I am a big fan of opening affordable and accessible sealed Pokemon products. In most cases, that removes English from the equation, as it is neither cheap nor accessible a lot of the time. However, my focus on slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes is also not ideal. It’s cheap, but the fun factor can quickly turn into frustration.
Why Slim Chinese Pokemon Booster Boxes Make Sense
If you are unfamiliar with Chinese Pokemon TCG products, allow me to recap briefly. China is still behind Western and Japanese Pokemon sets by quite a margin. It is still in the Scarlet&Violet era. That is great for collectors like me who only got back into TCG a few months ago after a two-decade break.
As such, you may see sets like Chasing Glory Together (very similar to Destined Rivals) or Terastal Gathering (Prismatic Evolutions with a twist). These sets are very fun to open, because you have two booster box options. You either buy slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes, or the Jumbo versions.
Slim boxes have 15 packs, 5 cards per pack, and very low pull rates. Their jumbo counterparts have one guaranteed big hit per box, 6 packs, and either 20 or 25 cards per pack. However, the latter is also at least 50% more expensive than the slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes. A big difference when trying to collect or rip on a budget.
As such, I will often opt for the slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes. They are around 30 euro for a box, and you pull 75 cards. Budget-wise, it makes sense, and 15 packs is a good amount. However, there are “streaks” where you pull absolutely nothing, and when you do get something, it is often a duplicate.
Frustrating Pulls Are a Thing
Anyone who has ever opened a sealed Pokemon TCG product will know this frustration all too well. You finally see that card border, thinking you get a hit. You go through the cards in front of it, see the hit, and think “this, again?”. It is a very common feeling with slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes in my experience.
A good example is my recent opening of three Pokemon 151C: Hope booster boxes. Per card pack, you either get a holographic, Pokeball, Masterball, EX, or better card. However, the rate of Pokeballs vastly outweighs the rest, including the regular holographics. Still shiny and pretty cardboard, but not necessarily what you want to pull.
Moreover, the slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes have very high duplication rates. I noticed this first during my Gem Pack Vol 2 openings. Having over 50% duplicates in your second booster box is not good. That trend carried over to Gem Pack Vol 3, and now, 151C: Hope. You will see 50%-80% duplicates after your first booster box, on average.
That doesn’t mean I will never buy slim Chinese Pokemon booster boxes again. In fact, I have over half a dozen still left to open. However, buying them again in the future is a very different matter. They are not as satisfying for my collector brain when you get very little “new material”.
But a box to explore a set? Sure, I’ll buy one. Just one though.
