Responsible play
Ripping is fun. It is also math.
Opening a pack is engineered to feel good whether or not the pack is good — that is the product working as designed, not you being weak. Here is what the design actually costs, in our own numbers.
What a typical pack is worth
Computed live from current baseball inventory, at the $100 tier.
Read the third one twice. Buying a pack and immediately selling the cards back returns about 0.40× of what you spent, typically — the rest is the house margin, and it is how this business makes money. The average is dragged upward by rare chase hits that most players never see. The full distribution is published, including the tail.
If you need to stop right now
Sign out and keep ripping for free, delete the account yourself, or email us to lock purchasing.
None of the three costs anything, none of them needs a conversation with us, and deletion is self-serve and immediate. The detail is at the bottom of this page.
Things worth knowing about yourself
- A near miss is a miss. Getting a card one band below the chase feels like almost winning. It is not almost winning. The next pack's odds are exactly the published odds, unchanged.
- Nothing is "due". There is no pity timer, no streak bonus and no hidden modifier in this engine — we publish that because it is true, and because "I'm due" is the most expensive sentence in the hobby.
- Chasing losses is the pattern to watch for. Buying a bigger tier because the last one disappointed is the single behaviour that turns entertainment into a problem. A bigger tier buys better odds, never more cards, and never a guarantee.
- Set the number before you start. Decide what the evening costs, the way you would for any other entertainment, and stop there whether you are up or down.
If it stops being fun
- Take the money out of it. Signed out, you can rip with the identical odds and no charge. If you want to keep opening packs without spending, that is a real option and it always will be.
- Close the account. Deletion is self-serve and immediate — no retention call, no "are you sure" offer, no win-back email.
- Ask us to lock it. Email hello@waffles.cards and we will block purchasing on your account. We will not un-block it the same day you ask us to.
- Talk to someone who is not us. In Canada, ConnexOntario and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health run free, confidential lines. In the US, the National Council on Problem Gambling runs a 24/7 helpline (1-800-522-4700).
Age
Waffles is intended for adults. We do not ask you to confirm an age and we do not record one, so nothing on this page rests on a declaration — which is exactly why the rest of it exists.