Booster pack

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In collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection.

Booster packs generally contain a relatively small number of items (6–19 for cards; 3–8 for figurines), randomly assorted. Booster packs are the smaller, cheaper counterparts of starter packs, though many expansion sets are sold only in boosters. While booster packs are cheaper than starter packs, the price per item is typically higher.

Booster packs are generally priced to serve as good impulse purchases, with prices comparable to a comic book and somewhat lower than those of most magazines, paperback books, and other such items.

In many games, there is a fixed distribution based on rarity, while others use truly random assortments. When the distribution is based on rarity, booster packs usually contain one or two rares, depending on the game, while the remainder are of lesser rarity.

Examples of booster pack sizes of different collectible games

• Magic: The Gathering
  • 15 cards per booster: 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 11 commons; Core Set boosters contain a basic land as one of the commons. Starting with the Shards of Alara expansion, boosters will contain 1 basic land, 10 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 card that can be either a rare or a mythic rare.
  • 6 cards booster: 5 random cards which may be common, uncommon, rare, or mythic rare. Includes 1 basic land and either a card containing an explanation of a magic the gathering keyword (ie. first strike, chroma, hybrid mana symbols) or a token creature card.

• Call of Cthulhu Collectible Card Game
  • 11 cards per booster: 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 7 commons. Recently, the game switched to non-collectable expansion packs called Asylum Decks.

• Lord of the Rings, The
  • 11 cards per booster: 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 7 commons. There is a one in seven chance that a special foil card takes the place of the rare.

• Duel Masters
  • 10 cards per booster: guaranteed to contain rare cards, 2 is also possible in a booster. If a booster does contain 2, one will be rare while the other will be very rare, or super rare. In the Japanese version, there is only 5 cards per booster pack and there is no guarantee to have rare cards, however, it is possible to get holographic cards of any type.

• Pokémon
  • Originally 11 cards per booster pack - 1 rare card, 3 uncommons, and 7 commons. With the release of the E-Series, it became 9 cards per booster - 5 commons, 2 uncommons, 1 reverse holo, and 1 rare. Became 10 cards after the release of Diamond and Pearl with 3 uncommons instead of 2.

• Sonic X
  • Originally 11 cards per booster pack - 2 rare card, 3 uncommons, and 7 commons. If wins or loseds to go!

• World of Warcraft
  • 15 random cards - 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare or epic, and 1 hero card or loot card. Booster packs also have one UDE point card redeemable online. Boosters are available for all released card sets. Starting with March of the Legion, Booster packs will contain 19 random cards: 3 extra commons and 1 extra uncommon.

• Yu-Gi-Oh!
  • Normal OCG booster pack: 5 cards per booster, not guaranteed to have rare cards.
  • Normal TCG booster pack: 9 cards per booster, 1 non-common card (can be rare, super rare, ultra rare, and in some cases, secret rare or ultimate rare) and 8 commons. From The Duelist Genesis onwards, the 100% guaranteed rare had NOT been substituted for a rarer card, rather instead replacing 1 of the common cards. In other words, there are still 9 cards in lucky packs: but with 7 commons, 1 rare, and 1 super, ultra, ultimate or secret rare.

• Doctor Who - Battles in Time
  • Normally 9 cards per pack: 8 commons and 1 rare, with a 1 per 6 packs chance of a super-rare card, a 1 per 24 packs chance of an ultra-rare card, and a 1 per 1000 packs chance of the Golden Ticket.

• Chaotic
  • Normally 9 cards, 2 rares (sometimes 1 super or ultra, then a rare) and an assortment of uncommons and commons.