The Story of MonPrice – How a Pokémon Card Scanner Was Born
Discover how MonPrice started as a dad’s idea and grew into one of the most accurate apps for scanning Pokémon cards and checking real-time prices.
Hi everyone – this is the very first post about how and why MonPrice was created. My name is Viktor Seraleev. I’m a father of two kids, and a couple of years ago my son got really into Pokémon cards. I bought him a binder so he could organize his collection. Over time, the stack of cards grew, and so did the number of questions about Pokémon. Before I knew it, I found myself diving headfirst into the Pokémon world too.
Idea → App
How the Idea Came to Me?
What if there was an app that could instantly recognize a card from a photo, tell you what it is, why it’s special, and even how much it’s worth?
Those months weren’t easy – I spent countless days and nights coding new features, designing the interface, buying cards just to test them, and trying different ways to make the app both accurate and fun to use. It was an obsession, but also a joy.
To my surprise, it didn’t take long for the app to find its fans. Users started sending feedback right away: “Add a fast scan mode!” “Include Japanese cards!” “Show historical prices!” “Please make search better!”
Fast-forward to today – MonPrice now has one of the most accurate Pokémon card databases out there. We aggregate live prices from TCGPlayer and CardMarket, so you can trust that the values you see are always up to date. During development, we trained the app to instantly recognize cards and display their market price in real time. I’ll never forget the first time I tested the prototype. I pointed my camera at a card, and within a second the app told me what it was worth. It felt like pure magic. That “wow” moment is still at the heart of MonPrice – and it’s what keeps me motivated to keep improving the app for collectors all over the world.