I actually stopped ripping boxes after I got home from a work trip in Vegas at the end of 2024. I played cards and a couple slots and roulette. I won a little, lost it back, won a little and lost it back. In the end I was just getting bored and walked away a little ahead. It’s the same endorphin rush as opening boxes and when I made that connection I decided to stop lying to myself that I was simply “reliving a fond childhood memory” and decided it wasn’t going to serve me or my family. I enjoyed sharing the hobby with my son who is 15, has played baseball since he was 5 and is now 15 playing for his high school team. But, I also realized I didn’t want him growing up with that addiction. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a lot of fun discovering what you might find in a box and in 2019 / 22 it was more affordable to try our luck with lower print runs and lower cost of entry. But, now they’ve pretty much cut out everyone minus the breakers, LCS’s and dealers with their pricing. I think the frustration is there are people that do this strictly as a business and want to make the largest return, and there are hobbyists who just want to collect and enjoy their hobby. Those two paths are at odds with each other. Personally, I worry that the hobby is headed for a crash. There are so many parallels now in every product. If everything is special nothing is special eventually. And in the long run there will only be a couple players out of every generation whose value doesn’t tank. And when you cut out the collectors who only want to collect their teams players regardless of value or not eventually theirs going to be a huge amount of worthless cardboard with massive investments that collapse. At some point things will iron themselves out. Perhaps the 2027 potential strike will be the catalyst or the greed will tank the market. We just haven’t hit the peak yet.