Balloon Boy Relics, Monopoly Misfires, and the Acolyte Conundrum

We’re now somehow 15 years removed from the Balloon Boy incident. Crazy. 

In honor of the anniversary, Topps RIPPED is running a great story on the Allen & Ginter Balloon Boy cards, which contain pieces of the infamous balloon. But here’s the twist: the man who originally bought the balloon in an auction says that he sold a slice of it to Topps for the cards, then hung the rest of the balloon in his collectibles shop where it became a tourist attraction. Eventually it started to fall apart and degrade, so he rolled it up and threw it away. 

It was a quiet end to a peculiar piece of history, but it does bring up something very interesting – the only remaining pieces of that balloon, one of the last big events that held an entire nation’s attention, rapt, for at least 40 minutes, are in Topps cards. That balloon is gone. The basket is gone. But the tiny pieces of it are still in the cards, which pop up on eBay every now and then for about $15 (which will likely spike now, as it just became a very scarce relic… not that we’re giving you investment advice here).

At the tail end of the pandemic cards rush, Panini released a Monopoly game with the NBA. It was brilliant — people collect board games, people collect basketball cards. Imagine if the two were combined!

Surprisingly, it was a bit of a flop – at least from a resale point of view. It was mocked on social media, despite the cards having pretty parallels and cool Monopoly branding. You also got an actual Monopoly game, which is worth something!

How do you play that actual game? No idea. I bought two of them after a Card Purchaser early-morning tip, alerted my cards text group, and then watched as…it remained available on the Target website into infinity. 

Panini released a second version last year. It was slightly more popular because everything Wembanyama is. I got a game. I never opened it. I may own more unopened board games than anyone in history (3). Why didn’t I buy blasters instead? No idea. I’m old fashioned?

This week, Panini announced a WNBA version of Monopoly. I will buy a box. I may buy two. I will never open it BUT I do think this will be the version that holds the most value. 

Will this backfire? Probably. But this set looks to only be available as a blaster box and will not require me to buy another Monopoly board. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad news but considering the game itself seems unnecessarily complicated for something already kind of hard to play like Monopoly (I still don’t understand the whole mortgage thing), a blaster should be just fine. 

Topps had a major release this week — and it wasn’t Cosmic! It was the presale for Holiday, annually the most overlooked and underrated set of cards produced. 

The design is awesome. The Easter Eggs are top-level. The goofiness of it all and the affordable price tag make it possibly the most enjoyable product they release. 

You are not going to find a card that will make you rich here. Although if you want to get into something like the “Ohtani rookie card” game and don’t a festive yuletide border, this is a great way to jump in at a lower price. 

There is a cheat where you can fly through and find the SP and SSP versions — Beckett publishes a guide to the serial codes every year. But that’s not why you buy a $30 winter-themed box of cards. You want to mix a pitcher of Christmas Punch and take your time and try to spot some of the photoshopping yourself. Some Fickle Favorites include: 

• Aaron Judge on ice skates

• Mike Trout putting the star on the tree

• Shohei Ohtani clutching gifts as he bats

• Francisco Lindor running with a pile of gifts in his arms

It’s $30!! What more do you want from a box of cards? (Don’t answer that).

I was in Walmart the other day and grabbed a sleeve of the Score-A-Treat cards. For the trick or treaters!!

I sauntered over to the toy aisle — just in case Leaf quietly released a version of PBA Yahtzee — and saw my first Acolyte 3.75 figure in the wild. It was a Mae, it was the only one, and it cost $16.99. 

It was a hard pass. But it brought up the great Collectors Conundrum in me. Will Acolyte collectibles turn out to be so wildly unpopular that nobody will buy them and they’ll be scarce in 5-10 years? Will they just be marked down to $6.99 and gather dust somewhere? I have this same dilemma with Topps Now. Generally, I pass. But if everyone is passing does that mean there’s a card with a short run that I now own? Does it matter if nobody ultimately wants it?

Round and round we go until 2035, when we either see a bunch of Sol 3.75s in a bargain bin at a local comic con or a handful protected by hard plastic with “$200–“ yellow stickers.

We’ll check back in then.