Topps Trading Cards are a commercially produced card series renowned for the production of baseball cards and other promotional trading card games.
Trading Card Game[]
Trolls[]
Each pack had 8 cards in. A pack always contains 2 to 4 normal cards and 1 to 3 special; no matter what, each pack should have at least 1 non-normal card in. All cards had a image either from the movie, promo art or an illustration on, then 4 stats on them (except Greedy Gobbler cards). 188 cards could be found in boaster packs, with limited edition cards being available that were not.
Cards come as one of several types:
- Basic movie card
- Greedy Gobbler card - Negative-stat card and the game's only tactical card.
- Fuzzy felt card - 1:3 chance to get every boast pack.
- Rare holographic card - 1 in every boaster pack.
- Super rare holographic card - 1:4 chance to get per pack.
- Color-me-in card - These were part of a competition to win Trolls-related merchandise. Entrants were supposed to color them in and send a photo to Topps to enter the competition. There was a 1:3 chance of getting these cards per pack and a chance to get one card out of every 33 cards, resulting in a possibility of 2 per pack.
- Limited edition cards
The Starter pack came with a card album, hair chalk (green or orange), activity sheet containing information (gaming instructions character details, ordering information for missing cards, puzzles), a gaming mat for two players, a pack of cards with a limited edition Poppy card, and a cardboard fold-up kit.
Strategy notes[]
The strongest card for the series was the Limited Edition Poppy card (LESA) that came with the Start pack. It has the highest stats with all 4 being 100 points each. Other limited edition cards have stats ranging between 90-100 points.
Cards no.1-112 tend to have stats that range between 30-80 points in any of their 4 stats. Shiny Rare cards average out at 80-95 points as do the fuzzy felt cards, while super shiny cards range from 85-100 on their points, making them on par with limited edition cards. However, their total stat points (when all 4 stats are added up) will be overall weaker than the limited edition cards, though not by much less (they're typically 5 points weaker). Color-me-in cards range from 65-80 points.
Greedy Gobbler cards range from -5 to -15 points.
Album[]
The album released for the card series was a 2x2 card slot album able to house 8 cards per leaf with each slot housing 2 cards back to back. If all cards are which to be housed in the album, then they must be placed back to back as all barely fit in the album. There are only a few slots left over on the last leaf of the album; it's arranged this way.
Note: The album's "back" page isn't indicated, and it's easy to toss it aside thinking it has no relevance to the collection, especially as the back page itself sticks out of the album once it is put into its proper slot.
How to play[]
The game is a lite version of their normal card game and involves 2 players and uses at least 8 cards. Each player draws their cards from a player pile of their own.
The game is played using one of 4 stats; green "Dance", blue "Hug", yellow "sing" and orange "hair". A coin is tossed to decide who is player 1. When the coin is tossed, one of the two players is asked if it landed on heads or tail, if they are correct they are player 1, but if they are incorrect they are player 2. Player 1 always goes first.
They place their first card on spot no.1, known as "step 1" on their player mat followed by player 2. Player 1 then choose one of the 4 stats, of which player 2 must acknowledge by saying they choose the same stat. The cards are flipped and the card with the highest of the chosen stat wins, the looser places their card on the bottom of their drawing pile. On a tie, the cards go to the bottom of their drawing pile. The player who won leaves their card where it is and moves up a step on the map. The first player to fill all 7 steps is the winner.
Greedy Gobbler cards are used to bring stats down. Each player may only use 2 of these per game.
For a more advanced version of the game, there's further gameplay that can be done. The backs of each card has one of 4 pieces of a puzzle. After each round is won, a player can draw a face up and then turn it over to reveal the back. If the card has one of the puzzle pieces that they don't have, they may place it. The winner of the game overall is the player who completes the puzzle with all 4 pieces.
List of Cards[]
For a full list of cards see this site.
Trolls World Tour[]
In 2020, they produced a series of cards for Trolls World Tour that could be collected or to used to play a card game with, as well as a set of stickers for collectors. The packs come with 8 cards in them, while tins contain 40 cards of which 1 limited edition cards is included in each tin based on the tin. These limited cards can be found within the normal boaster series. There are 180 cards to collect this time around.
The cards come in several types:
- 1-33 are "character cards" of various characters from the movie.
- "Love is in the hair" cards
- "Easter Egg Hunt" card
- "Hip-Hop Hero" cards
- "Movie Time" cards (which make up the main bulk of the cards)
- Puzzle cards (each has a piece of a bigger picture)
- "Hug Boaster" cards (rare hologrpahic cards)
- "Rock Boaster" cards (super rare cards)
- "Poppy & Friends" - Fuzzy Movie Time cards (felt cards similar to the Trolls fuzzy felt cards) that have a 1:3 chance of appearing in a boaster pack.
- Limited Editions
- Ultra Limited Editions card - released only on the Topps site promo.
There is always one shiny card per boaster pack. The ratio for super shiny is 1:1 per boast pack.
All cards have only two stats, this time around "hugs" and "music", except puzzle cards. Puzzle cards are not part of the game and are for fun. Duplicates are possible even in packs, and it's possible to have several puzzle cards in a pack.
Strategy notes[]
Limited Edition cards in this typically have either 1 stat being higher than 80 or both, but aren't often as powerful as the Trolls limited edition cards were. Hug or Rock boaster cards are stronger versions of the weaker horizontal cards (no.1-33) and share similar stat builds to them, but add at least 20 points to one stat or across both. The "superstar" cards and "Dazzling duets" typically have mixed stat trends. "Legend cards" have stats on par with Limited Edition cards.
In regards to horizontal cards, these are much weaker than vertical cards and have stats between 1-47. The weakest cards are often found among the character cards (no.1-33) and the movie cards (no.47-101), though there are exceptions. The horizontal card with the highest "Hugs" stat is card no.144, at 47 points. The one with the highest music stat is card no.138, with 42 points.
One notable trend among the cards is that rock-themed cards usually have stronger "music" stats than normal, but weaker "hugs" stats. For example, Queen Barb (no.2) has 28 in her "music" stat and 9 in her "hugs". For "pop" cards, it's the reverse, with their hug stat being higher than their music; Queen Poppy (no.1) has 27 points in "Music" and 30 in "hugs". This rule applies to both horizontal and vertical cards, and as a result some predictability can be noted if a "themed" game is played (e.g. "Rock versus Pop").
The strongest card is 'Poppy Music Icon' (no.176), which has 100 points in "hugs" and "music", and is a vertical card. The weakest is the horizontal 'Critter' card (no.27), at 9 points of "music" and 1 point of "hugs".
Album[]
One page of a sleeve from the album showing cards in their slots
Compared to the Trolls album, this one is a lot more generous. Each leaf of the album has slots arranged 3x3 and are able to hold 18 cards as a result per leaf. Even if the cards are not place back to back, but rather only 9 cards are put into each leaf of the album, the album will house all cards with at least 1 unused leaf spare. No cards have to be doubled up and placed back to back as a result.
Instructions[]
With the collectors album came a play matt. The game is designed for two players.
Players pick 7 cards from their collection, 4 portraits (rare and greater cards 142-176, plus any limited edition cards) and 3 landscapes (common cards 1-141, discounting puzzle cards which are not used at all in the game). These cards are shuffled and put face down on the play matt. A coin is flipped to determine who goes first.
The player whose turn it is declares a card, which they then delegate to either "music" or "hugs", the opposing player has to choose which of the two options the player didn't pick. The cards are compared and the card with the highest of the two chosen stats wins, with that card going to their players "win" pile and the losing card going to their players "loose" pile. The player with the most cards in their "win" pile at the end is declared the winner.
The puzzle cards can serve a similar role to the Trolls game wherein players complete across multiple games to win a piece of their puzzle. The player who completes the puzzle is victorous.
List of Cards[]
For a full list of cards see this site.
Stickers[]
Trolls[]
Trolls World Tour[]
Trivia[]
- In 1992, while the Troll Dolls craze was still strong, Topps released two "Troll"-based card series.
- The first was a series of cards based on the Russ Troll Dolls. It featured a gallery of their toyline, including a puzzle picture; there was one piece of the puzzle per pack. Each pack also had a piece of gum with it.
- The second was a parody series titled "Trash Can Trolls". It was a Troll version of their Garbage Pail Kids series, which in turn had been a parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids. Like the Garbage Pail Kids cards, the Trash Can Trolls were based on gross-out humor.