This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2024S1 GPK Kids At Play. If you missed Part 1 you can go here to catch up.
In the first post we looked at how many packs/boxes/cases were produced of 2024S1 Garbage Pail Kids: GPK Kids At Play. Here’s a review of what we came up with.
- Total Production – 2,085,000 Total Packs
- Collector – 405,000 Collector Packs or about 16,875 Collector Boxes or about 2,109 Collector Cases
- Retail Display – 495,000 RD Packs or about 20,625 RD Boxes or about 2,578 RD Cases
- Blaster – 1,185,000 Blaster Packs or about 118,500 Blaster Boxes or about 2,962 Blaster Cases
I’ll be using these numbers to try to come up with an idea of how many of each type of parallel and insert were created for the set. This will give you a good idea how rare a set is and how quickly you need to snap up that card for your rainbow! I’ll also compare some of this info to the previous sets for reference. As a reminder, in addition to using the sell sheet and odds, we will also have to make some assumptions and flat out guesses when trying to figure some of these out.
Before we get into individual numbers for parallels and inserts let’s chat about the numerous issues with the odds sheet. In the previous article I referenced three huge issues with the odds sheet. We already covered Hobby vs. Retail Display in Part 1. We briefly touched on some of the odds that are incorrect. In total there are at least 10 different card types were the odds are incorrect, (Correct odds are in ( ) after each type). Ill-Influencers (1:3), GPK TCG (1:8 or 3 per box), TCG Foilfractors (1:1,406), Black parallels (1:1), Green parallels (1:1), and Loaded Sketches (1:3,531) all appear to be either simple typos or math errors that are pretty obvious after looking at the numbers. Meanwhile, Gray parallels, Gold parallels, base autos, and regular sketches are incorrect across the board. The math doesn’t work on those with the printed odds. In fact each of them are overstated, and the odds are actually easier. Without knowing the distribution of those four card types across the production run, it’s not possible to determine accurate odds on those. Finally, there are 20 card types where the Box odds do not match the Pack odds. It appears to be just simple math errors on all of these. Luckily, we don’t need use box odds to if figure out production. Collectors should keep in mind these incorrect odds when opening packs and looking at the odds sheet.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s get to what we can figure out! We were given enough information to figure out the production of each pack type. This allows us to now figure out the production of the unnumbered parallels and inserts. Topps always numbers most of the inserts and parallels. We already know Gray /199, Blue /99, Red /75, and Gold /50 for the parallels, Artist Autos /50 1/1, and Patches /199 /150 /99 /75 /50 1/1. (Note: Regular Artist Autos are unnumbered this time. Artists have reported they signed 90 of each card.) let’s start by looking at the three unnumbered parallels.
- Black Borders – 405,000 Collector packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 405,000 total Black borders / 200 cards in set = 2,025 per card.
- Green Borders – 1,680,000 Retail packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 1,680,000 total Green borders / 200 cards in set = 8,400 per card.
- Yellow Borders – 1,185,000 Blaster packs / 5 Odds = 237,000 total Yellow borders / 200 cards in set = 1,185 per card.
Big numbers here as can be expected with a heavily produced set. Black borders are just slightly less than InterGoolatic. While both Green and Yellow borders are right in line with the Vacation set. Green border numbers are second highest for any set behind Book Worms. There are a lot of new inserts with this set, especially in Collector boxes. Let’s take a look at the numbers for each unnumbered insert card.
- Wacky Packages – 405,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 16,875 total Wacky Package / 8 cards in set = 2,109 per Wacky
- Board Games – 405, 000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 16,875 total Board Games / 10 cards in set = 1,687 per Board Game
- Game Over – 405,000 Collector packs / 8 odds = 50,625 total Game Over / 24 cards in set = 2,109 per Game Over
- TCG – 16,875 packs * 3 cards per pack = 50,625 total TCG / 12 in set = 4,218 per TCG
- Ill-Influencers– 1,185,000 Blaster packs / 3 odds = 395,000 total Ill-Influencers / 20 in set = 19,750 per Ill-Influencer
- Let’s Get Physical – 495,000 RD Packs / 3 odds = 165,000 total Physical / 10 cards in set = 16,500 per card
We already know this set is one of the highest printed GPK sets. So, none of these numbers are surprising. Each of the results is right in line with the numbers from some of the other heavily printed sets. As long as collectors and resellers bust packs, there should be enough inserts to go around for anyone that wants them.
It’s a bit disheartening to see the print run of this set. It seemed Topps had learned there lesson and brought print run numbers down in 2023. It’s a bad sign for a few reasons. There just isn’t this kind of demand for GPK. It does the brand no good to see these boxes that will be heavily discounted and in clearance bins in the months to come. Additionally, it shows no one at Topps has a feel for the size of the collecting base for GPK. Topps really needs to have someone on the payroll that understands GPK and the collector base. It’s great they were able to get GPK back in Target and Walmart. Cutting the print run of each box type in half would have been perfect.
Finally, can we figure out how many base cards were produced? Not really, but we can use what we know and give it our best guess! Both Collector and Retail pack types seem to average about 6.5 base cards per pack.
Base Cards – 2,085,000 total packs * 6.5 base cards per pack = 13,552,500 total base cards / 200 cards in set = 67,762 per base card
Back over the 10 million mark in base cards! Also the third high per card total of the modern GPK sets behind Book Worms and Chrome 5. Everyone needs to buy their friends and family a base set!
This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2024S1 GPK Kids At Play. If you missed Part 1 you can go here to catch up.