A lot of people I know used to collect hockey cards as a kid but stopped collecting after the industry meltdown of the early 1990’s. Being in the sports card industry, I am surprised how many former collectors have no idea on the changes that have been made in the industry. I get a lot of questions about how cards are sold these days and what’s out there to collect. Many people do not know who the main industry players are or what cards are produced. I always find myself explaining the basics of modern hobby card collecting. This has inspired me to write an article for hockey card collecting beginners (or old school guys who used to collect). I decided to explain some of the questions I receive in written form. 1.Who makes hockey cards these days? In today’s hockey card market, there are two main players: Upper Deck and In The Game. After the lockout season of 2004/05, Upper Deck made a deal which empowered them to become the sole producer of NHL and NHLPA licensed hockey cards. This basically shut out all other companies from producing hockey cards. In The Game slipped by this by focusing on prospects and retirees only coming out with creative sets for the more seasoned collectors. 2. How are cards sold to the public? There are many different products produced these days both high end and low end. In The Game and Upper Deck produce packs of cards which are then packaged into boxes. The boxes are then packaged into cases and sold by distributors. As a consumer, you normally have a couple of different choices when buying cards. Cards can be purchased by the pack or by the box. Normally for lower to mid-tier products, products are available in hobby or retail versions. The general rule is retail versions can be sold in retail stores (Drug stores, corner stores, department stores) but hobby versions can only be sold by a licensed card store. Both can be purchased by the pack with hobby packs generally costing more because of the larger number of high value cards available only in that version. A lot of people skip buying packs in today’s market and buy boxes mainly because each box of each product produced generally has a guaranteed number of hits. More seasoned collectors buy the product for the hits and are more interested in the hobby versions due to the higher value. 3. How do I decide what to buy? When deciding on what to buy from what companies, you first need to determine what niche you like to collect. If you are more interested in prospects and retirees, In The Game products would be more suitable for you. The same goes for Upper Deck if you are interested in rookie cards and cards of NHL superstars. The next thing to decide is how much you want to spend. Higher end sets cost more than lower end based on the potential value of cards obtained and limited production. If you are serious about collecting, higher end sets are what you want. If you are satisfied with lower value for lower cost, lower to mid-tier products would be for you. Hockey cards have come a long way since we were kids, but one fact remains true. There is nothing like the thrill of pulling that special card for your personal collection. Get back into the game and buy your next hockey hobby box today!
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