THE SPORTS CARDS PRODUCT GUIDE
Getting into the world of sports cards is not easy and you first have to get an overview. What collections are there? What are hobby boxes? Does each collection have a hanger box? What's in my box? We try to shed some light on your questions with this beginner's guide. In some places, our own opinion has also been incorporated. Furthermore, the guide follows the Panini products and focuses on the NFL. But a lot is also applicable to other brands like Topps and other sports like the NBA etc.
Breakdown: retail and hobby
Maybe you came across a video and saw a break. A box was opened and in the box were 6 very high-quality cards with autographs and memorabilia. You look for such a box and see a price of over 600 euros. It's hard to believe that a box of 6 cards has such a high price and at the same time you can buy a box of 88 cards for €50. Of course, this is an extreme example.
However, the separation between the 2 large areas in the world of (Panini) Sports Cards is shown here at the beginning. Firstly, there are the hobby boxes and then the retail boxes.
The hobby boxes can usually only be found in the USA on the official Panini website and in selected trading card shops. While one can also find the retail products at the local Target or Walmart.
The hobby box is the most expensive configuration of a collection (if the collection has a retail section), but offers more (on average) guaranteed hits, such as autograph or memorabilia cards. In many cases there are only hobby products within a collection, as is the case with Obsidian, Phoenix or Limited.
In many hobby boxes you will only find a few cards, almost all of which are of very high quality. Of course there are also hobby boxes with over 100 cards, which then also have many base cards. In addition, these boxes also offer exclusive inserts or parallels that can only be found in the hobby box.
The retail sector, on the other hand, is the more cost-effective alternative. In the US, these products can be purchased at typical stores like Walmart and Target. Different configurations can be found for each collection. (more on that later)
The retail products often offer a lot of cards, but fewer guaranteed hits. Many mega boxes or blaster boxes guarantee e.g. an autograph or memorabilia card. The chance that there is an autograph from a strong rookie quarterback is a lot lower than in the hobby products. However, you can still find a Mac Jones autograph in a Vanity Megabox.
What can I find in my box?
The question often arises: can I find autographs in this box? This can easily be found out by looking at the back of the box. If there is talk of autographs or signatures, you can of course find autographs. In our shop you will also find information in the product details as to whether you can find autographs in the box or the pack. It should be borne in mind that the chance of finding an autograph in a box that does not "guarantee" an autograph is slim.
What does on average mean? Can I get more than one autograph card?
You may be wondering why we put guaranteed in quotes, average before writing guaranteed or Panini put "On-Average" on their boxes.
For example, the box says "Find 1 autograph per box' and behind it 'On-Average'. This means that you will most likely find an autograph card in your box. However, it can also be the case that you "only" find Panini Points that replace your autograph. You can then redeem these points on the official Panini website for certain trading cards. In some cases you will not find an autograph or Panini Points, then your box has an error and was not checked sufficiently by quality control.
Normally it is also not possible to find more than the guaranteed number of autograph and memorabilia cards. If your box guarantees an autograph card, you will most likely not find another autograph or memorabilia card.
On many boxes there is only the sentence "look for Autograph". Look for does not mean that you are "guaranteed" to have an autograph in your box. It just signals you that you can find autographs in the box.
Various configurations in the retail sector
In the retail area you will then find various different configurations for each collection. Starting with Gravity Packs and Booster Packs up to the Megabox.
Each configuration offers exclusive parallels or inserts that you can only find in it. In the retail area, for example, you can only find Yellow Reactive Mosaic Parallels in the Mosaic Target Megabox.
Here we show you the most important configurations:
Gravity Pack / Retail Pack:
These are small packs that do not come from blasters etc. Most of the time you will only find a few cards in these packs. For example, 2020 Donruss has 5 cards and PRIZM only 4. These cards come from a gravity feed box or a retail box. As with (almost) every retail product, exclusive Parallels can also be found here. At 2020 Donruss, it was Yellow Press Proof trading cards exclusive.
Single Pack / Booster:
These are the individual packs from the larger configurations, such as blasters, megaboxes, etc. Depending on the configuration, the size and the exclusive parallel in the pack differ. The purchase can be worthwhile here if you are looking for certain Parallels, but do not necessarily want to buy an entire blaster, for example.
Fat Pack / Value Pack:
A Fatpack / Value Pack is a larger single pack of a collection. For example, in NBA Donruss 2021 there are 30 cards to be found. You can also find exclusive Parallels here.
Multipack / Cello:
Not every collection offers fat packs. The higher quality collections, such as PRIZM or Mosaic, rely on multipacks or cellos. These consist of a normal pack with 12 cards and a bonus pack with 3 more cards. The Bonus Pack features exclusive Parallels such as the Red, White, & Blue Cards in the PRIZM Multipacks / Cellos.
Hanger Box / Hanger Pack:
The hanger box is a box that usually contains a transparent pack containing a certain number of cards. They usually contain more cards than normal single packs and are a good product to start with as the boxes are a bit cheaper and also offer a lot of base cards. Meanwhile, Panini no longer relies on the hanger box in the carton, but on the hanger packs.
Blaster box:
The Blaster Box is arguably the most popular and most frequently produced product of any configuration. The boxes contain several booster packs and offer more exclusive Parallels. In addition, it can often happen with blaster boxes that an autograph or a memorabilia card is guaranteed.
megabox:
The Mega Box is a larger configuration than the Blaster Box. The boxes often have even more boosters than the Blaster Boxes, offer different Parallels, and often offer even more guaranteed hits. In the For example, 2021 NFL Contenders Megabox contains 1 autograph and 2 memorabilia cards.
Difference Target and Walmart:
In many collections you can find 2 different types of Blasters and Mega Boxes from the same collection.
These are 2 configurations. One is sold by Target, the other by Walmart. With the blaster boxes, the shape of the box is the same, only the parallels or the guaranteed hits differ from each other.
With the mega boxes, the difference can be seen at first glance. Target Megaboxes are slightly thicker and wider. They are the size of 2 blaster boxes next to each other. The Walmart Megaboxes, on the other hand, have a square shape and are a bit thinner. As with 2021 NFL Prizm, the difference between the two types can be huge. Because the Walmart Megabox "only" offers a guaranteed memorabilia card and no chance for autographs, while the Target Megabox guarantees an autograph OR a memorabilia card. Furthermore, the parallels between the two different types also differ here.
Target Walmart
Fanatic's Exclusive:
The Fanatics Exclusive boxes offer a third type. Again, the Parallels and the guaranteed hits differ from the "standard" boxes. So the Red Camo Mosaic Paralles can only be found in the Fanatics Exclusive Megabox or the Fanatics Exclusive 2021 NFL Contenders Megabox guarantees 2 autographs instead of the one autograph that the "Standard" Mega Box guarantees.
