CARD PRODUCTS

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority benefit of JP Pat. App. 2024-103426 filed Jun. 26, 2024. The contents of the application are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to card products packaged for sale.

BACKGROUND

Trading cards (hereinafter referred to as “cards”) are sold in packages (hereinafter referred to as “card packages”) in which the contents of the cards are not visible, wrapped in bags called pillow bags. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a card package. In the example shown in FIG. 5, five cards 101 are wrapped in a pillow bag 102.

Each card has various rarity levels or “strength” assigned for use in games, and cards with higher rarity or strength are generally considered more valuable. A person who intends to purchase cards (hereinafter referred to as a “purchaser”) may wish to purchase cards of higher value after learning the contents of the packaged cards, particularly their value, and may conduct a search in order to determine which package to purchase prior to making the purchase.

In such search behavior, a purchaser estimates the value of the cards contained within a sealed pillow bag without opening it. In particular, the purchaser attempts to identify card packages that contain high-value cards through such search behavior. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a conventional search behavior. In the type of search behavior that has recently become problematic, as shown in FIG. 6, the purchaser presses the cards 101 from an edge of the pillow bag 102 and slides the cards 101 within the pillow bag 102. In this state, the purchaser irradiates light L from the side and observes the edge portions of the cards 101 inside the pillow bag 102, thereby estimating the value of the cards 101. It should be noted that the cards are slid not only for the purpose of estimating the value of the topmost card but also for estimating the value of the second and subsequent cards positioned underneath.

Additionally, even without irradiating the pillow bag 102 with the light L, it is also possible for the purchaser to estimate the contents or value of the cards 101 by rubbing the cards 101 against each other within pillow bag 102 and sensing the resulting friction and surface irregularities through their fingers.

In order to prevent such search behavior, a blister packaging method may be employed. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a card package packaged using conventional blister method. In this method, a card package 100 is placed on a paper backing 103, and a tray-shaped blister 104, which is a plastic component thermoformed to conform to the shape of the card package 100, is disposed over it. A flange 104a is formed around the portion of the blister 104 that conforms to the card package 100, for adhering to the paper backing. The flange 104a and the paper backing 103 are adhered using an adhesive 105. This configuration prevents the purchaser from directly contacting the pillow bag 102 of the card package 100.

By employing the blister method, it is possible to prevent the search behavior in which the cards 101 within the pillow bag 102 are shifted and irradiated with light from the side.

SUMMARY

However, as shown in FIG. 8, in the blister method, when the plastic blister 104 is peeled off from the paper backing 103, there is a problem in that the paper material of the paper backing 103 may adhere to the adhesive portion of the plastic blister 104 due to the adhesive 105. Even if the paper material does not adhere to the blister 104, the adhesive 105 may remain on both the blister 104 and the paper backing 103. As a result, it becomes difficult to recover the blister 104 and the paper backing 103 as recyclable waste, which is environmentally unfriendly. In addition, the blister method also suffers from the problem of relatively high cost.

A card product of the present disclosure comprises: a tray having a recess; a card package including one or more cards and a pillow bag configured to accommodate the one or more cards; and a packaging material configured to maintain the card package within the recess of the tray in the state where the card package is accommodated in the recess of the tray by covering the card package accommodated in the recess of the tray from above; wherein the recess of the tray has a depth such that, when the card package is accommodated in the recess of the tray and is accommodated in the packaging material, the card package does not ride up on the side walls of the recess, and a width such that, when the card package is accommodated in the recess of the tray, the card package does not move laterally; the pillow bag and/or the packaging material are marked with theme of the card package; the packaging material accommodates the tray and the card package and is sealed by heat sealing; the tray, the pillow bag, and the packaging material are each formed of a single material; and the tray, the pillow bag, and the packaging material are disposable as separate components after the one or more cards have been removed.

With this configuration, the card package is retained in the recess of the tray by the packaging material. When the card package is housed in the recess, the purchaser is prevented from sliding the cards inside the pillow bag and shining light from the side, thereby inhibiting search behavior. In addition, since the tray, the pillow bag of the card package, and the packaging material are not adhered to one another and can be completely separated, they can be disposed of as recyclable waste.

In the card product described above, the packaging material may be transparent material.

In the card product described above, the packaging material may be printed the same as the pillow bag.

In the card product described above, the packaging material may have a bag-shaped configuration.

In the card product described above, the pillow bag may be configured to accommodate the one or more cards and is sealed by heat sealing.

In the card product described above, the cards may be trading cards.

In the card product described above, the one or more cards may be assigned any one of multiple values.

In the card product described above, the one or more cards may be cards randomly selected from multiple types of cards.

In the card product described above, the pillow bag may be configured to accommodate the one or more cards such that contents of the one or more cards are not visible.

In the card product described above, the packaging material may be configured to accommodate the one or more cards such that contents of the one or more cards are not visible.

In the card product described above, the tray may be printed with theme of the card package.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a card product according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a card product according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a card product according to a modified embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a card product according to a modified embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional card package.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a conventional search behavior.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a card package packaged using a conventional blister method.

FIG. 8 shows an exploded view of an example of a card package packaged using a conventional blister method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following describes embodiments for implementing the present disclosure. However, the embodiments described below are merely illustrative examples, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Furthermore, features of multiple embodiments may be combined arbitrarily.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a card product according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a card product according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a card product 10 comprises a tray 11 having a recess, a card package 12, and a packaging material 13 that houses the tray 11 and the card package in a state where a single card package 12 is accommodated within the recess of the tray 11. The tray 11, the card package 12, and the packaging material 13 are each rectangular in shape, and therefore, the overall card product 10 also assumes a rectangular form.

The card package 12 comprises a plurality of cards 21 (five in this embodiment) and a pillow bag 22 that accommodates the cards 21. The pillow bag 22 is formed by heat-sealing two opposite edges of a rectangular film material to create a tubular shape, folding the tubular film such that a bonded portion 223 is positioned at center of a rear surface 222, and then heat-sealing an upper bonded portion 224 and a lower bonded portion 225 to form a bag-like structure. The surface opposite the bonding portion 223 is designated as a front surface 221. A hole 226 is formed in the upper bonded portion 224 for suspending the card package 12.

The front surface 221 is printed with a theme of the card package 12. The theme refers to a category or type of card products, and cards 21 corresponding to this theme are enclosed within the pillow bag 22. The theme may be, for example, a specific sports league or a specific card game. If the theme is a sports league, the cards 21 may feature players belonging to that league. When the theme is a card game, the cards 21 may include characters or weapons appearing in the game.

The cards 21 are trading cards. The trading cards may or may not be used in gameplay. A plurality of cards 21 is randomly selected from among a large number of types (e.g., hundreds of types) and enclosed in the pillow bag 22. These various types of cards have respective values assigned to them. The value of each card 21 may be indicated by a marking on the card 21 (e.g., a special pattern, a numerical value indicating rarity, or a numerical value indicating strength), or may not be explicitly indicated. In the latter case, the value may be determined by purchasers based on factors such as market rarity or in-game strength. The marking indicating the value of a card 21 may be located on the edge of the card 21 (e.g., a pattern applied to the edge indicating high value), and in such cases, the marking may become a target of the search behavior described in FIG. 6.

Purchasers generally desire to obtain card packages 12 containing high-value cards 21. However, when the cards 21 are housed within the pillow bag 22, the purchasers cannot visually confirm the contents, including the value of the cards 21, and must purchase the card packages 12 at random. It should be noted that the number of cards 21 contained in each card package 12 is disclosed to the purchasers; however, in some cases, the card products 10 may contain only a single card 21.

The tray 11 is formed of plastic and includes side walls 111 provided along the four edges of the rectangular shape, thereby defining a tray structure having a recess 112 surrounded by the four side walls 111. The recess 112 has a depth corresponding to, or greater than, the thickness of the card package 12. Accordingly, when the card package 12 is housed in the recess 112, it does not ride up onto the side walls 111. In addition, the recess 112 has a width such that the card package 12 does not move laterally when accommodated in the recess 112. It should be noted that the tray 11 may also have the theme printed thereon.

The packaging material 13 is formed of a transparent material. The packaging material 13 is manufactured by heat-sealing two opposite edges of a rectangular film material to form a tubular structure, folding the tubular structure such that a bonded portion 133 is positioned at the center of a rear surface 132, and then heat-sealing an upper bonded portion 134 and a lower bonded portion 135 to form a bag-like shape. A surface opposite to the bonded portion 133 is designated as a front surface 131.

The card product 10 is manufactured by producing the card package 12 in which the five cards 21 are sealed within the pillow bag 22, placing the card package 12 into the recess 112 of the tray 11, and then sealing the tray 11 containing the card package 12 within the packaging material 13. At this time, the card package 12 is accommodated in the tray 11 such that the front surface 221 of the card package 12 faces upward, relative to the tray 11 with the recess 112 oriented upward. Furthermore, the card package 12 accommodated in the tray 11 is sealed in the packaging material 13 such that the same side as the front surface 221 of the card package 12 corresponds to the front surface 131 of the packaging material 13.

In this state, by covering the card package 12 such that the front surface of the packaging material 13 presses against the front surface 221 of the card package 12, the card package 12 is prevented from shifting within the tray 11 and from having its edges protrude beyond the side walls 111 of the tray 11, thereby securely maintaining the card package 12 in the recess 112 of the tray 11. With this configuration, purchasers are unable to shift the cards 21 inside the card package 12 of the card product 10, thereby prevent search behavior.

In this manner, in the card product 10, the pillow bag 22, the tray 11, and the packaging material 13 are configured without being adhesively bonded to one another. Accordingly, after the card product 10 is opened and the cards 21 are removed, the pillow bag 22, the tray 11, and the packaging material 13 remain as separate components, with no adhesive residue left on any of them. Furthermore, since each of the pillow bag 22, the tray 11, and the packaging material 13 is formed of a single material, they can be disposed as recyclable waste.

After purchasing the card product 10, the purchaser opens the packaging material 13, removes the card package 12 from the tray 11, and opens the pillow bag 22 to take out the cards 21. The pillow bag 22, the tray 11, and the packaging material 13 can each be disposed as recyclable waste.

MODIFIED EXAMPLE

In the above embodiment, the theme of the card product 10 is printed on the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22, and the packaging material 13 is formed from a transparent film so that the theme printed on the pillow bag of the card product 10 can be visually recognized even when the card product 10 is enclosed within the packaging material 13. Alternatively, the theme of the card product 10 may be printed on the front surface 131 of the packaging material 13. In this case, the theme may be printed either on the inner surface or the outer surface of the packaging material 13. Furthermore, by using a non-transparent material for the packaging material 13, the card package 12 inside the packaging material 13 cannot be visually recognized from outside the packaging material 13.

Furthermore, the theme may be printed on the packaging material 13, and, as in the above embodiment, the theme may also be printed on the pillow bag 22. In this case, the printed content on the packaging material 13 and the printed content on the pillow bag 22 may be identical or different. Alternatively, when both the front surface 131 and the rear surface 132 of the packaging material 13 are printed in a manner that obscures the view of the card package 12 inside, the pillow bag 22 may be formed from a transparent material.

Also, in the above embodiment, the card package 12 contains five cards 21; however, the number of cards 21 included in the card package 12 may be greater or fewer than five, and may even one. Furthermore, although the packaging material 13 accommodates a single card package 12 in the above embodiment, it may instead accommodate multiple card packages 12. In such a case, the depth of the recess 112 of the tray 11 is increased to a depth sufficient to fully accommodate the multiple card packages 12, that is, to a depth greater than the total thickness of the multiple card packages 12.

Also, in the above embodiment, the packaging material 13 has a bag-shaped structure formed from a film material; however, alternatively, the packaging material 13 may be configured as a box formed from paper. In particular, when multiple card packages 12 are accommodated in the packaging material 13 as described above, the packaging material 13 may be in the form of a box.

Also, in the above embodiment, the recess 112 of the tray 11 is open upward; however, the tray 11 may be provided with a cover configured to retain the card package 12 accommodated in the recess 112. This cover may be integrally formed with the tray 11.

Also, in the above embodiment, the recess 112 of the tray 11 is opened upward to accommodate the card package 12 with the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22 facing upward, such that the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22 and the front surface 131 of the packaging material 13 are positioned on the same side, and the theme printed on the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22 does not overlap with the bonded portion 133 of the packaging material 13. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, the front and rear side of the tray 11 may be reversed.

In this case, the card package 12 is accommodated in the tray 11 such that the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22 is in contact with the bottom surface of the recess 112 of the tray 11, and the card package 12, accommodated in the tray 11, is then housed in the packaging material 13 such that the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22 and the front surface 131 of the packaging material 13 are positioned on the same side. In this manner, the theme printed on the front surface 221 of the pillow bag 22 is visible from the outside through the transparent bottom surface of the tray 11 and the transparent front surface 131 of the packaging material 13.

Also, in the above embodiment, the hole 226 for suspension is provided in the pillow bag 22. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, a hole 136 for suspension may also be provided in the upper bonded portion 134 of the packaging material 13.