After manually going through Pokemon.com’s locator, we can confirm TPCi now operates 1,871 Pokemon TCG vending machines across 28 states. That’s a 27% increase and three new states added since I last reported the numbers in May 2025, when there were 1,473 machines in 25 states.
This represents the second-largest year of growth in the program’s history. From 2017 through 2023, the program never exceeded 65 machines. Last year was an explosion — TPCi grew from around 200 machines to 1,473 in roughly 14 months.
The growth came with notable turnover. Comparing the current list of machines to a list I captured from July and August, 207 machines have been removed from various locations, while 562 new machines were added. This means roughly 1 in 7 machines have been removed or relocated since last summer.
Removals didn’t target any specific retailer; instead, they affected almost every chain roughly in proportion to its footprint. They did, however, cluster on the West Coast: California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona accounted for 59% of all removed machines.
While there have been isolated reports of machines being damaged or removed due to in-store altercations, the data can’t tell us how many of the removals these incidents account for. They may simply be anecdotal incidents that get amplified on social media. We will follow up on this in a month or two if the list dramatically changes.
California overtook Texas as the state with the most machines, jumping to 372 — well ahead of Washington (230) and Texas (229). California also led the country in both additions (109) and removals (58), suggesting TPCi is experimenting with machine placement in the country’s largest market.
Three new states were added since last summer — Wisconsin, North Carolina, and South Carolina. All three states entered through chains never used before — Pick ‘n Save and Metro Market in Wisconsin, and Harris Teeter in the Carolinas — suggesting TPCi is expanding its retail partnerships.
Surprisingly, Florida and New York still don’t have a single machine despite being the most populous states on the East Coast.
A map of stores can be seen on Pokemon.com’s locator, though TPCi no longer publishes the full list as they did in previous years. The new interface shows only 20 results at a time, making it difficult to see the entire network without manually trudging through the entire map.
Later this month we should learn how many Pokemon cards TPCi printed in their last fiscal year. TPCi’s fiscal year ends in February with results reported in May, which is why I check in on the machine numbers around the same time.