Questions, answered straight
The whole model in plain words. The legally binding versions live in our legal pages.
›What is this site?
A virtual card shop: a real trading-card store that lives online. You buy booster packs and rip them here. Every card you pull is a virtual card (a digital collectible) you own in your vault. Keep it, sell it back to the shop instantly, or redeem it to have the real card shipped to your door. Boxes are cryptographically committed before they sell, so the odds are provable, not promised.
›Is this gambling?
No, and we're deliberate about the difference. Gambling means staking money on an uncertain outcome where you can lose it. Here, every pack always delivers its full, disclosed count of virtual cards at live market value, each one redeemable for the real card, the same product a hobby shop sells, opened online. Box structure and headliner odds are published before you buy and cryptographically verifiable after. Any card converts back to Sparks instantly at a flat 85%, or ships to your door, so value is never "lost" like a bet. And since Sparks are closed-loop store credit with no cash-out, there's no money to win. Full wording in the Terms.
›What are Sparks?
Sparks (⚡) are our store credits. Every value on the site is shown and paid in them. 100 Sparks per dollar when you buy them, so ⚡500 costs $5.00. Your first package purchase from $25 up includes one free booster pack: the bigger that first package, the pricier the pack, up to vintage packs on the biggest tiers (the exact pack tracks live market prices; one per account). Packages from $100 always add +10% bonus Sparks, +15% at $2,500 and up. Card values in Sparks track live market data from marketplaces like TCGplayer, so they're what the card is worth here, not a cash balance.
›Can I cash Sparks out?
No. Sparks have no cash value and can't be withdrawn, exchanged for cash or gift cards, or sent to other users. They only spend here, on packs and fees. Value leaves the site as real cards shipped to your door. That's the deal, stated up front; the full rules are in Terms §3.
›How do packs work?
Every set sells packs from a real, small box (36 packs for current sets) whose complete contents are locked by a published cryptographic fingerprint before the first rip. Buy as many packs as you want; they sit sealed on your shelf and only claim a spot in the box when you actually open them. Packs open front-to-back exactly like the real product, rare at the back, code card last.
›What are Master Ball overlays, Demigod Packs and God Packs?
Some sets have collectible extras. Overlays are special foil patterns (Master Ball, Poké Ball) stamped on a reverse-holo card. A Master Ball copy is worth more and sells back and ships as its own market print. Demigod Packs upgrade several slots to hits, and God Packs make every slot a hit, both extremely rare. Each set's exact overlay odds are on its product page. God and Demigod odds have no official source, so we show community estimates clearly labeled as estimates, only on sets documented to have them. All of these are locked in the box fingerprint and re-verifiable on the Verify page, and their expected value is folded into the pack price so every box of a set costs the same.
›Do the ETB bundles include the official promo card?
For products whose real Elite Trainer Box ships a promo, yes: you get that exact Black Star promo, minted into your vault at market value. For older ETBs that officially include no promo (the standard Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield boxes), we add our own pick, a popular card from that set, clearly labeled on the product page as our take, not the official ETB promo. Either way it's minted at its live market value and you can keep, ship, or sell it back like any card.
›What can I do with a card I pull?
Three options, per card: keep it in your vault, sell it back instantly for 85% of its live market value in Sparks (one flat rate, every card, every time), or redeem it to have the real card shipped to you from ⚡299 per card (⚡499 for cards worth ⚡1,000 and up). Ship 3+ cards together and every card drops 10%. You can also Evolve a card (see below).
›What is Evolve?
Evolve lets you stake a vaulted card for a chance to multiply its value into a bigger card. Pick a multiplier, 2× up to 128×, and each has published odds: 2× is a 45% chance, 4× is 22.5%, and so on down to 128× at 0.70%. Hit it and you get a target card worth about that multiple; lose and the staked card is permanently consumed: it's gone, and you get nothing back for it. Every multiplier has the same long-run return of 0.90 of your stake (a flat 10% house edge), so Evolve costs value over time; it's for the thrill, not a way to grow your vault.
It's provably fair, the exact same system as our boxes. When you evolve, we publish a hashed server seed and pin the outcome to a future drand public-randomness round that hasn't happened yet. Neither you nor we can predict or influence it, and there's nothing to "choose." When that round publishes (~5 seconds later) we reveal the seed, and your browser recomputes the roll (roll = HMAC-SHA256(serverSeed, drand randomness)) straight from the public drand beacon, so you can confirm we didn't touch it. Optional and entirely your call: just another way to chase a bigger hit with cards you already own.
›How does the marketplace work (buying a single)?
Skip the rip and grab the exact card you want. On the Marketplace you buy a specific virtual card outright with Sparks, priced at its live market value plus a small store markup, shown before you confirm. It lands in your vault with the same rights as anything you pull: keep it, ship it home, or sell it back at 85% anytime. Single purchases are final at checkout.
›How do the VIP rewards / tiers work?
The more you spend in a calendar month, the higher your VIP tier. Higher tiers pay you a better sell-back rate, a bigger daily Sparks claim, and a one-time reward when you first reach them. Your tier tracks the Sparks you spend on packs and singles each month. Tiers are house-funded perks with no cash value, and, as shown up front, your monthly progress resets on the 1st. Anything you've already earned or qualified for is honored; we never claw back rewards. See it live on the Rewards page.
›What's the Daily Chest?
A free daily chest that drops a random Sparks reward. Once your email is verified, you've made at least one Sparks purchase, and your account is more than a day old, you can open one chest per day. The odds are fixed and published on your wallet page (currently ⚡25 at ~50%, ⚡50 at ~25%, ⚡100 at ~15%, ⚡150 at 5%, ⚡300 at 5%, ⚡1,000 at 0.1%) and drawn by a cryptographic RNG. It's a promotional credit: closed-loop Sparks with no cash value, never redeemable for cash.
›How do referrals work?
Give a pack, get a pack: share your personal invite link (on the Invite page or in your wallet). When your friend joins through it and makes their first Sparks purchase of $5+, you both get ⚡550 instantly, a free pack's worth of Sparks, spendable on anything. One reward per invited friend, with a daily fairness cap. And the Daily Chest: once your email is verified, you've made a Sparks purchase, and your account is a day old, you can open a free chest every day for a random Sparks reward (⚡25 up to ⚡1,000).
›Where do shipped cards come from?
We source on redemption: when you ship a card, we buy that exact card (Near Mint) from major marketplaces such as TCGplayer and mail it to you with tracking within 7 days. Some cards may be sourced to order rather than held in inventory, which can add a little time before they ship. If a card is purchasable there, it's shippable here. If we ever can't source it, you get 100% of its live value in Sparks plus your fee back.
›How do code cards work?
Modern packs include the set's online code card. Redeem it and we email you the actual code for a ⚡199 processing fee; the physical code card is never mailed. Availability is automatic: whenever TCGplayer stocks that set's code cards (we re-check daily), yours can be redeemed, and we buy the code fresh for every redemption. Or just sell it back like any card.
›How do I know the packs aren't rigged?
Before a box sells a single pack we publish SHA-256 fingerprints of its full ordered card list and our secret seed, plus a pointer to a future drand public-randomness round. The shuffle is fixed by data that didn't exist when the box was sealed, and when the last pack rips, everything is published and your own browser re-verifies it. No one, including us, can see a live box's remaining contents.
›Can I replay & verify a pack I opened?
Yes. Once a box completes (its last pack is ripped), we publish the secret seed, the drand beacon value, and the full ordered card list. Head to the Verify page, pull up that box, and your own browser recomputes both fingerprints, re-derives the shuffle, and replays every pack, including yours, from the public data. If any of it had been altered, the hashes wouldn't match. You never have to trust us; the math checks itself.
›Why did a 'sealed next box' get replaced?
Card prices move around the clock, so a box waiting on deck can be withdrawn and re-sealed at a freshly solved price if the market moves sharply before it opens. No pack is ever drawn from a withdrawn box, packs you already bought keep their price, and a live box never changes. Repricing uses set-level price movement only, so it can't filter out strong boxes.
›Can I get a refund?
Unopened packs can be refunded in Sparks at the price paid via support (at our discretion). Opened packs are final, but every card sells back instantly at published rates, so you're never stuck. Unspent Sparks may be refunded to your original payment method at our discretion or where the law requires. Details in the Refund Policy.
›Can I make money opening packs?
Treat it as entertainment, not investing. A pack is priced at about the full market value of its contents (no markup), but card prices swing and selling cards back returns 85%, so opening packs to turn a profit loses over time. The guaranteed box structure and full odds are on every product page, so you can see exactly what you're buying. Rip for the fun and the collection. If it stops being fun, see Responsible Play.
›What are notifications?
The 🔔 bell in the top nav keeps you posted on things that happen to your account: a box you ripped from completing (so you can verify it), an Evolve resolving, a shipment update, a rank-up, and more. Each one deep-links straight to where it happened, and opening the bell marks them read. They're in-app only; we don't spam your inbox.
›Who can play?
Adults 18+, in jurisdictions where the service is offered. Age is certified at signup and identity-verified before your first shipment or code redemption.