Pack Wars....Please explain!

[dbaks]

I've read a bunch of posts about people talking about pack wars and getting together at the LCS for pack wars. I've even seen people on here advertise them on their video blog sites.

My question is....what are they? sounds like something I need to be a part of :D but I need some insight!

[tajikey]

From what I understand, two or more parties purchase a set number of packs (or a box, whatever), then proceed to open them one at a time. Whoever has the "best" card from the packs in the given round collects all the cards from all the packs in that round.

[rudyjustinfarrell]

Or someone can pick random things and the person closest to that thing wins that round. I've seen things like:

Lowest numbered Parallel card.... ex. 01/259 beats 05/10

Highest QB card number (using the base set card number)

Best card: this is tough when 2 nice cards both come out. Sometimes both people agree to keep their cards.

... or if both people (or multiple people) all open base card packs, the base cards roll over to the next pack war. So someone could win 2 packs, 4 packs, or however many packs there are for people opening packs.

This is a good way for a local shop to get people into the store and sell some of their older stuff. If there is a chance to win something, people will bust just about anything.

Oh.. I forgot. Sometimes you can win a chance at a random prize drawing. That's one way to let people keep their cards and still get a chance at winning something. As you can see, there are a lot of ways to do it.

[mdh]

It all depends whos breaking and what kind of excitement you want...

Sometimes shops host them, otherwise you'll just get a group of people in the store (including the owner sometimes), that want to bust product.

[edhou1]

sometimes all hell breaks loose (with lots of gnashing of teeth) when the pack war being waged is high end (a few uneven Exquisite BK cases came to my mind).

Something like Bowman/ BDP however works out pretty well most of the time

[mstng99tim]

My LCS does it a little different. There is usually about 10 of us who pay $20 each and get a few packs of baseball, football, & hockey (no basketball, not many people collect basketball here in Pittsburgh). The owner then goes sport by sport asking questions based on stats on the backs of the cards. He'll ask question like who has the tallest player, who has the most career rushing yards, who has the most career goals, etc. If you have a card of the player that answers the question he asked you get a raffle ticket. At the end, he pulls a few tickets out and gives away a few prizes.

[edhou1]

My LCS does it a little different. There is usually about 10 of us who pay $20 each and get a few packs of baseball, football, & hockey (no basketball, not many people collect basketball here in Pittsburgh). The owner then goes sport by sport asking questions based on stats on the backs of the cards. He'll ask question like who has the tallest player, who has the most career rushing yards, who has the most career goals, etc. If you have a card of the player that answers the question he asked you get a raffle ticket. At the end, he pulls a few tickets out and gives away a few prizes.

That is a good way to do it. You don't necessarily want to base the winner(s) on card $values , that way people don't get mad at each other in case someone gets really lucky with their box/case that they open.
The goal is to for the customers to have fun at these events and for them to be loyal patrons going forward.

[dbaks]

My LCS does it a little different. There is usually about 10 of us who pay $20 each and get a few packs of baseball, football, & hockey (no basketball, not many people collect basketball here in Pittsburgh). The owner then goes sport by sport asking questions based on stats on the backs of the cards. He'll ask question like who has the tallest player, who has the most career rushing yards, who has the most career goals, etc. If you have a card of the player that answers the question he asked you get a raffle ticket. At the end, he pulls a few tickets out and gives away a few prizes.

Where is the LCS in Pittsburgh? I come out there for work once in a while and would love to stop at lunch

[mstng99tim]

Where is the LCS in Pittsburgh? I come out there for work once in a while and would love to stop at lunch
There are 8 stores (that I know of) in and around Pittsburgh, all of them within 30-40 minutes of each other.

The one I am talking about is in Century III Mall, it's called 1st & Goal Sports Collectibles.

The other ones around here are:

TNT Collectibles
Collectors Den
SportsCard Etc. (they have 2 stores and probably have the biggest selection but are kind of pricey)
Sports Card Junction
Sports World Specialties
Greentree Sports Cards

[dbaks]

There are 8 stores (that I know of) in and around Pittsburgh, all of them within 30-40 minutes of each other.

The one I am talking about is in Century III Mall, it's called 1st & Goal Sports Collectibles.

The other ones around here are:

TNT Collectibles
Collectors Den
SportsCard Etc. (they have 2 stores and probably have the biggest selection but are kind of pricey)
Sports Card Junction
Sports World Specialties
Greentree Sports Cards

Wow! Which one is closest to downtown? My office is on 5th ave right across the bridge from PNC park

[mstng99tim]

Wow! Which one is closest to downtown? My office is on 5th ave right across the bridge from PNC park
Sports World Specialties is on Smithfield St. downtown, not far from your office. It's on the end of Smithfield, near 7th Ave. I haven't been in there for about 5 years, but I know it's still open because I drove past it last week.

[Da_Fish]

We play by splitting a box between 2 or 3 people, sometimes 4. Each person picks the "game". Closest to card x without going over, fat man (heaviest guy), skinny man, tallest, shortest, most TDs, you have many options. Whoever wins the round, gets all of the cards. You can win some good stuff and lose some good stuff this way. Sometimes you walk away with nothing, sometimes everything, but usually somewhere in the middle. I never play highest valued card wins...kinda boring to me. Then again, I'm a gamblin man.