Swedish streamer YungFika, known to H3 fans as Love, got pulled into a bizarre showdown during a recent IRL livestream after buying Pokémon cards from a vending machine that three men were apparently guarding.
It started inside a grocery store housing an official Pokémon TCG vending machine. YungFika walked up, saw a booster pack available, and bought it like any normal customer would. That single purchase set the men off.
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According to the stream, the trio had been camped near the machine waiting for an inventory “refresh.” They believed that leaving the cheaper packs untouched would eventually push the machine to release higher-value products like Elite Trainer Boxes, booster bundles, or full booster boxes, items that fetch much higher resale prices.
YungFika buying the available pack apparently broke their plan. One of the men reportedly snapped, “We were actually doing something, bro.”
How the “refresh” theory works
Pokémon vending machines are said to stagger product availability instead of unlocking everything at once after a restock. The setup is meant to stop one person from cleaning out the entire machine in a single transaction.
Resellers have caught on, and some now loiter near machines for long stretches, waiting for the moment that pricier products become selectable. Whether the “leave a pack behind” trick actually triggers bigger items dropping is unclear, but the men at this location clearly believed in it.
YungFika didn’t. He bought the pack, possibly two, and the situation escalated from there.
After the initial confrontation near the machine, YungFika reported the men to store management. Staff reportedly removed them from the premises. That wasn’t the end of it.
The parking lot encounter
As YungFika exited the store, a smaller follow-up exchange happened near the doors. Then, the three men approached him again in the parking lot while he was at his car.
Instead of backing down, YungFika reached into his stack of paperwork and handed them a job application.
The Pokémon TCG market has been dealing with heavy scalper pressure for years. Sealed product like ETBs and booster boxes can flip for well above MSRP, especially when sets feature chase cards tied to Charizard, Pikachu, or other fan favorites. Vending machines were meant to make access easier—instead, they’ve become the newest target for people willing to wait hours for a restock.
