Ahron Wayne succeeded at something he (and every kid in every convenience store or game shop) has been trying to accomplish for some time: figuring out what’s inside a sealed Pokémon card packet without opening it.

His method was a lot more…advanced that holding the package up to the light in every direction known to man. He bought a x-ray microCT scanner off eBay, refurbished and calibrated it, then putting a load of work into testing and trying countless scanning techniques and methods to determine what was in the packet.

He even tried using AI to help determine the cards from the shadowy images he got.

Bonus points, he was able to detect counterfeit cards:

The article is worth a read and he made a video about it:

Links:

• https://hackaday.io/project/191395-x-ray-ct-scanners-get-new-life/log/231294-digitally-peeking-inside-a-pack-of-pokemon-cards
• https://hackaday.com/2024/07/20/sealed-packs-of-pokemon-cards-give-up-their-secrets-without-opening-them/