Pack Weights Database (post your info here)

10 months later and I learn that the Squirtle you see here is now the first PSA 10 in the world! The only pop 1 Squirtle card that exists, as far as I’m aware lol. The joys of opening packs that no one else opens…

Speaking of which, there’s been a dearth of recent pack openings on this thread. We need more EX Series data!

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Congrats on the 10! I’m really tempted…
upload img

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I was thinking of opening my PK box but I am not sure if I should

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Do it

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Gym Heroes 20.83: Rocket´s Trap Holo…would´ve rather pulled a cool non holo haha
Gym Challenge 20.89: Koga´s Ditto Holo…^

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Opened a 17.5g Ex Team Rocket Returns booster, pulled a reverse holo rare Dark Crobat and a non-holo rare. (so light pack)

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Just opened an Expedition pack I bought off eBay. Weighed 17.52. Pulled a holo Ninetales, reverse was a trainer, and rare was a non holo feraligatr. :metal:t3: All 3 look like 10 candidates but I’ll expect a 9 so I don’t get too excited.

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I bought the majority of a Split Earth booster box, I won’t be opening the packs but I weighed them and there is a clear distinction between light and heavy. My Instagram friend Denali.Mkt opened the 8.71g pack and pulled a holo rhydon!

Heavy (grams)
H 8.76
L 8.72
K 8.71 sold to Denali.Mkt, pulled holo rhydon
E 8.69
C 8.67
B 8.66
G 8.66
A 8.65
Q 8.65
R 8.68
S 8.67
T 8.62
W 8.66
Z 8.71
A2 8.67

Light
D 8.49
I 8.47
F 8.45
J 8.45
M 8.45
N 8.45
O 8.46
P 8.42
U 8.45
V 8.49
X 8.43
Y 8.43

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Hello! I had forgotten my password so I couldn’t log in here for a while, but I am back with a lot more data!

Neo Destiny Unlimited 20.72 - Light
Neo Discovery Unlimited: 20.9 - Light
Ex Hidden Legends 17.23 - Light
Ex Hidden Legends 17.27 - Light
Ex Hidden Legends 17.29 - Light
Ex Emerald 17.58 - Kyogre holo
Ex Emerald 17.58 - Blaziken holo
Ex Emerald 17.45 - Light
Ex Power Keepers 16.96 - Light
Ex Power Keepers 16.83 - Light
Ex Power Keepers 16.74 - Claydol Ex (This one shocked me)
Ex Team Rocket Returns 17.6 - Togetic holo + reverse rare Dark Steelix! :blush:

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  • Figured I would show off the pulls! :blush:
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Beautiful! And that ex TRR pack is a huge win:)

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Thank you!! I was insanely pumped to see the reverse rare. First one I’ve pulled in probably around 15 ex era packs!

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I’ve been in talks with a few forum members about improving the format of the pack weight database, I’m still recording all the data though no worries! Were hoping to add some distribution curves for the pack weights for each set

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What sort of improvements would you like to see in the pack weight database?

Thank you all for this wonderful and informative thread. Based on the data presented, it seems that there is too much variability to confidently assign any particular range of weights as “light” and any particular range of weights as “heavy”, especially for some of the EX sets. This variability could be due to any number of reasons including different print runs, different environmental conditions (e.g. humidity making some packs heavier), or even imprecise or uncalibrated scales. However, everyone seems to agree that - in principle - there are real and significant weight differences between holo and non-holo packs, even if these differences can sometimes be hard to distinguish due to the confounding factors mentioned.

Given what we have learned, I wonder if the real differential between “light” and “heavy” packs is not so much about an absolute quantity, but rather the relative weight differences between packs of similar background. In other words, you could distinguish “light” and “heavy” packs from a single booster box quite easily, since all the packs in that box would have been produced and stored under similar conditions, but you might not be able to easily compare packs from Booster Box A with packs from Booster Box B. It’s possible that a booster pack could be “light” in its original context, when compared to other packs from the original box that the pack came from, but “heavy” when compared to packs from another box. Thus, weighing loose packs that you purchased online and comparing them with other random loose packs purchased online might not tell the whole story, since the relative difference in weight in each pack’s original context could matter more than any absolute weight difference between all booster packs of a certain set.

There is only one way to test this theory, and that is to open up sealed booster boxes, weigh all of the packs contained therein, and try to sort the packs into two categories of “light” and “heavy” based on their weights (which should be viewed as particular to that box, rather than representative of all booster packs produced of that set). Unfortunately, this theory would be rather expensive to test (to say the least)!

It’s very reliable to test weight differences between packs from the same box. For example, @wisewailmer and I bought 14 Ruby packs from the same box and we were able to assess which packs were heavy with 100% accuracy (there ended up being 6). And others have tested this out with complete EX boxes, with similar results (check out Hisoka’s YouTube channel – I believe he tested this out with an Unseen Forces box or two).

You’re correct when you say that weight differences between loose packs from separate boxes are subject to a significant amount of variability. The theory behind this thread, however, is that with enough data this variability could be reduced. If we had a sample size of, say, 10,000 packs of a given set, for instance, we could probably establish quite a bit about the relationship between pack weight and holo pull rates for packs of that set. Sample size is the name of the game, and the spreadsheet will become more useful the more data is added.

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Skyridge, 17.55 no holo.

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@zorloth , I just got an art set of TMTA packs fresh out of a sealed box and the weights are:

17.46g, 17.40g, 17.40g, 17.34g

I’m confident from the weights that the 17.46g is heavy an the 17.34g is light… but those 17.40g will always leave me wondering

All recorded weights for TMTA of at least 17.40g are heavies, even one 17.39g was heavy. But the odds of 3/4 heavies is ~8.6% and the odds of 1/4 heavies is ~41%.

What do you think? Did I just get lucky? Or was this print run possibly slightly heavier than the others in the sample? Obviously we’re dealing with hundredths of a gram here so you never know but wanted to hear what you thought as one of the EX folks

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First – congrats on the art set!

Second – do you know the weights of any other packs from the box? Or do you only know the weights of the four packs you received?

Either way, .12g variation between two light (or two heavy) packs from the same box would be an abnormally large range. This implies that your packs are not all heavy and not all light. So I would bet that 17.34g is likely light and that the 17.46g one is likely heavy. the 17.4g ones are tough to evaluate without knowing the weights of the other packs from the box. It would be helpful to know if the 17.4g pack is in the top 12 heaviest packs in the box or not. And it would be helpful to know the range of weights of packs from the box.

@zorloth, I only know the weights of the packs I bought unfortunately - I might see if I can get that info from the seller or potentially purchase a couple more to get a better idea and to replace the art of the likely heavy in the event I want to open it… it would be a dream to pull one of the low pop ex cards like that Swampert ex I saw you pulled

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