The Hobbit
Open one box and you'll get $120.00 of cards, on average. A box costs $155 right now, so that means you're $34.52 short.
Cards inside
$120.00
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$155
TCGplayer market · from $147
Difference
-$34.52
Against you
Packs in the box
30
Each holds one rare or mythic
Box price from TCGplayer, checked October 8, 2026 · Card prices from Scryfall (TCGplayer market data) · last updated October 8, 2026
This is an average. A few very expensive cards pull it upward, so most individual boxes land below it. Opening one box is closer to a lottery ticket than an investment — the number below tells you whether the lottery is priced fairly.
$120.00 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$120.00
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$33.90
About 28% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
61%
Cards worth more by the thousand than listed
Two things separate the two figures. Fees take 10.75% commission plus 2.5% and $0.30 on every order, and postage on a single card runs about $1.10 — a bite a cheap card cannot absorb. And 61% of the box's value sits in cards below roughly $1.66, the point where a card is worth more thrown into a bulk lot at $0.04 a rare than listed, packed and posted. Selling the whole box to a buylist in one go pays less again.
Assumes one card per order, which is the cautious reading — a buyer taking several cards at once splits the fixed costs between them. Fees are TCGplayer Marketplace rates as of February 2026; bulk rates are current cash buylist.
We start from what a box costs right now. Put in the price you're actually being asked to pay and the answer updates.
-$34.52
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $155 a box you'd come up about $34.52 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$120.00
Pay less than this and you're ahead on average.
Prices move week to week. Open a retailer to see what a box actually costs right now, then plug it into the calculator above.
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Every pack has a few fixed positions — a guaranteed rare, a wildcard, a foil. Here's what each one is worth across the whole box.
Rare or mythic
The one guaranteed rare or mythic in every pack. This is where most of a box’s value sits.
Per pack
$1.56
Whole box
$46.80
$24.60 kept
Share
39%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$0.90
Whole box
$27.00
$0.60 kept
Share
23%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.51
Whole box
$15.30
$0.30 kept
Share
13%
Wildcard
An extra card of any rarity. Most of the time it is a common or uncommon, but it can be a second rare.
Per pack
$0.43
Whole box
$12.90
$5.10 kept
Share
11%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.39
Whole box
$11.70
$3.30 kept
Share
10%
Nonfoil land
One of the card positions in every pack of this product.
Per pack
$0.15
Whole box
$4.50
$0.00 kept
Share
4%
Foil land
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$0.06
Whole box
$1.80
$0.00 kept
Share
2%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Gleaming Splendor
$122.20
You'll open one about 1 every 25 boxes
#2 most valuable
Smaug the Magnificent
$68.43
You'll open one about 1 every 25 boxes
#3 most valuable
The Queen of Dale
$34.00
You'll open one about 1 every 25 boxes
Gleaming Splendor
$33.41
Thorin, Mountain-king
$28.48
Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver
$25.15
Bard, King of Dale
$24.81
Smaug the Magnificent
$21.04
Beorn the Fierce
$20.53
The Queen of Dale
$19.15
94 cards. “Copies per box” is how many of that exact card you'd expect from one box on average — under 1 means you usually won't see it at all.
| Gleaming Splendor | mythic | $62.67 | 0.04 |
| Gleaming Splendor | mythic | $30.72 | 0.28 |
| Smaug the Magnificent | mythic | $29.97 | 0.04 |
| The Queen of Dale | mythic | $20.37 | 0.04 |
| Smaug the Magnificent | mythic | $18.71 | 0.28 |
| Thorin, Mountain-king | mythic | $16.70 | 0.04 |
| The Queen of Dale | mythic | $16.50 | 0.28 |
| Bard, King of Dale | mythic | $14.35 | 0.04 |
| The Lonely Mountain | rare | $13.16 | 0.08 |
| Gollum, Riddle Master | mythic | $11.23 | 0.04 |
| Beorn the Fierce | mythic | $9.52 | 0.04 |
| Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver | mythic | $8.93 | 0.28 |
| Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver | mythic | $8.75 | 0.04 |
| Dancing from Dark to Dawn | mythic | $7.51 | 0.04 |
| Bilbo, Thief in the Night | mythic | $7.37 | 0.04 |
| Smaug, Wicked Worm | rare | $7.11 | 0.08 |
| Bilbo, Thief in the Night | mythic | $6.94 | 0.28 |
| Dancing from Dark to Dawn | mythic | $6.40 | 0.28 |
| Fateful Discovery | mythic | $5.70 | 0.04 |
| Thranduil, the Elvenking | rare | $4.97 | 0.08 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
