The Jungle booster box is the first expansion box after Base Set and by now one of the pricier vintage boxes in the hobby. Thirty-six packs full of the Eeveelutions, Snorlax and the other classics from 1999, from a time when no one knew yet how big Pokémon would become. In this blog you'll read when the box came out, what's inside, which cards you can pull, and how the price of the 1st Edition and Unlimited print has developed since release.

When did the Jungle booster box come out?

Jungle was released in English on June 16, 1999, published by Wizards of the Coast. That was earlier than planned: the release was originally set for August 1999, but was moved up after it emerged that another card manufacturer was also bringing out its own Pokémon cards that same summer. Jungle was the first expansion after Base Set and mainly added Pokémon that Base Set was still missing, such as the three Eeveelutions Flareon, Jolteon and Vaporeon.

The European translations, including a Dutch edition, followed only in February 2000, more than half a year after the English release.

1st Edition or Unlimited?

Unlike Base Set, there's no debate about a shadowless in-between print for Jungle. Jungle only had two print runs, and both are easy to tell apart from the outside.

1st Edition. These packs and boxes are clearly marked with the round black "1st Edition" stamp. The print run sold out within two weeks of release and was distributed more widely across America than Base Set's 1st Edition, making it slightly less scarce than its Base Set counterpart, though still far more expensive than Unlimited.

Unlimited. The larger, later print run without the stamp. This is the version you come across most often today.

What's in the Jungle booster box?

• 36 booster packs of Jungle
• 11 cards per pack: 7 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 rare
• The rare slot has roughly a 1 in 3 chance of a Holo Rare instead of the regular, non-holographic Rare
• Three different pack wrapper designs: Scyther, Wigglytuff and Flareon

That's all there is: no promo card, no sleeves, no dice. The Holo Rare in the rare slot is the whole adventure of opening a pack.

Which cards can you pull?

Jungle has 16 Holo Rares, numbered 1 through 16. For the first time, those same sixteen Pokémon also came back as regular, non-holographic Rares, numbered 17 through 32. That double system became the standard for later English sets after Jungle.

The 16 Holo Rares are: Clefable (1/64), Electrode (2/64), Flareon (3/64), Jolteon (4/64), Kangaskhan (5/64), Mr. Mime (6/64), Nidoqueen (7/64), Pidgeot (8/64), Pinsir (9/64), Scyther (10/64), Snorlax (11/64), Vaporeon (12/64), Venomoth (13/64), Victreebel (14/64), Vileplume (15/64) and Wigglytuff (16/64). There's no Charizard here: that one only reappeared in later sets.

The three Eeveelutions are the best known of the bunch, but the most expensive is Snorlax. You can see exactly how these nine cards compare in value, both raw and in PSA 10, in the Chase Cards from Jungle.

How has the price developed?

The 1999 retail price isn't documented for the Netherlands, but in America a single booster pack cost a few dollars at the time, similar to Base Set. From that starting point, the two print runs of the booster box now sit far apart:

• 1st Edition: €30,150.87 ($34,832.21)
• Unlimited: €16,135.99 ($18,641.33)

Loose booster packs, at €618.40 ($714.42) for 1st Edition and €264.08 ($305.08) for Unlimited, are no longer a cheap way to get Jungle cards either. Prices from Collectr, September 2026.

With amounts like these, keep in mind that few of these boxes get sold publicly each year. A single outlying sale can shift the picture quickly, so look at the trend over several years rather than the most recent sale.

Is the Jungle booster box worth holding onto?

A Jungle box is no longer a box you open for the cards. At these prices, you buy it sealed and keep it that way. Scarcity works in its favor: no more boxes are being made, and every box that does get opened disappears from the market for good.

Watch out for fakes and resealed material at these price points. Buy from a seller you trust, and for the higher amounts only consider examples graded by a reputable company.

Please note: card values can go up as well as down. No guarantee of value increase.

Frequently asked questions

Is there also a Dutch Jungle set? Yes. Jungle was released in Dutch in February 2000, alongside the German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese editions. The boxes you find on the market are almost always English, though, and that's also the version most collectors look for.

Am I better off buying loose packs instead of a whole booster box? A loose pack is the cheapest way to get your hands on something from Jungle, but you don't know where that pack has been. Loose packs from this era have often been weighed and searched for holos. A pack that's demonstrably from a sealed box is a lot safer.

What's the difference between the Holo Rare and the regular Rare of the same Pokémon? It's the exact same illustration and the same Pokémon, but with a different card number and a different finish. The Holo Rare (numbers 1 through 16) has the holographic shine in the artwork, while the regular Rare (numbers 17 through 32) is completely matte. The Holo version is always the pricier and rarer of the two.

Conclusion

The Jungle booster box is a box of 36 packs from June 1999, from the first expansion after Base Set. Sixteen Holo Rares are up for grabs, with the three Eeveelutions and Snorlax as the best known names.

The most important thing with this box is which print run you're holding. 1st Edition and Unlimited are both clearly marked, so unlike with Base Set, you don't have to guess with Jungle. For the cards themselves, check out our Jungle collection too.