",
          "What went wrong": "Slowest to start of those timed"
        },
        {
          "Model": "MiniMax M3",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "3.06",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "12 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "10 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "Not recorded",
          "Cost per answer": "$0.00129",
          "What went wrong": "Nothing noted"
        },
        {
          "Model": "Gemma 4 26B A4B",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "3.00",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "12 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "9 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "1.0",
          "Cost per answer": "$0.00024",
          "What went wrong": "Missed our call on 7"
        },
        {
          "Model": "Qwen3.6 35B A3B",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "2.88",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "8 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "9 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "Not recorded",
          "Cost per answer": "Not recorded",
          "What went wrong": "Ran out of room 8 times, 5 unanswered"
        },
        {
          "Model": "gpt-oss-120b",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "2.44",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "8 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "12 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "Not recorded",
          "Cost per answer": "Not recorded",
          "What went wrong": "22.7 seconds a question, 3 unanswered"
        },
        {
          "Model": "Nemotron 3.5 Lightning",
          "Score from a separate AI, 1 to 5": "2.06",
          "Passed the question's own checks": "11 of 16",
          "Handled our call correctly": "6 of 16",
          "Seconds to first words": "Not recorded",
          "Cost per answer": "Not recorded",
          "What went wrong": "2 unanswered"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "sections": [
    "What collectors actually asked",
    "What's my card worth?",
    "Is this a good price?",
    "Our nickname table sent every model to the wrong Mewtwo",
    "Where is the price going?",
    "What should I buy?",
    "Should I grade it?",
    "Real numbers in the wrong places",
    "Two keepers and one fix still to make",
    "Nine models, one run each",
    "What this test doesn't tell you"
  ],
  "method": [
    "Sixteen questions: fifteen posted on r/PokeInvesting, r/PokemonCardValue, r/PokemonTCG and r/pkmntcgcollections between September and November 2026, lightly trimmed with no usernames, and one we wrote to reproduce the Torchic Star pricing fault. Seven of the fifteen carry the poster's photo. Each question carries a note on what a correct answer needs, with checks on what it must and must not say. The test copy of Cynthia, run on November 3, 2026, holds seven card files built from moonstonehq.com's public pages that day: TCGplayer Near Mint market price with its reading date, PSA sold medians with their sale counts, PSA population, recent sold listings and our market call as a signed-out reader sees it. The Rayquaza-EX medians carry no date range. Torchic Star's figures come from 165 PSA sold listings collected October 20, 2026 and dated as of October 28, 2026, and the old and new pricing methods both reproduce from them. Nine models answered every question once, one at a time, with the photo reader and the scoring AI (Kimi K2.6) the same for all nine. Results are the recorded summary table, and every count is out of 16 answers per model. The per-question results weren't kept with the test copy and we haven't pulled them from the run log. Cost is the hosting provider's list price per answer. Seconds to first words and cost read Not recorded where the summary has none. The wrong-grade count comes from a check that pairs each dollar figure with the grade named nearest to it. Nobody reread the flagged figures. The Mewtube question ran on Mewtwo GX 76/73 because our nickname table mapped it there. The poster's photo shows 78/73, checked again on November 15, 2026, and the scores include the question as it ran. The 78/73 price is its moonstonehq.com card page on November 15, 2026."
  ],
  "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file."
}