How to add a pack counter to your stream
Why a pack counter keeps viewers watching, how to count packs correctly across products, and three ways to add one to OBS.
Streaming5 min read
A pack counter is a small number on screen that goes up every time you open packs. It sounds trivial, but viewers love watching it climb, and it gives a stream a sense of progress: “we are at 480 packs tonight” is a reason to stay for 500.
Why add one
- It shows the stream is busy. A big number tells new viewers that a lot of opening happens here.
- It creates milestones. Round numbers are natural moments for a giveaway, a special product or a thank-you to chat.
- It is a running record. Regulars like knowing how many packs have been opened on the channel over time.
The counting problem
The tricky part is counting correctly. Orders are not always one pack: someone buys a booster bundle, someone else an Elite Trainer Box, a third a whole booster box. A counter that adds one per order is wrong most of the night.
A good counter knows how many packs each product holds. Typical Pokémon examples, which you should check against the box you sell:
| Product | Packs to count |
|---|---|
| Booster pack | 1 |
| Booster bundle | 6 |
| Elite Trainer Box | 9 (more in some versions) |
| Booster box (English) | 36 |
See Pokémon TCG products explained for what is in each box.
Three ways to add one
By hand, with an OBS text source
Keep the number in a text file and update it as you go. Free and simple, but easy to forget mid-stream, and you do the maths for every product.
With a chat bot counter
Many chat bots have counters you raise with a command. Quicker than a text file, but still one command per pack, and still your maths.
Automatically, from your queue
If your orders are already in a queue, the queue can do the counting. In StreamQueue, you set how many packs each product holds once. Every order you mark as done adds its packs to the counter on stream, so a booster box adds 36 and a single pack adds one, without you typing anything.
Where to put it
Close to your queue works well, so viewers see the line and the count in one glance. Keep it small; it is a detail, not the main event. And keep it away from the cards.
Make the milestones count
Announce the next milestone, then celebrate it on stream: a short pause, a thank-you, perhaps a giveaway if the rules where you stream allow it. It turns a number into a moment.
StreamQueue shows the pack counter together with the queue and sale alerts. For more on overlays, see stream overlay ideas for TCG streamers.