Ryan Barone (@ballcardgenius, Card Expert) is a lifelong member of the hobby. He has been quoted in PSA Magazine, and his content has regularly been mentioned in “Quick Rips” (the Topps RIPPED Newsletter) and across other hobby publications. hello@ballcardgenius.com; Last Time Ago LLC dba Ballcard Genius.
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Basketball card packs from 2013 Innovation, 2014-2016 Excalibur, 2018-2022 Crown Royale, and 2022 Chronicles Draft Picks hobby boxes have Kaboom cards randomly inserted. In football card packs there is less variability, with Kaboom cards randomly inserted into Absolute products from 2018-2022.
Soccer Kaboom cards can be found in 2017 Select, 2019-2020 Prizm, and 2021-2022 Donruss, with baseball Kaboom inserts found in 2021-2022 Absolute and 2023 Stars & Stripes.
Last, you might find Kaboom cards in packs of 2022 Instant UFC and 2023 Revolution WWE, in addition to 2017-18 Panini Rewards Basketball Exclusives and 2018 Panini Rewards Soccer Exclusives.
You can search completed eBay listings for Kaboom cards below:
Whew. This might be more digestible through the table below.
| Year | Product Name | Sport |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2013-14 Innovation | Basketball |
| 2014 | 2014-15 Excalibur | Basketball |
| 2015 | 2015-16 Excalibur | Basketball |
| 2016 | 2016-17 Excalibur | Basketball |
| 2017 | 2017-18 Panini Rewards exclusive | Basketball |
| 2018 | 2018-19 Crown Royale | Basketball |
| 2019 | 2019-20 Crown Royale | Basketball |
| 2020 | 2020-21 Crown Royale | Basketball |
| 2021 | 2021-22 Crown Royale | Basketball |
| 2022 | 2022-23 Crown Royale | Basketball |
| 2022 | 2022-23 Chronicles Draft Picks | Basketball |
| 2018 | 2018 Absolute | Football |
| 2019 | 2019 Absolute | Football |
| 2020 | 2020 Absolute | Football |
| 2021 | 2021 Absolute | Football |
| 2022 | 2022 Absolute | Football |
| 2017 | 2017-18 Select | Soccer |
| 2018 | 2018 Panini Rewards Exclusive | Soccer |
| 2019 | 2019-20 Prizm | Soccer |
| 2020 | 2020-21 Prizm | Soccer |
| 2021 | 2021-22 Donruss | Soccer |
| 2022 | 2022-23 Donruss | Soccer |
| 2021 | 2021 Absolute | Baseball |
| 2022 | 2022 Absolute | Baseball |
| 2023 | 2023 Stars and Stripes | Baseball |
| 2022 | Instant UFC | UFC |
| 2023 | Revolution WWE | WWE |
Panini first placed Kaboom inserts into packs with their launch of the 2013 Innovation Basketball product. Little did they know at the time (or maybe they did!) that the cards would become some of the best Panini cards to buy and thus met with such great demand that they’d expand and find their way into WWE, soccer sets, and more.
Popularity of the cards soared given the appeal of the design, rarity, and star featured players featured front and center. (Sorry, but you could say Kaboom cards, went, well, boom.)
If you’re an avid sports card collector, then perhaps none of this is new information (yet), and you have probably seen plenty of Kabooms at local card shops, on eBay, or scattered across other secondary markets.
Either way, all of this leads to Kaboom being a yearly chase for avid collectors, so let’s go in depth on why these cards are so coveted in the hobby, and in which packs you can find them.
Kaboom Design
Kaboom’s design combines a number of factors that make them a pleasure to gaze upon. Card shine is almost always appreciated within the card community (see refractors and prizms, and the shimmer and gloss were done all the way to the brink of being overdone, which makes everything together near perfect.
Another factor is the comic book-inspired design of the word “Kaboom,” which when mashed up with the minimalist yet in-your-face background design, makes things all the more cool.
If you think this is a stretch, think about all the inserts that we as card collectors have seen fall flat. Some have really cool designs, others great lettering, but it’s the rare combination of the two that makes a card special.
Thus, if anything changes with Kaboom, you can almost bet that the familiar font and style that gives the that resemble classic comic actions – “BAM,” “CRASH,” “POW” – won’t be messed with.
Player Pictures
Regarding player pictures, the 2013 debut of Kaboom offered a drawing of the player in what resembled, again, more like that of a comic book sketch than a basketball card.
In fact, it was not until 2017 when Kaboom depicted traditional card action shots and went for a more realistic approach to the card.
Rarity
Adding to the desirability, Panini Kaboom is a rare insert, and while available in retail packs, these are considered a product case hit. What that means is, a case of a cards can range from 12 to 15 hobby boxes depending on the product, and within that case, the buyer should pull a Kaboom (“should” as in not guaranteed; it is speculated that it could take two cases for a collector to hit one Kaboom).
While rarity in itself is limiting, rarity also usually equates to expensive, and if you’re going to buy a case of cards (or two) in hopes of pulling a Kaboom (of a random player), it can turn into quite the expensive endeavor.
For example, when searching “kaboom sealed case” on eBay (just to quickly pull up any listings from sellers offering a case of cards that might contain a Kaboom), I see the following prices:
- 2022-23 Donruss Soccer $4,350
- 2021-22 Crown Royale Basketball $5,499
- 2020-21 Crown Royale Basketball $11,999.69
- 2020-21 Prizm EPL Soccer $2,649.49
Of course, another route is buying a Kaboom single from a card shop, finding one on eBay, or purchasing one from another secondary market platform. Especially if you’re after a lesser player, he price will probably be $100 plus, but it’s easier than the alternative.
Here are some recent sales of relatively cheaper Kaboom cards:
- 2022-23 Crown Royale Damian Lillard $355
- 2023 Panini Stars & Stripes Pete Crow-Armstrong
- 2020 Absolute Teddy Bridgewater $75
- 2020 Absolute Drew Brees $192.50
- 2022 Absolute Bryce Harper SGC 9.5 $249.99
All that and we haven’t talked about parallels, like the 1/1 green Kaboom (enter melting emoji here).
Star Players
Finally, the last factor that makes Kaboom cards so popular amongst collectors is the player selection. Like most insert sets of say 20 or so players, give or take, you’re going to have a star-studded mix. So while inserts strive to offer a noteworthy name, Kaboom is no exception.
Throughout the various sports, Kaboom checklists generally offer some to the most notable rookies in the year’s class, or some of the best players in each respective sport.
For example, here are some of the young names from recent Kaboom releases:
- 2021-22 Crown Royale Basketball: Kuminga, Mitchell, Cunningham, Barnes, Green
- 2022 Absolute Football: Kenny Pickett, Breece Hall, Chris Olave
- 2022 Absolute Baseball: Wander Franco, Oneil Cruz
As you can imagine, Kaboom can easily make any product one of the best football card boxes to buy,
It’s not just the rookies, though. Kaboom also offers past legends of the game like Jerry Rice, Ken Griffey Jr., and Larry Bird (and even as far back as Babe Ruth).
All together, collectors are getting the best of the best names when it comes to Kaboom inserts, and that is why some are valued for thousands:
- 2014 Excalibur Lebron James (Surface Scratches) $2,999
- 2014 Excalibur Kevin Durant $550
- 2022 Crown Royale Stephen Curry $2,005
- 2020 Absolute CeeDee Lamb $500
- 2021 Absolute Trevor Lawrence $2,672
Overall, Kaboom inserts have certainly changed the hobby, not only standing out as valuable chase cards, but arguably, the launch of Kaboom helped pave the way for other desirable inserts like Panini Downtown and even Topps with Home Field Advantage.
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