Topps Digital Trading Card Apps – Beginner’s Guide

If you’re just starting out on any of the Topps digital trading card apps, then hopefully this guide will help you get up to speed. It’s intent is to provide a very basic, broad overview. In the future, I will be posting more detailed beginner guides for some, or all, of the specific apps themselves.

As for the apps, at the moment Topps offers the following:

  • Topps NHL Skate (often referred to as just Skate)
  • Topps NFL Huddle (often referred to as just Huddle)
  • Topps WWE Slam (often referred to as just Slam)
  • Topps UFC Knockout (often referred to as just Knockout)
  • Topps Bunt (often referred to as just Bunt)
  • Topps Kick (often referred to as just Kick)
  • Star Wars (sometimes referred to as SWCT)
  • The Walking Dead (sometimes referred to as TWD or TWDTC)

I am most familiar with Huddle, Bunt, Kick, and Star Wars. But, the basic information provided here should be applicable to the other apps as well. If you use these apps and see incorrect information, please feel free to notify me, and everyone else, in the comments. I will be sure to update and provide you credit for pointing it out.

Getting Started

To get started, of course you will need to download the app (or apps) that you wish to enjoy. At this moment, the apps are only available on smartphones and tablets. So, you’ll have to jump ahead to 21st century technology to trade digital cards.

The downloads are pretty quick. And, I suggest you create an account with the app so that you can earn daily rewards. Also, this will allow you to access your collection on other devices, or recover your collection if you accidentally delete the app from your phone/tablet (or, forbid, you lose or damage your device).

Card Tiers

Although each app calls the tiers by different names, you need to be aware that multiple tiers (representing rarity) exist for each basic card.

rarity-topps

This example is from a Topps Huddle pack. From the percentages, you can see that 5 different rarity levels exist in Huddle, with white being the most common (i.e., having the highest percentage chance of appearing in a pack) and gold being the most rare (i.e., having the lowest percentage chance). The colors and numbers may be different on each app, but the concept is consistently applied.

In the sports-based apps, the rarity levels impact how points your cards score when playing in contests. Using Huddle again as an example, gold cards score twice as many points as white cards.

In addition to base cards, plenty of inserts and awards exist in the digital card universe. Awards generally are for collecting a specific set of inserts or winning a prize in contests.

Topps consistently releases new inserts, with varying difficulties to acquire, across all apps. For many, including myself, inserts are the reason for “playing” the Topps apps. Not only do many of them have nice looking art, it is fun to have something to chase after.

In the sports-based apps, you will also find boost cards, which will often score higher multipliers (e.g., whereas gold cards score twice as much as white cards; boost cards can score many times as much) than most cards.

Coins (and How to Get More)

What are Coins

Coins are the economy across all Topps trading cards apps. Coins have two basic purposes in the apps:

  • Purchase packs
  • Enter contests (sports-based apps only)

How to Get Coins

You can always purchase coins. But, coins can be freely acquired four different ways:

  • Topps awards players gold each day they sign in. Players can also receive bonus coins for logging into the app 7 days in a row.
  • Contests in sports-based apps will sometimes awards gold as a prize.
  • Watching videos (often around 30 seconds long) within the app will award a small number of coins (these are great to do when doing something else)
  • You can complete tasks via Tapjoy (accessible both in the app and through a link provided in the app) to acquire the same or more coins than watching videos.

Just a little more information regarding Tapjoy tasks.

Your mileage may vary, but my thoughts are:

  • Similar to the in-app videos, you can watch more videos to earn small amounts of coins per video
  • You can download apps, open them once, and then delete them. These tasks provide more, but not much more, coins than watching videos
  • Some app downloads also ask that you complete in-app tasks (e.g., progress to a certain level in the app). These take longer to complete, but generally are easy to complete and offer much more coins
  • I’ve had some success completing surveys via Tapjoy for coins. However, the experience is sometimes more frustrating to complete than the coins are worth.

I tend to avoid the free trials and similar offers. That’s just a personal choice, but it also means I cannot offer any thoughts on these opportunities.

Trading

Trading is at the heart of the Topps applications. While you can definitely participate on the apps without trading, I personally find it to be the most enjoyable component. And, it is helpful when chasing a specific card or looking for big boosts for a contest.

Some general notes:

  • When trading inserts, pay attention to the number in parentheses on the back of the card (note: to see the back of the card, tap the card when in collection or trade view). Lower numbers indicate increased rarity.So, in general, you do not want to trade inserts with significantly higher numbers. Of course, there are times when you will (e.g., if you’re chasing cards to complete a set to earn an award, or if you are trying to obtain boosts for a contest)
  • Many players on sports-based apps fall into one of two categories: collectors or players. Understanding the goals of your trade partner can make it easier to complete a deal. If you’re unsure, ask! But, often you can tell by looking at their collection (e.g., if they have lots of boost cards, especially in multiples, then they are probably contest players moreso than collectors).
  • If a trading partner declines without a counter, consider waiting a period of time (i.e., hours) before trying to trade for that card again
  • Most people value newer inserts more than older inserts. Keep in mind when doing trades.

This brief guide does not in any way cover everything about the Topps trading apps. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

 

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