Finally… the day came.
What day, you ask? Card Expo day! And this year it was in Graz. Sometimes life is nice and the chaos happens basically two steps away from home. Ok, maybe more like 10 km away… (and no, I still have no idea how many miles that is) 😊
At first I called it a party. After spending 6 hours there, I realized “party” is maybe not the right word. My feet were filing complaints against me for walking around that long. 😔
But let’s start from the beginning. 💪
For a while now, we’ve been collecting cards. You know… those shiny little pieces of cardboard that somehow destroy your wallet and make you happy at the same time. My husband actually started with Splinterlands, so digital cards. He saw “future investment.” I saw “fun game.” Big difference apparently…🤔
I honestly never cared much about tracking prices, watching markets, buying low, selling high, and staring at graphs all day. That’s his thing. My job was simple…point at cards and say, “I want this one.” Way easier. Way more fun. ☺️
Then one day we were in a store, saw Pokémon packs, and thought, “Why not?”
Well… that “why not” became a habit very fast.
At first we didn’t even open the packs. We just threw them into a closet and forgot about them for years. But of course, my husband’s brain never rests. Eventually he started checking card prices online and almost had a heart attack when he saw how expensive some cards were. Suddenly opening a booster pack felt like buying a lottery ticket. Maybe there’s a card inside worth 20,000 euros. Probably not… but maybe…🤔🤔
And then Netflix released One Piece.
My husband already knew the story because he watched the anime as a kid, but I didn’t know anything about it. After watching season one, I was completely hooked. And then his brain went into full detective mode again. He started researching the One Piece Card Game market and realized collectors are absolutely insane. The game exploded in popularity and now competes with giants like Pokémon and Magic. Honestly impressive.
And somehow… he dragged me into it too.
Because I discovered something very important…ordering cards is FUN. Waiting for them to arrive, opening the package, holding the card, admiring the artwork like it belongs in a museum… amazing. Have you SEEN how beautiful some of those cards are?! They shine!! My simple visual brain is very happy 😊
And yes… I also started paying attention to prices because apparently cardboard can magically double in value overnight. Totally normal behavior. 😏
Anyway… this was supposed to be about the Card Expo before I started writing a whole love story about shiny cards 😊
So, the card show was in Graz, at Seifenfabrik, which honestly was the perfect place for it. Huge building, cool atmosphere, and enough space for what felt like half of Europe showing up.
We had never been to an event like this before. We weren’t selling anything, just there to buy cards and experience the madness.
For people who don’t know, a card trading show is basically a giant event where people buy, sell, trade, and admire collectible cards. Sports cards, Pokémon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Disney, Marvel, Star Wars… basically paradise for someone like me because everything is in one place and I don’t need to spend 7 hours online searching different websites!😊
The show started at 10 a.m., and we thought we were smart arriving at 9:30.
Cute.
There was already no parking. Security was directing traffic. That should have been our first warning.
Then we saw the line.
At least 100 people were already waiting before the doors even opened. I turned around after a few minutes and realized the line behind us was HUGE. People everywhere. All ages, different countries, different languages… I honestly couldn’t believe it.
And when we finally got inside?
Absolute chaos.
So many people. So many sellers. So many binders full of cards. It was almost impossible to even reach the tables because crowds were packed around them nonstop. Every time you finally got space to look through cards, you had to decide FAST. Because if you walked away thinking, “Oh, I’ll come back later,” congratulations…the card was already gone 10 minutes later.
After two hours of walking in circles through crowds, I was dying from thirst. So naturally… beer 😊
We also made the beginner mistake of thinking the crowd would calm down later.
Nope.
It somehow became MORE crowded.
At one point my only mission was: do not lose my husband in this sea of humans. Luckily he had a giant red backpack, so finding him wasn’t too difficult.
What shocked me the most were the prices. Some cards cost 15,000 euros… and people were actually buying them. Every time we came back to certain sellers, expensive cards had disappeared. Sold.
Outside, my husband started talking to some collectors carrying giant cases full of cards. One guy casually had a collection worth over 200,000 euros. EXCUSE ME?! How do you walk around with that much value in a suitcase?! I would be terrified. Someone could just grab it and run.
Ok… maybe not in my case. I’d survive about 30 seconds of running before collapsing dramatically 😊
But still. Crazy.
After 6 hours we were completely exhausted, our feet were dead, and somehow the crowd was STILL growing.
So we finally decided we were done. We bought some cards, a few booster packs, and escaped with what was left of our energy.
But honestly?
It was an amazing experience.
I truly didn’t expect these events to be this huge and this popular.
And we definitely learned something for next time:
Buy the freaking VIP ticket. Arrive early. And maybe…(just maybe)…you’ll actually get a chance to look through cards peacefully without being pushed around by 500 excited collectors! 😏
