Booster pack (TCG)
Booster packs are typically packs of 10 cards from an expansion in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, contained within a foil Booster Wrap. However, booster packs come in a number of variations, some of which contain fewer cards. Booster packs are the most common way for cards to be distributed. Sleeved Boosters are a variation packaged in cardboard instead of foil.
Many Pokémon Trading Card Game products include a number of additional booster packs. Some products, like Booster Bundles and Booster Boxes, are entirely dedicated to having multiple booster packs. A Booster Bundle contains 6 booster packs and a Booster Box contains 36 booster packs.
Terminology
This term is normally written in all lowercase, as in "booster pack". For instance, the Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules released for 151 reads:
- "Once you’re ready, you can start building your collection of cards with Pokémon TCG booster packs." (page 3)[1]
One exception from early official media is Pokémon Trading Card Game for Game Boy Color. The manual for the game rendered the term in title case as "Booster Pack":
- "When you win a duel, you will receive a Booster Pack. Each Booster Pack contains 10 cards, and the cards available in the different Booster Packs will vary." (page 25)
Overview
Booster packs offer the chance to acquire cards that players can use to strengthen preconstructed decks, create new decks, or customize old ones. While every booster of the same group contains the same amount of cards, the exact contents are randomized. However, booster packs have "booster pack Slots", namely the rules by which cards are collated and put into booster packs at the factory, which therefore determine which kinds of cards are inside the pack..[2]. Generally speaking, the slot that a card is allowed to occupy is determined by the Rarity of the card. There are more slots in a booster pack for Common (
) cards than Uncommon (
, and more slots for Uncommon cards than Rare (
) cards. Normally, only a single slot in a booster pack can contain a Rare card. However, it is possible for that slot to instead have an "ultra rare" card, a card of a number of rarities generally tied to special cards like Pokémon 
and Pokémon 
.
- For a full description of Common (
), Uncommon (
), and Rare (
) cards see the Rarity article.
Booster packs have contained varying amounts of cards over the years. From the first Base Set through to Neo Destiny expansion, boosters contained 11 cards. Beginning with the e-Card Series and continuing through the entirety of the EX Series, boosters had only 9 cards. Since the release of the first Diamond & Pearl expansion, a booster pack consistently has 10 cards. Starting in Sun & Moon, boosters contain one Basic Energy card in addition to the 10 other cards. Between Brilliant Stars and Crown Zenith, a booster pack has a chance of having a VSTAR marker instead of a Basic Energy card.
A booster pack consists of two parts: the cards themselves and the booster wrap surrounding them. This wrapper has artwork themed to the set the booster pack is for, usually featuring Pokémon with prominent cards in the expansion. International sets usually have at least four possible artworks on booster packs, whereas Asian sets only have one associated booster pack artwork per set.
Pull ratio
Every booster pack is guaranteed to contain at least 1 Rare ( ) card, generally 3 Uncommon ( ) cards, and the remainder are Common ( ). However, the Rare card(s) may have a rarity of Rare (★), or be a "ultra rare" card mentioned above, such as a Pokémon-ex. Since the release of the Legendary Collection expansion, one Reverse-Holo (also known as Reverse foil) print of a Common, Uncommon, or Rare card has also been included in every booster. A Reverse-Holo card is identical to its normal counterpart, aside from a Holofoil effect in the picture or card background. Reverse-Holo cards in the EX Series also contain a stamp of the expansion logo in the bottom right corner of the picture. The inclusion of Reverse-Holo rare and Holofoil rare cards created the potential that one booster may contain two rare cards.
Starting in Scarlet & Violet, a booster pack contains the cards as specified in the table below. Older sets can and will vary from this standard. Notably, Scarlet & Violet retired the Rare Holo rarities. Instead, all cards with a rarity of Rare or higher are Holofoil cards by definition.
| Quantity | Rarity |
|---|---|
| 4 | Common
|
| 3 | Uncommon
|
| 1 | Reverse Holo |
 Shiny Rare (Paldean Fates only)
| |
 Shiny Ultra Rare (Paldean Fates only)
| |
 ACE SPEC Rare (Temporal Forces onward)
| |
| 1 | Reverse Holo |
 Illustration Rare
| |
 Special Illustration Rare
| |
 Hyper Rare
| |
| 1 | Rare
|
 Double Rare
| |
 Ultra Rare
| |
| 1 | Basic Energy card |
| 1 | Pokémon Trading Card Game Live code card |
Products with Booster Packs
A number of products have booster packs as a major component. These are listed below.
- Sleeved Booster: A booster pack additionally wrapped in cardboard. They are able to hang from pegs, making them common at major physical retailers.[3] Note that the name is rendered in title case.
- Booster Bundle: Six booster packs from a specific set, all contained in a box.
- Booster Box: 36 booster packs from a specific set, all contained in a box. This is another commonly seen format at retailers.
- Elite Trainer Box: A box containing 9 booster packs, a promo card, 65 card sleeves, and 45 Basic Energy cards. There are also releases available for a limited time exclusively through the Pokémon Center website, which contain two additional booster packs and an additional promo card with the Pokémon Center logo on it.
- Build & Battle Box: A box containing four booster packs, as well as a pre-built 40 card deck and one of four promo cards. These are designed for use in Sealed events, such as the Prerelease format or the Build & Battle Draft format. However, they can be equally used outside of tournament play, perhaps by friends and family.
- Build & Battle Stadium: A box that contains two Build & Battle Boxes, three additional booster packs, and 121 Basic Energy cards.
As a general rule, the more booster packs a product has, the cheaper the cost of those booster packs is compared to buying the same number of booster packs individually.
Code cards
Certain specially-marked physical Pokémon Trading Card Game products will come with a code card that can be used to redeem virtual cards or other virtual products for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online (TCGO) and Pokémon Trading Card Game Live (TCGL). Code cards are available in booster packs and other products that state that they contain a code card or contain the TCGO or TCGL symbol on the packaging.
Each code card has a unique 11-digit alphanumeric code and an equivalent QR Code that can be redeemed on the official Pokémon website Pokémon.com or in-game. Each card can only be redeemed once. The codes found in booster packs will generate a set of virtual cards that is different from the physical cards that were inside the pack.
In the games
Pokémon Trading Card Game Online
Booster packs can be purchased in this game to add to a player's digital collection. The cards within follow the same collation rules as a real booster pack. After being obtained, the booster pack is added to the player's Collection menu, where they can open it later. (The pop-up for obtaining a booster pack reminds the player that they can go to the Collection menu to open it now, should they wish to.)
When opening a booster pack, the game would swap to a blue background and fan out the the cards in the pack. All of the commons and uncommons would automatically flip face up, but any cards with a rarity of rare or higher would stay face down until the player clicked on them.
As with all objects in this game, these items come in tradable and trade locked varieties. A tradable booster pack can be exchanged with other players through the game's trading system for different items. In fact, the community led economy for the game is based mostly around trading booster packs for desired cards, as though booster packs are a currency of sorts. A trade locked booster pack cannot be traded in this manner. This property extends to the cards gained through opening the booster pack: the cards will be trade-locked if the booster pack was and will be tradable if the booster pack was. For the most part, the only purpose of a trade locked booster pack is to open it to obtain the cards inside.
A booster pack for any set can be purchased from the shop at the cost of 200 Trainer Tokens. Beating each trainer in the Trainer Challenge with four different decks allowed the player to obtain a trade locked booster pack. Beating 12 different trainers with any one Theme Deck also rewarded the player with a booster pack for the expansion the Theme Deck was released with. All of these booster packs are trade-locked.
Booster packs can be acquired from a number of other sources. Winning Tournaments gave the player a number of tradable booster packs, as did Challenges for Knocking Out Pokémon.
In the transition from Pokémon Trading Card Game Online to Pokémon Trading Card Game Live, booster packs in each player's collection were converted into Crystals in Live.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Live
|
This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |
- ↑ Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules, Pokémon.com
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Buyer's Guide to Pokémon TCG Twilight Masquerade, Peter Day from TCG Player Infinite