Based Trading Cards Wins Packaging Innovation Award for Series 4 Experience Box
Based Trading Cards has won an Excellence Award for Achievement in Innovation for its Series 4: The Simulation Experience Box, with the collectible trading card package recognized at the 83rd Annual Paperboard Packaging Competition. The California-based trading card company announced that the Experience Box received the award from the Paperboard Packaging Council. Produced in partnership with RRD, the box was recognized for its design, structural engineering, craftsmanship, premium materials, specialty finishing and overall user experience, according to Based Trading Cards.
The Experience Box was created as the premium offering within Orange Pill in a Pack Series 4: The Simulation and was intentionally designed to make the packaging itself part of the collecting experience. Rather than treating the box simply as a container for the cards inside, Based Trading Cards says its rigid construction, detailed interior presentation, specialty finishes and chase experience were developed to make opening the product feel like part of the collectible.
“For us, and since day one, packaging has always been part of the experience,” Based Trading Cards founder Alladan Flinn said. “We wanted the Experience Box to feel special from the moment it arrived, and RRD helped us turn an ambitious idea into something collectors could physically hold, open, and remember.”
That emphasis on packaging is particularly notable in a trading card market where premium boxes have increasingly become part of the presentation surrounding high-end products. In this case, however, Based Trading Cards says the box itself was deliberately engineered as part of the experience rather than functioning only as disposable packaging around the cards.
The Paperboard Packaging Competition has been held for more than eight decades and recognizes folding cartons and rigid boxes for qualities including design, converting, functionality, manufacturing and innovation. Based Trading Cards’ Series 4 Experience Box received its recognition specifically in the Achievement in Innovation category. Based Trading Cards says the award adds to previous industry recognition for the company’s approach to premium printing, specialty embellishments and collectible design. The company describes its products as limited-run premium trading cards featuring original artwork, disclosed print runs, specialty printing and collector-focused scarcity.
According to the company, its broader approach combines art, education, nostalgia and the physical experience of collecting. The Series 4 Experience Box reflects that philosophy by extending the collectible concept beyond the cards themselves and into the package collectors receive and open.