Booster box or buying singles: which is smarter?

In this article

• A booster box looks cheaper per pack, but that is not always true. Here is when a box makes sense, and when loose packs or singles are the better buy.

A booster box looks appealing. Plenty of packs in one case, and the price per pack seems lower than buying them one at a time. Whether it is actually the smarter buy depends entirely on what you are after. Here is how to make that call without regretting it later.

What is inside a booster box?

A booster box is the case a shop receives a set's packs in. For English Pokémon sets it usually holds 36 packs. That gives you a broad cross-section of the set: you will run into most commons and uncommons, often more than once.

What you do not get is a guarantee. No box promises a specific card. The rare cards are distributed at random, and two boxes from the same set can hold very different contents.

Work out what you pay per pack first

Divide the price of the box by the number of packs. Now you have the real price per pack, and only then can you compare. With us a loose pack costs between 6.99 and 7.99 euro, depending on the set.

If the per-pack price inside a box drops clearly below that, you are paying for volume and the maths works. If it lands close to it or above, you are mostly buying a cardboard case. There is one thing that is easy to forget too: a box is money spent all at once. Fifteen packs spread over three months feels different from the same amount in a single evening.

Looking for one specific card? Buy it on its own.

This is the most important question of all. If you want a specific card, buying it separately is almost always cheaper. A single is a card sold on its own, outside of a pack. You pay the price of that one card, you know exactly what you get, and you have it right away.

Try pulling that same card from packs and you are paying for hundreds of cards you were not looking for, hoping for the one you were. For cards your deck needs, or for gaps in your binder, buying singles is the logical choice. Our singles start at 0.49 euro per card.

When a box does make sense

There are three situations where a box adds up. You want to get to know a set broadly and hold a lot of its cards at once. You find the opening itself the best part, and you are buying that enjoyment on purpose. Or you are building a master set and you need volume as a base, then close the gaps with singles.

What a box is not: an investment with a guaranteed outcome. The value of what you open can easily land below what the box cost. Buy it because you enjoy opening it, not because you hope to break even.

What we suggest: packs at your own pace

We do not sell full boxes ourselves. We buy them in and split them, so you can buy packs individually at a fair price. That way you decide how much you open, and you are not locked into one set.

For most people the middle road works best: buy a few packs for the fun of opening them, and buy the cards you actually want as singles alongside. Then you get both, without putting down a hundred euro in one go.

Below are the loose packs currently in stock. Everything ships from Oudenburg via bpost, usually at your door within 1 to 4 working days.