Glossary of trading cards and card games

Collectors across Europe use a mix of English and their own language, and the same word can mean different things in different games. Here are the words you come across when you buy, sell or read about trading cards, explained in plain language.

The ten words you need first

1. Booster. The single pack of random cards.
2. Display. The box the packs are sold in. Also called a booster box.
3. Hit. The card in a box that carries the value.
4. Chase card. The card from an edition that everyone is chasing.
5. Sleeve. Plastic cover the card sits in.
6. Toploader. Rigid card sleeve that protects against bending.
7. Near Mint. The highest common condition grade in trade.
8. Grading. Independent assessment of condition and authenticity, on a scale of 1 to 10.
9. Parallel. The same card in a different colour or finish, often with a printed number.
10. Rookie card. The player's first official card in a major series.

Packaging

Booster pack, pack	The single pack of random cards.
Display, booster box	The box the packs are sold in. Same thing, two names.
Case	Wholesale carton with several displays. A purchasing unit, not a retail product.
Bundle	Means different things in different games. Nine packs and accessories in Magic, six packs in Pokémon.
Elite Trainer Box, ETB	Pokémon's box with packs and game material.
Blister	Hanging retail pack with one to four packs.
Tin	Metal tin with packs and usually a promo card.
Tuckbox	Small cardboard box, often with a few packs inside.
Prerelease	Material sold the week before a release, with a date-stamped card.

The slang: what collectors actually say

Banger	The card you hoped for when you opened the pack. The one that made the whole box feel worth the money.
Hit	The card in a box that carries the value, usually an autograph or a card with inserted material.
Chase card	The card from an edition that everyone is chasing and that drives the price of the whole series.
Grail	The card you personally chase and may never get. Your own goal, not the market's.
Pull	Getting a particular card out of a pack. Pulling a chase is the highlight of the evening.
Rip	Opening packs. A rip night is an evening devoted to opening.
Last pack	The idea that the last pack in a box has the best odds. There have been patterns historically, but you cannot count on it. See where the hits sit.
God pack	Pack where every card is of the highest rarity. Very rare, mainly in Japanese editions.
Case hit	Card so rare that it appears on average once per full wholesale carton.
One of one, 1/1	Card that exists in only a single copy in the world.
Raw	Ungraded card, that is, a card that has not gone through assessment and encapsulation.
Bulk	The common cards left over. Sold in large lots and rarely sorted one by one.
Dud	Box or pack that gave nothing at all.
Heater	A box that gives several good cards in a row.
PC, personal collection	Your own collection, the cards you don't sell.
Mail day	The day the parcel arrives. Used when showing off what you received.
Flip	Buying to resell quickly.
Whale	Buyer who spends a lot of money, often on whole boxes or expensive single cards.
Pack searching	Trying to work out a pack's contents without opening it. Cheating.
Weighing	Weighing packs for the same purpose. Also cheating.
Pack fresh	Card in exactly the condition it had when it came out of the pack.

Cards and contents

Chase card	The card everyone chases in an edition, the one that drives the price of sealed product.
Hit	The card in a box that carries the value, usually an autograph or a relic.
Parallel	The same card in a different colour or surface, often numbered.
Insert	Card from a subset with its own theme.
Relic, patch, memorabilia	Piece of shirt or equipment inserted into the card.
Rookie card	The player's first official card.
Short print	Card printed in smaller numbers than the rest of the series.
Promo	Card that is handed out or comes with a product, not from the packs.
Single	Loose card, as opposed to sealed product.
Sealed	Sealed, unopened.

Condition and grading

NM, LP, MP, HP, DMG	The condition scale from near new to damaged. See the guide to card condition.
Grading	Independent assessment of condition and authenticity, graded 1 to 10.
Slab	The graded card in its sealed case.
Centring	How evenly the image sits between the edges. Decided at the printing press.
Submission, sub	A submission for grading.

Trade

Pre-order	The product is ordered but not yet released.
Allocation	The distributor receives less than ordered and shares out what there is. An order can be cut right up until delivery.
Restock	The product comes back in.
Print run	How many copies were printed.
Reprint	New printing, which normally lowers the price of the old one.
Pull rate	How often a particular card appears. Sometimes stated on the packaging, otherwise all figures are estimates.
Recommended retail price	The manufacturer's suggested price to the end customer.
Break	Someone opens a box live and sells spots in advance. A service, not a product.

Accessories

Penny sleeve	Thin sleeve for storage.
Deck protector	Stiffer sleeve built for shuffling.
Perfect fit, inner sleeve	Tight sleeve put on the card before the deck protector.
Double sleeving	Using both a perfect fit and a deck protector.
Toploader	Rigid card sleeve for storage and shipping.
Card saver	Semi-rigid holder, the format grading companies want submissions in.
One-touch	Acrylic magnetic holder with protection against ultraviolet light.
Pt	Thickness in thousandths of an inch. A standard card takes 35 pt.
Team bag	Resealable bag that holds a toploader.
Playmat	Fabric playmat with a rubberised underside.

Games and formats

TCG	Trading card game.
Standard	Tournament format with only the most recent sets allowed.
Commander	Magic format with hundred-card decks and a commander, usually played by four players.
Draft	Format where participants open packs and pick cards in rounds.
Meta	The decks and cards that dominate tournament play at a given time, and that shift when new cards are released.

Shop: trading cards, sports cards and accessories at Bangerpack.

Written by those of us who run Bangerpack. Range and prices change continuously. What applies when you read this is shown in the category.