Pokémon booster boxes are one of the most popular products to split, and also one of the trickiest. Modern sets like Surging Sparks, Prismatic Evolutions, and Twilight Masquerade pack meaningful value into a small number of chase cards — a Special Illustration Rare can be worth more than the rest of the box combined. Here's how to run a fair split when the value distribution is that lopsided.
The setup
Say you and three friends split a Prismatic Evolutions booster bundle for $200 total. Four participants: you (Ana), Ben, Carla, Dan. Everyone put in $50 up front and you're settling the real numbers after opening.
Step 1: Rarities
Set up the following in the rarities panel:
- Common: 0.2
- Uncommon: 0.4
- Reverse Holo: 0.6
- Rare Holo: 1.0
- Double Rare (ex): 1.5
- Ultra Rare (Full Art): 2.0
- Illustration Rare: 2.5
- Special Illustration Rare: (fixed cost — see below)
- Hyper Rare (Gold): (fixed cost)
The reason SIRs and Hyper Rares are on the fixed-cost list is that they have a real secondary-market price and pulling one changes the entire economics of the box. Weighting them means whoever pulls one pays a rounded-off approximation; fixed cost means they pay exactly the market price you all agreed on.
Step 2: The pulls
You open the box. The chase pulls:
- Sylveon ex Special Illustration Rare — everyone agrees it's worth $85 today. Ana claims it, logged as fixed cost $85.
- Umbreon ex — Full Art, weight 2.0. Ben claims it.
- Two Double Rare exes (weight 1.5 each). Carla and Dan take one each.
- The rest: a handful of Illustration Rares, Rare Holos, and stacks of commons/uncommons distributed however everyone wants.
Step 3: The math
Fixed costs total $85 — that comes out of the $200 first, leaving $115 to split by weight. Suppose the final weighted totals are Ana 12.4, Ben 14.8, Carla 10.1, Dan 9.7 (total 47.0). Ana's share is $85 + (12.4/47.0 × $115) = $85 + $30.34 = $115.34. Ben's is (14.8/47.0 × $115) = $36.21. Carla: $24.71. Dan: $23.74. Total: $200.00.
The person who pulled the biggest chase paid more than double what everyone else paid — and everyone agreed to it because the math is transparent from the start.
Step 4: Settle up
Everyone put in $50. Ana owes an extra $65.34, Ben is due $13.79 back, Carla is due $25.29 back, Dan is due $26.26 back. Case Split shows these totals live in the Split panel as cards get assigned — no spreadsheet needed.
Tips specific to Pokémon
- Set the SIR fixed cost from a live TCGplayer market listing at the moment you open, not from what it was worth last week.
- Reverse holos really do get claimed — don't set them to weight 0 unless your group truly doesn't want them.
- Energies and trainers are usually weight 0 unless the set has a chase trainer.
- If your split includes a promo (like the Sylveon or Umbreon promo pack), add it as a separate card with an agreed fixed cost.