Spoon-wielding Pokémon Kadabra will be returning to Pokémon: The Card Game for the first time in over two decades this June, following illusionist, magician, and spoon-bender Uri Geller’s decision to drop his long-running lawsuit against the character.
Geller first sued Nintendo in November 2000, claiming the spoon-bearing Kadabra – known as “Yungerer” or “Yungeller” in Japan – was an unauthorised appropriation of his identity. That initial California lawsuit was dismissed in 2003, but additional lawsuits reportedly continued outside the US, and Kadabra has remained absent from Pokémon: The Card Game since 2002.
Then, in 2020, Geller had a change of heart, dropping all remaining legal action and “giving [Nintendo] permission to relaunch the Uri Geller Kadabra/Yungeller worldwide.” He also told fans, “I am truly sorry for what I did 20 years ago…I am releasing the ban. It’s now all up to Nintendo bring my Kadabra Pokémon card back.”
