Introducing Nine Pockets Wax Packs (and a Giveaway)

A pretty cool milestone is on the horizon here at Nine Pockets Headquarters:

 

I've designed almost 100 unique custom cards.

 

Actors, musicians, rock bands, cartoon characters, athletes. There's a good variety of star power and nostalgia for collectors to choose from. And when those collectors do choose a few customs and provide kind feedback—expressing what the cards mean to them and their collection—it's quite a rewarding experience.

 

When those things happen, it makes me wonder about other ways I can make the custom card experience a nostalgic one. And when I think of trading cards and nostalgia, I think about wax packs. At some point a few months ago I thought, How cool would it be to have an actual wax pack filled with Nine Pockets custom cards?

The idea isn't new. These sorts of customized packs are already out there in the trading card world, whether it's a card shop that re-packs a variety of vintage cards, or a YouTuber who creates custom packs to send to friends, based on their collecting preferences.

 

Regardless, I wanted to try it out. After all, with almost 100 different cards to choose from, the ability to create a good, random selection for each pack was there. So I gave some thought to all the variables—the design of the wrapper, the number of cards per pack, what costs would be involved, and what sort of special inserts I might be able to include—and I'm happy to say I've come up with a final product.

 

Here it is.

 

 

 

 

Fresh off the heat sealer, it's the Nine Pockets wax pack!

 

As shown on the front of the wrapper, each pack comes with 8 randomly assorted Nine Pockets custom cards, plus one sticker. (I thought long and hard about adding an individually wrapped stick of gum instead, like Doublemint or Black Jack, but ultimately decided against it.)

 

The stickers come in three different types. They're also randomly inserted.

 

 

 

 

Excitingly, there's also a chance for collectors to pull a special "hit". Odds are listed on the back of the wrapper:

 

 

 

 

The Samurai Jack menko has 1:4 odds, while the Sadaharu Oh stained glass card is a bit tougher to pull, at 1:8. Both of those cards are more expensive for me to produce, and they are sort of mini-sized, so it's fitting that they'd be the hits.

 

 

 

 

So far I've created 16 packs. They're listed in my eBay store now. Truth be told, I'm wondering whether they'll be popular sellers or not. I feel like most collectors would rather look through my store and choose the specific customs they want. But I could be wrong. Collectors also like the thrill that comes with pulling random cards from a pack. So we'll see.

 

In any case, as a way to thank you readers for the custom card support and inspiration you've given me over the past few years, I'd like to hold a giveaway for one of these packs. Because of the value involved, I can't just give the pack away to the first person to comment below. It wouldn't be quite fair. I'm going to have to do one of those fancy randomizer things instead. So if you're interested in the chance to win a pack of Nine Pockets customs, just add a comment below and let me know that you'd like to be entered in the giveaway. I'll give everyone until next Sunday (November 5th) to enter, and then I'll figure out a time to run the randomizer and post the results here on the blog.

 

Looking forward to this one!