The primary differences between hobby and blaster boxes are that hobby boxes are more expensive, contain more hits, generally have better ROI for flippers, and are typically easier to find. Blaster boxes are sold at retail locations where hobby boxes must be purchased through the manufacturer or at card shops.
Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that, so let’s dive in a little deeper.
What is a Hobby Card Box?
Hobby card boxes are exclusively sold direct from the manufacturer or at local card shops. They are more expensive than retail boxes, but contain more high-value hits including hobby-only inserts and parallels, as well as more autograph and memorabilia cards..
What is a Blaster Card Box?
Blaster boxes are sold only at retail locations, such as Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, CVS, Walgreens, and more. They will often contain fewer “hits” such as low-numbered cards or autographs, but are much cheaper than hobby boxes.
Difference Between Hobby and Blaster Boxes
With the people that I talk to and the Facebook groups I’m in, it’s pretty split as to whether people like hobby boxes or retail boxes better!
Some don’t like the hassle of hunting quickly-disappearing retail at the store or online. Others don’t want to bother with timing drops on Target.com. Others think the “hits” you pull in retail aren’t worth chasing after.
Others, like your typical hobbyist usually on a tighter budget, swear by retail and love hitting those $10-$50 cards. There isn’t a right or wrong answer…it just depends on your preference.
Personally, I only buy retail. It’s much easier to make your money back on the box. If I buy a hobby box for $1,200, it’s easier to lose your pants. Of course, you might pull a $25,000 card, but that’s still pretty rare.
Hobby Boxes are More Expensive Than Blaster
If you’re on a tight budget, you can probably stop reading here and just keep your focus on retail cards! The price difference between hobby and blaster boxes is typically massive—in the 10x-20x range.
Here’s an example for Prizm of sold listings on eBay between hobby and retail:
In addition, hobby boxes are usually easier to find—just walk into any good card shop and they should have recent popular hobby boxes. Retail of high quality stuff like Prizm and Select basketball is pretty much not staying on the shelf at stores.
However, both are easy to find on eBay.
Hobby Boxes Usually Have More Guaranteed Hits
Let’s take a closer look at those Prizm boxes I posted above.
You’ll notice a couple of things. The blaster doesn’t guarantee anything. They just tell you what could be there.
Hobby? You’re getting 22 prizms and 2 autos! If any of those are a top rookie, that could be a few hundred bucks, easy.
The main difference between all this is that your chances of pulling a monster card are MUCH higher in a hobby box! That’s why hobby boxes are favored among the elite card hobbyists—they have money to burn and they’re in it for the BIG cards. Pulling a $50 card doesn’t matter that much to them, so they’re willing to buy hobby boxes.
To me, a big difference is this: are you looking for a Paolo Banchero rookie card, or are you ONLY happy if you pull his RPA #’d out of /99? Obviously everyone wants the RPA, but I’m pretty happy just pulling his rookie. I’m not elite (yet).
Hobby and Blasters Often Have Exclusive Cards
In the Prizm example I’ve been using, you can ONLY pull these prizm parallels from a hobby box:
- Mojo #/25
- Gold #/10
- Black Gold #/5
- Black 1/1
So in addition to more autos and memorabilia cards, you can often expect these types of high-value cards to be added only to hobby boxes! Any of these cards from a rookie or superstar will fetch huge prices.
Retail often has exclusive inserts and parallels (like Prizm above with Pink Pulsars), but those aren’t going to be anywhere near the value of the hobby-only hits.
Hobby Boxes Are Generally Better Long-Term Holds
Because of the massive hits that you can find in hobby boxes, they tend to hold their value better over time—especially if the rookies really pop.
Yes, 2018-19 NBA retail stuff is going to go up in value because Luka Doncic is a generational superstar, but the greater chance to hit a low-numbered RPA worth tens of thousands drives the hobby box prices up even further.
If you want to see the research I put together about the best packs/boxes to hold onto for long-term ROI, you can read that here!
Some Products Are Hobby Only
The truly elite, highest level of products are usually only released as hobby boxes. These include products like National Treasures, where you could have pulled this beauty which sold for nearly $30,000.
This also includes products like Immaculate, Flawless, and others. These are so expensive and so high quality that they don’t even bother with Blaster versions.