I Tried Rips, the Card-Pack App Where Users Spend Thousands Chasing Pricey Pokémon

After I tripled my money by pulling pricey Pokémon cards out of digital packs on the Rips app, I immediately knew what I had to do next: keep on ripping. It was time to lock in, boost my volatility settings, and start spending real money opening even more expensive packs. These digital card packs, primed for fast ripping and even faster rewards, are rising in popularity. People have downloaded the Rips app over 6 million times since its launch in October 2025, with half of those downloads happening in the past two months, according to data from Apptopia. You pay money to rip digital packs and win physical cards, but you also have the instant option to sell them back. Rips exemplifies the current online moment where I’m bombarded with new and inventive ways to digitally gamble everything away. From sports betting to prediction markets, the smartphone in my pocket is the hottest place to lose it all while trying to make a quick buck. Rips did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. Even before I tried Rips, I was well acquainted with the platform from incessant TikTok ads. Other notable apps offer a similar format, like RipIt from influencer Logan Paul. These platforms capitalize on the popularity of ripping open physical card packs, usually Pokémon trading cards, to find rare cards that sell for a lot of money. The app is only for users aged 18 and older. Since Rips offers to immediately buy back cards, users have a chance to cash out with thousands of dollars more than when they started ripping packs earlier in the day. Well, unless you’re me—then you’re just lighting money on fire and leaving without any cash or cards. Time to Rip When I first opened Rips, I was greeted with what appeared to be an AI-generated image of a neon vending machine, filled with card packs and drenched in dramatic lighting as it stood alone in a dark, nondescript warehouse. The app’s full name is Rips by Triumph—Triumph also operates a popular app where users pay to play arcade games and potentially win money. The core mechanic of the Rips app is ripping open shiny, single-card packs. Users can pick from Pokémon, Basketball, or One Piece cards. The cheapest option is the Pokémon Starter Pack, which costs $1, and it goes all the way up to the Pokémon Diamond Pack, which costs $2,500 to rip open digitally. You can change your "volatility level” in the settings for many of these packs. A higher volatility means that you have increased odds of picking cards on either end of the spectrum and a lower chance of pulling something in the midrange price tier. If a user opens a $1 pack, then the cheapest card they could pull is worth 10 cents, and the most expensive is $20. On the other end of the price range, the $2,500 packs, the ripper is guaranteed a card valued at $850 at the lowest, but the priciest card they could pull is worth $82,166. A “Showroom” is prominently displayed in the app when you open it up, displaying the most expensive, rare cards you have a chance of pulling out of each pack from the different price tiers. You too could be the owner of a holographic Japanese Pikachu card from 2005 that’s worth $43,450 if you would just spend enough money on packs, work your way up, and sprinkle in a dash of good luck. Every card you pull and decide to keep, rather than instantly resell, is stored in your collection, though not for long. If you don’t choose to have the card shipped to your house, then Rips automatically sells it after a week has passed. I loaded a fresh $20 into my Rips account to experience this pack-ripping firsthand. The initial feeling was more pleasant than I anticipated as I used my finger tip to slice open pack after pack, immediately selling back every Pokémon card I won. The app’s sparkly, incandescent design made me feel like some sleek, Team Rocket–style slot machine had been zapped into my phone, teasing me with anticipation built into every swipe. (Nintendo is not involved with Rips.) As I sat alone in my apartment, a single bead of sweat dripped down my forehead and onto the smartphone screen as I relished this high. In under 15 minutes, I ripped 56 packs that were worth a total of $892. I started small with a $1 pack. After tapping the Buy button, a glowing carousel of packs appeared on my screen. I picked one and dragged my finger across the top seam of the pack, digitally slicing it open. In a burst of glitter, a shiny card leaped out of the pack, changing colors rapidly as it spun. After all that build-up, the card and its resale value finally popped up. My very first pull was a basic Pokémon called Dunsparce, worth 30 cents. By my fifth pull, I was already up from what I originally put in and decided it was time to try my luck with a $20 pack. I also went into the settings and switched my volatility levels to high. I expected this pack to be a dud and, essentially, the end of my experience with Rips. So I was stunned when I pulled a Psyduck card worth $71. I could feel my heart rate quicken as I let out a soft gasp. The rush of dopamine felt amazing, even just over a win of around $50. This was the moment when I started speed ripping through as many packs as possible. I opened the most expensive packs my account had the balance to cover. Sometimes the pulls weren’t worth much, but then the next pull would be twice the value. I rode my emotional roller coaster, ripping pack after pack until my account balance peaked at $101. It was finally time to spend $100 on my first Pokémon Gold Pack, and I didn’t hesitate for a moment to tap that Buy button. I had turned $20 into $100 already, so why not try to turn $100 into $1,000 next? After all the glowing animations wrapped up, I was heartbroken to pull a $31 trainer card. My rush of excitement twisted into a pit of frustration as I ripped open more packs until my balance cratered. I was left with less than a dollar by the end of my run. Casino Vibes My experience with Rips was quite different from the ads I saw on TikTok or the videos I watched in the official Discord channel for the Rips app. I watched win after win on the Discord channel where users post their best pulls and others hype them up with fire emoji reactions. One user shared a video where they pulled a Pokémon card worth $533 out of a pack that cost $100. Another user shared a recording where they opened a $1,000 Pokémon pack, got a rare card worth $5,498, and then immediately sold the card back to Rips. Gambling experts see this user experience as distinct from how card collecting and reselling have worked in the past. “As kids, we didn't go with $500 or $1,000 into comic book shops. Here, you certainly can, all under the premise that if I keep hanging on, then I'm going to open something that's so valuable it's gonna break the bank,” says Timothy Fong, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA and codirector of the school’s gambling studies program. “That's gambling. That's the lure of gambling.” Rip’s terms of service claim the user experience is “different than gambling,” but it doesn’t shy away from the potential harm caused to users. “Rips acknowledges that the purchase of collectibles (particularly in blind-box form, where the specific contents of a pack are not known at the time of purchase) may, for some individuals, develop into compulsive spending behavior that causes financial, emotional, or interpersonal harm,” reads the app’s Responsible Purchasing Policy. The app offers ways for users who overspend to reach out and have their accounts blocked from further purchases, which is a standard practice for casinos. The interactive elements the app stuffs into each step of the process, from the initial pack selection to the grand opening, were a core aspect of what kept me ripping. “When it says “slice the seal,” there's an illusion of control that you're doing something,” Fong says. “But you're not doing anything.” He compares this illusion of control to the same feeling gamblers get from slot machines with touchscreen animations that do nothing to impact the outcome. Beyond Rips’ mechanics, the app’s design also feels reminiscent of the casino floor. “It's really attractive looking,” says Shane Kraus, an expert in gambling-related harms and director of the Behavioral Addictions Lab at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “It immediately reminded me of a slot machine.” Kraus sees Rips as having a “classic gambling” format built into the design, even leaning into colors, like orange, that users may find engaging. “Everything they did was to manipulate you,” he says. The app’s experience is thoughtfully crafted to elicit user reactions. I tested the app alone at home and never spoke with anyone as I sold off stacks of Pokémon. The lack of personal interaction is another aspect that differentiates Rips from traditional card collecting. “In the old days, I would take that card and sell it to a human behind the counter,” Fong says. “He gives me $50 or says no. Gamesmanship is actually the part of collecting that a lot of people like, because there's a human connection. This has zero human connection. There's no one you're talking to. So, that's the gaming and slot-machine-like design to pull you into a world of what I call dopamine isolation.” [Image text:] 6:27 Safari .00 35 X Pokemon & NBA cards. THE ONLY APP WITH $1PACKS $165.00 COLLECTIBLES m T COLLECTIBLES TRIUI TRIUMPH UMPH $100 EMON S $10 POKEMON STARTI $1 $25 $50 Pokemon Starter Pack Min Value $0.01 Max Pull $20 Adjust Odds Normal Buy for$1