TCG stream glossary: hits, bulk, chase cards, ETBs and more
The words you hear on trading card streams, explained in plain language: rip, hit, bulk, chase card, spot, slab, top loader, PWE and more.
Rip and ship6 min read
Trading card streams have a language of their own. If you are new to rip and ship, breaks or pack openings, the chat can feel like a code. This glossary covers the terms you will hear most, in plain words.
The terms you will hear most
- Rip
- To open a sealed pack. “Ripping packs” is opening them, usually on stream.
- Rip and ship
- Selling sealed packs that the seller opens live and then ships to the buyer. See what rip and ship is.
- Break / box break
- One sealed box split into shares that several buyers pay for. See what a box break is.
- Spot
- One share of a break. Buying a spot gets you the cards that belong to it.
- Hit
- A valuable or rare card pulled from a pack. “We got a hit!”
- Chase card
- The card everyone hopes to pull from a set, usually its rarest or most wanted.
- Bulk
- Common and uncommon cards of little value. Some sellers ship bulk, others keep it.
- Pull
- A card you got from a pack. “Great pull” means a great card came out.
- Pull rate
- How often a type of card turns up in packs. Publishers do not always share exact rates, so most figures come from collectors counting.
- Holo
- A card with a shiny holographic area, usually on the artwork.
- Reverse holo
- A card where the shine is everywhere except the artwork. Pokémon packs include one as standard.
- Full art
- A card whose artwork covers the whole card, not just a frame.
- Alt art / illustration rare
- A rare version of a card with different, often full-card artwork. In recent Pokémon sets these are called Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rares.
- Sealed
- Unopened product, still in its factory wrapping.
- Singles
- Individual cards bought and sold on their own, instead of in packs.
- ETB
- Elite Trainer Box, a Pokémon product with several packs and accessories. See Pokémon TCG products explained.
- Booster box
- A sealed display box of booster packs, the product most often used for breaks.
- Raw
- A card that has not been graded.
- Graded / slab
- A card that a grading company has assessed and sealed in a hard plastic case, called a slab, with a grade on the label.
- PSA, BGS, CGC
- Three well-known card grading companies.
- Penny sleeve
- A thin plastic sleeve, the first layer of protection for a card.
- Top loader
- A rigid plastic holder for a sleeved card.
- Card saver
- A semi-rigid holder, often used for cards sent for grading.
- Team bag
- A resealable bag that a top loader slides into.
- PWE
- Plain white envelope: sending a card as a cheap letter, without tracking.
- Queue
- The line of buyers waiting for their packs on a stream, often shown on screen.
- Pack searching
- Trying to find which sealed packs hold the best cards without opening them. Buyers avoid sellers suspected of it; opening everything on camera, in order, is the answer.
Where to go next
- Curious how buying works? Read how rip and ship works.
- Thinking of streaming? Start with how to stream TCG pack openings.
- Sending cards? See how to ship trading cards safely.