The Ginter Code returns but with a twist. Instead of using a parallel code versions of the base set to crack the code, it has migrated to social media, with a murder mystery to solved with the clues coming from twitter accounts of the mystery's suspects, a blog run by the town's reporter and more. Currently the mystery has been solved but I am thrilled that Topps has chose this route, enjoyed seeing the story unfold and look forward to next year's code.
For the purposes of this review, Topps Allen & Ginter falls into our trading card category. A&G comes in a wide variety of retail packages as well as one standard Hobby box format. For this review we will take a look at a hobby box which contains 24 - 8 card packs with the promise of 3 hits per box.
Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled.
Base Set
Minis
Mini backs
Black Border parallels
Mini Inserts
Regular Sized Inserts
What's in a Name?
World's Tallest Buildings
Historical Turning Points
Baseball Highlight Sketches
Ginter Code - Murder in Willow Cove
Box Topper
The Hits
Overall Look
Topps has found a nice balance between the heavy bordering of the base cards from last year and the relatively sparse cards from years prior to that. Black border framed relics look great. I'm glad that Topps migrated away from base code cards. The cards were an important part of cracking the code, but left you with some unattractive cards afterwards.
Quality and Variety of Players
The Baseball part to the checklist works with strong veteran, rookie and legends. Clearly, collectors like good looking women in their card sets. Kate Upton, this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model, has collector paying a huge premium for her cards on the secondary market.
Do the Hits hold up?
The black border frame is the chose for the majority of the hits available. Unfortunately all three of our hits were damaged on the bottom, a shame because the Balloon Boy relic looks like it would be a great card in good condition. The booklet cards with the return of the popular bat knob are fantastic. The majority of the hits appear to be the tiny player relics. At this point, I would prefer doing away with most of them and exchanging them for one quality hit per box. The base set and inserts hold their own, so lots of little hits are not necessary.
Will you want to collect them all?
Ginter"s quirky nature makes this one of the best sets to build each year. This is one that even basic card collectors toy with the idea of putting together a master set.
Rating
Review box provided by Topps
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