I have recently gotten in to Pokemon collecting and have been trying to assemble a Surging Sparks set. I have purchased and opened about 40 packs of Surging Sparks at this point, most of which I have let my housemates watch me open.

My most recent purchase was 28 Pokemon Surging Sparks booster packs for $250 AUD. Me and my housemates sat down to open the packs and one of them (who I have been friends with since high school - over 10 years; let’s call him ‘Gary’) asked if he could purchase a pack, to which I said yes. My other housemate also purchased a pack from me.

For context:

• Gary sent money straight away and the other did not
• Gary does not collect Pokemon cards (he more enjoys the gambling aspect). He does silently observe Pokemon opening online and card values, grading, etc - he has some understanding.

Me and my two housemates opened each of our respective packs simultaneously.

Gary then pulled the second-most expensive card in the set (Latias 239/191); I immediately saw this and knew what he had pulled, though he was unaware of the value. I told him the card was really valuable and he went upstairs to grab a card sleeve.

Straight away I looked at the card and when Gary came back I said “nah man, I’m sorry, but I’m keeping this. It’s worth too much”. Gary understandably was not happy with this and said that it was a bit dog of me.

Of course, I sent Gary back the money he had sent me for the pack.

I was holding firm on what I said - I stated that I had paid a lot for all the packs and was collecting the set; I was not going to sell the card. Gary was understanding of this but still annoyed at the situation, but admitted he would feel bad taking the card given he had only paid for one pack.

Am I the asshole?

TLDR; I sold my friend a Pokemon pack from a set I am building, he pulled a rare expensive card and I took the card back.