Have you ever bought a mystery box, a blind booster pack, or a subscription with an unknown assortment inside?

In the early days of COVID, Megan and I signed up for Universal Yums, a treat box subscription service. Every month we would open a new box together and do a taste test of the various sweet and salty treats, and we’d often pair it with a thematically related movie. It was a delight.

I’ve also purchased my fair share of Magic booster packs over the years, most often to draft with friends, not to collect, sell, or compete in tournaments. I can’t deny the thrill of opening a booster and looking through the contents for the first time.

Yet that’s probably the extent to which I’ve engaged with mystery boxes. I don’t like most surprises, and I’m selective about the things I buy–quality and specificity over quantity.

Recently I asked livecast viewers what they thought about mystery boxes. Reactions were mostly mixed at best, and many were fairly negative, with people talking about how blind buys play into gambling compulsions and how they can cheapen a brand.

However, many people also acknowledged that they have enjoyed at least one mystery box (across a wide range of categories): Specific IPs they enjoy, category-specific subscription boxes (tea, chocolate, etc), and when they were just starting a new hobby.

So I’m curious what you think: Have you ever had a good experience with a mystery box, blind booster pack, or surprise subscription?

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Also read:

• Can a Publisher Offer Rarity Without Using FOMO Tactics?
• Is There Value in One-of-a-Kind Products and Rewards?
• “Ancient” Artifacts as a Marketing Strategy
• The One Ring and Extreme Rarity in Games

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A friend recently mentioned a statistic (that I’ve since verified according to multiple studies) that most people–over 80%–who have purchased a bottle of wine have made their decision largely based on the label. Not taste or research, just a label that spoke to them.

Have you ever purchased something based on its packaging? I absolutely have. Wine, games, books, chocolate, coffee, disc golf discs…sometimes the packaging draws me in and inspires me to learn more, but sometimes it’s almost the entire decision (i.e., I want this because of how it looks).

I mentioned this topic on a recent livecast, and viewers had even more examples: beer, hot sauce, restaurants, cereal boxes, and more. It also came up on a recent podcast episode of Unit Economics about how Byte’m brownies focused their packaging on a delicious-looking brownie instead of on their high-quality ingredients.

In the tabletop game space, box covers have a huge impact. It isn’t just about their marketing appeal; publishers try to make boxes that people are proud to display, that are compelling both at a game store and in an online thumbnail, and that function from different angles.

For all those reasons, at Stonemaier Games we pay far more for the box illustration than any other individual piece of art in the game (only a detailed game board comes close). I often look to other games for inspiration (thank you, BoardGameGeek!), and I always like to get at least 3 concept sketches from the artist before pursuing one of them in detail.

Then there’s another set of decisions to make about the labeling on the box: The size and position of the game name, the names of the designer(s) and artist(s), and the inclusion of key information like player count and playing time on all 6 sides.

There’s also the presentation on the back of the box, where we’ve traditionally placed a 3D setup image.  We’re starting to pair that with 1/2/3-style explanation speech bubbles so a potential customer can quickly grasp what the game is about.

It’s always a work in progress, and I’m always learning from other publishers–it feels like every week there’s a new game announced with a truly stunning, evocative box. Whenever I go to a local game store, I try to pay close attention to which boxes grab my attention; I also recently went to Barnes & Noble for this specific purpose.

Have you ever bought a product based on its box, label, or cover? What would you like game publishers to learn from your experience?

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If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.