If you’re hoping to land yourself some Chinese Pokemon cards, then we have great news for you. We’ve found three card break sites with plenty of opportunities to extend your collection by buying into card rips, or browsing marketplace slabs.
We’ve also provided you with some vital information relating to how this type of site might work, and how to choose the brand that best suits your needs as a Chinese Pokemon card collector. We’ve also added a handy checklist to help you get the best experience, and avoid falling foul of unscrupulous sellers, or fake cards.
We’re pleased to present you with three card break sites which offer Chinese Pokemon cards. It’s a mixed bag, but you’ll find each site has its merits.
| Card Break Platform | Welcome bonus | What you can rip | Key features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dopa | Two free $5 packs | PSA 10 and raw Chinese Pokemon packs | Live rips, vault, sell back for site Credit, shipping | All collectors |
| HypeDrop | Three free card breaks | Mystery Boxes | Live rips, marketplace, slabs, deals | Experienced collectors |
| ArenaClub | 20% discount on first slab purchase | PSA authenticated cards only | Mostly slabs, occasional digital rips | Serious collectors |
As you’ve seen from the table above, two of the brands we’ve tracked down offer digital card breaks for pre-authenticated Chinese Pokemon cards. The third one, provides a completely different live rip experience.
Dopa is a great card break site for any type of Chinese Pokemon collector because you can choose between raw cards, and PSA 10 graded cards. When you first sign up, you can claim two $5 cards as a welcome bonus, although you won’t be able to have them shipped until you’ve made a purchase.
The brand is fully transparent in every respect, and before you buy into a card break you’ll have access to the following information:
Should you pull any cards you don’t want to keep, then you have two choices. You can either sell them back to Dopa, or list them on the brand’s marketplace. Just note that if you decide on the former, you’ll receive site Credits.
HypeDrop can only be described as vibrant. When you first land on the site you’ll see what we mean by that, and it does take a bit of getting used to. The brand hosts live auctions for various types of items, as well as live card rips, and individual slabs.
When you join HypeDrop, you can enjoy three free random card breaks, although you won’t get to choose which ones. However it’s not a problem if you don’t want the cards you pull, as HypeDrop will buy them straight back.
Any live Chinese Pokemon rips you come across will be hosted by individual sellers, and you’ll soon get to know which ones to check depending on whether you’re after graded or ungraded cards. In addition, you can try bartering with Traders in the ‘Black Market’, or try a Mystery Box if you’re interested in Chinese Pokemon memorabilia as well as cards.
ArenaClub specializes in PSA-graded collectible cards. Along with various sports, you’ll find One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic The Gathering, and Pokemon cards. Although most Pokemon sets available are for English and Japanese Pokemon card releases, you will find Chinese Pokemon cards offered occasionally.
The cards on offer aren’t sealed packs, they are sets put together by ArenaClub, and all of the cards in each set are slabs. The buy in cost ranges from $25, up to $2,500 with most slab packs containing around 50 cards. Unwanted pulls can be sold back to ArenaClub for 80% of their market value, while cards you want to retain are kept in a vault, with the option to display them in your Showroom, or have them shipped.
New customers get a 20% discount on their first purchase, but it can only be used against a slab pack. The other options on the site are individual high-end slabs at a fixed price, which is where you’ll find the most valuable Pokemon cards, or there’s an eBay-style auction format where you bid on cards.
For each site that offers online card rips and breaks, we have certain expectations. Although the exact method might vary depending on the collectible card, most times, our list looks something like the one below. We’ve noted our expectations alongside each category.
Although you will encounter different variations, generally speaking, there are two ways Chinese Pokemon card breaks take place, live or digital, which will also affect the information you can see before the rip, and what happens afterwards.
Visually, digital card breaks are usually displayed as an animated simulation. Where this is the case, you’ll have access to information before you buy in, which usually includes images of the cards, their rarity level, and their pull probabilities. This style of breaking should always have an accompanying hash where you can verify that the pull was fair.
The card (or cards) you pull will be stored in the brand’s vault, but you’ll still be able to view them via a digital portfolio. Unwanted cards can usually be sold back to the site, for which the terms will vary. Alternatively, you can have physical cards shipped to you, which will incur an additional shipping fee.
On card break sites that host live breaks, you can sometimes buy into an individual pack rip. More commonly, however, you’ll purchase a slot, allowing multiple participants to join the same break, with each receiving cards based on the break’s allocation rules.
The entire event takes place live in front of a camera, and after confirming the rules, the host will present a full box, then open sealed packs in order, and display each card pulled from the pack individually. The contents are then packed into top loaders for high value cards, or penny sleeves for common cards.
Chinese Pokemon cards are unique in that they come in two pack sizes: thin, and thick, with different numbers of packs in a full box.
As such the number of slots available will vary, as each relates to a specific pack number, which will be assigned at the time you buy in.
Whether you’re already a Chinese Pokemon collector, or completely new, you’ll know only too well that finding a reliable site to obtain your cards isn’t always easy. Between them, the sites we’ve recommended offer a variety of options, and which one you choose will come down to personal preference.
We’ve given you an overview of the way both live and digital card breaks are formatted. Given that information, you may already have an idea of which you prefer. But if you’re still in two minds, then we recommend heading to HypeDrop to watch a live rip in progress, and then checking out either ArenaClub or Dopa to see a demo of a simulated break. You can use the link on our page banners to go to the sites, and you won’t need to sign up unless you want to.
First, you may want to consider your reasons for collecting Chinese Pokemon cards. In other words, are you just a casual collector, or more of an investor? If it’s the former, you’ll soon see that buying into card breaks for graded Chinese Pokemon cards can easily turn it into a very expensive hobby, so sticking with raw cards makes sense. However, as an investor, you won’t be content with anything less than top -graded cards which hold their value.
There are always things that card collectors tend to overlook and there are also things that need avoiding. Here are our top three hints to take on board:
Dealing with unwanted cards should be something you look into before you even have any you want to discard. Researching how a site handles this side of things is just as important as looking into the probability of pulling a card you’ve set your sights on. Checking if the site offers a sell back option, and what percentage you can expect is a good starting point.
Before you rip any packs, you should first consider your motive, for want of a better word. If you are a casual collector who finds Chinese Pokemon cards appealing, you won’t find them less so if they are raw. PSA 10 graded cards don’t look any different, but can cost up to ten times more, so leave those to the really serious collectors.
Lastly, if you want to actually receive the card you think you pulled during a live rip, then it’s best to steer clear of card rips hosted on YouTube, TikTok and WhatNot. Stick with recommended card break sites, like the ones we’ve shown you, and you won’t go far wrong.
Card break sites aim to make it quick and easy for you to start ripping so it rarely takes more than a few minutes to complete the sign up process. You’ll usually need to follow steps like the ones we’ve listed below.
Choose a site from our page banners, and click the link you’ll see there
Find the ‘Get Started’ button, often at the top right of your screen
Complete the registration form with your personal details
Check everything looks correct, and click ‘Sign Up’
That’s often all you need to do, although some card break sites may require you to verify your email and/or phone number too.
As you’ve seen, there’s a lot to know about Chinese Pokemon card break sites, and we hope that the information in our guide will prove useful to you. We’ve covered the basics of how this type of site works, shown you what to look for, and what to avoid.
We’ve also shown you three very different sites that offer Chinese Pokemon cards, and come with our recommendation. If you’re still not sure you can read our in-depth reviews of each brand, but if you’ve already decided which one you prefer, then you can use the link on our page banners.
One approach is to start with small sets like Gem Packs (Vol 1-5), or mini releases like Golden Energy. But if you want a smallish set that’s relatively easy to complete, then the 89-card Shadow of Glory (CS5.5) is a great starting point.
Mew EX (#3/SV-P) is the most rare and expensive Chinese Pokemon card. It’s said to have a value in excess of $50,000, leaving it a long way ahead of Victini EX [Winner] (#114/SV-P) which has an estimated value of $6,200.
Dopa and Arena Club are two excellent sites which consistently offer card breaks for both raw and graded Chinese Pokemon cards. At both sites the rips are digital, with verifiable outcomes. The most reliable alternative is HypeQuest if you have a preference for live stream breaks.
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