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The start of FOOTBALL SEASON means the
start of our store's own, free, YOU-PICK-THE-WINNERS
(YPTW) FOOTBALL CONTEST. Each Wednesday, we make entry
forms available with that Sunday's football g ame match-ups.
To play, circle the team you think will win from each
2 team match-up. Entry forms can be turned in anytime
before Saturday at 5:00 (we purposely don't include Thursday
night or Saturday day games). The person who makes the
most number of correct guesses wins! It's that easy.
Each week, we award a $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE to the person
with the most correct guesses. We do this EVERY week.
Each weekly winner then moves on to play during the PLAY-OFFS.
The GRAND PRIZE is a $150 GIFT CERTIFICATE. We also have
a separate RUNNERS-UP PRIZE of a $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE.
(Whenever there is a tie after Sunday's picks, and the
Monday Night game is needed as a tie breaker...those
people who make it to the tie breaking game but aren't
the winner are referred to as "RUNNERS-UP". These players have their own separate competition during the Play-offs). Heidi especially enjoys the YPTW Contest because she feels like a school teacher on Monday morning, grading papers. :-) It's a lot of FREE FUN, especially as the season progresses; so give it a shot.
This has become an annual tradition
at Sportscard Playground and creates a lot of excitement
in our store. We've been running the NFL POD contest
for over 20 years! It starts at the end of September
/ beginn ing of October (exact date changes each year)
and lasts for 30 days straight. Each day, a specific
NFL player is featured in the store (the "Player of the Day").
If you pull a card of that player from a Panini branded
pack, you win (meaning you get a small prize that day,
but more importantly are entered into the weekly raffle/prize
giveaway). It's THAT easy. To make daily winning even
easier, there are two Wild Card players (in addition
to the POD) designated who you can pull that also make
you a winner. Anyone who buys a hobby box of football
cards automatically gets entered (as the assumption is
that you'll pull one of the 3 possible players from the
box).
The daily prize varies, but is often
a free pack of some sort (Panini usually supplies special
Player of the Day 2-card packs with attractive, limited
parallels). Every daily winner is entered into a raffle
for the weekly prize (which is on display each week and
often includes some Panini branded swag/packs/guaranteed
jersey card pack). The five weekly winners are then entered
into the raffle for the GRAND PRIZE. This is one of the
largest prizes we give away each year. The GRAND PRIZE
often tops $300 in FOOTBALL CARDS, GIFT CERTICATES, & NOVELTIES.
The GRAND PRIZE is on display throughout the 5 week contest.
We've been doing something fun the last few years where
we start with a REALLY GOOD GRAND PRIZE and then add
items each week. We've always received a tremendous response
from our customers, and this 30 day period proves to
be a lot of fun. It's easy to look forward to this contest
because we give away FREE prizes every day and it encourages
customers to open HERE, which is always fun for us! It's
important to note before you read the next paragraph
that our store's Grand Prize winner is then entered into
Panini's National Sweepstakes, which has a HUGE GRAND
PRIZE of spending the day with an NFL player and coming
back to our store for an AUTOGRAPH SESSION/MEET & GREET with that player. There's a little foreshadowing for you for our NBA POD section.
 The NBA version of the POD CONTEST hasn't been around as long as the NFL has, but it sure is another store favorite! It works the same way as its NFL counterpart (see above). Our store, and customer Quinn Slack, got lucky a few years ago when he won Panini's NATIONAL contest (all participating stores enter their store's Grand Prize Winner into Panini's National Contest). Quinn's HUGE NATIONAL GRAND PRIZE WIN enabled him to host 76'ers MATISSE THYBULLE at his home (with family and friends invited) where they shot hoops, played NBA2K, did an auto and photo session, and opened a LOT of Panini product together. Matisse then came to our store to do a free MEET-AND-GREET and PHOTO OP with our customers...with each person being given a special limited edition Panini card made up for the event! Matisse was WONDERFUL to host, and it was one of the most special days in our store's history. So DON'T MISS OUT entering this FUN CONTEST that typically starts in March.
 Many of you are familiar with BLOCK POOLS at parties. There is a 10 x 10 grid with 100 blocks, and each block is randomly assigned a pair of numbers (corresponding to the last digit of each of the points in the score of the game). The way this contest works is that you are rewarded for making a purchase (items/dollar values vary) by being given a block in the grid. Once the 100 blocks fill up with names, we randomly assign numbers and teams to the grid so that each block holder knows what scores make them a winner. We usually give away as much as $500 in prizes for each grid...a GRAND PRIZE, HALF TIME PRIZE, and a prize after the 1st and 3rd QUARTER. Sometimes we offer AUTOGRAPHED PHOTOS or MEMORABILIA (we've awarded an AUTOGRAPHED MIKE TROUT PHOTO, EMMITT SMITH JERSEY, and MAGIC JOHNSON JERSEY). We also award MANY GIFT CERTIFICATES as prizes, often having "ALL GIFT CERTIFICATE" PRIZE POOLS. The big prize money makes this an exciting promo, and we use the concept not only at Football Playoff time; but also at various other times of the year.
 Panini has been known to sponsor a FATHER'S DAY and/or BLACK FRIDAY weekend PACK GIVE-AWAY. (The promotion has been in flux during the/post Pandemic, so hopefully, it'll come back soon). Historically, we bought specific product from Panini, which earned us these special packs; and we, in turn, let you buy ANYTHING Panini branded from us to earn said packs. Now what are these packs all about? Our customers look forward to these two promotions each year, and the packs are similar. They're special two card packs (in a variety of sports) with 2-3 hits (autographs, relic cards) in every 10 or so packs. Additionally, there are short printed parallel versions of the regular cards (cracked ice, hyperplaids) and numbered cards you can pull, even if you don't get a conventional hit. Another fun aspect to the packs is the relics used. The Father's Day packs have featured colorful hat and glove cards of football players and large chunks of towel cards from both basketball and football players. Black Friday packs often feature pieces of Santa Claus caps (Santa Claus style caps with the team logos are given to the athletes to wear), as well as the aforementioned towel cards. Other fun, different items used in these promotions is game used pylons and 1 of 1 sketch cards hand drawn by the player. Panini always has unique surprises in store with these promo's, and we enjoy them.
 There are various CARD or PACK GIVEAWAY DAYS each year, including NATIONAL BASEBALL CARD DAY and NATIONAL HOCKEY CARD DAY, as well as other celebratory events like NATIONAL HOBBY STORE DAY. Depending on the occasion, our store likes to do it up BIG with GIVEAWAYS & RAFFLES as well as piggybacking other events like offering BLOCK POOLS during these weekends. Details for all events are made available well before the event date on FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM.
 We
like to have fun at Sportscard Playground and reward
our customers for shopping here! We've had a few FREE
autograph sessions over the years with Scott Rolen, Garth
Snow, Greg Lewis, and Matisse Thybulle.. Because we want
to offer FREE signings, we can't have them as often as
we'd like, but our social media followers, e-mail newsletter
customers, and in-store "regulars" are the first ones
to hear about these special events (and receive priority).
Please make sure you're one of them.
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