Another new release last week was 2012 Panini Score Football. Being a very low tiered product I tend to stay away from these. In the past these were mainly low cost fun to put a set together and be done with it. This year Panini took a low end product to another level with Score Football. The Basics are 36 packs per box with 7 cards per pack. In those 36 packs you would receive a combination of 24 Rookie cards (#301-400), 6 Parallel's, 25+ inserts, and 1 Glossy card per pack (36 total).
From the basic low product specs this is pretty much normal for these releases. The differences that Panini included into 2012 Score were going above the average low end product. The additions were Rookie Flashback Reprints, Printing Plates, Autographs, Serial numbered inserts from /32 down to /6 and Rookie Picture Variations.
This was something new that hadn't been done too often in the past. It was a fresh change to have these added into this product. Now the odds are very tough on the Printing Plates and the lower serial numbered cards but it is still worth a shot at $1 per pack. The Rookie Picture variations are a neat fixture into this rookie class, not to mention the retro Rookie Flashback Reprints. Those really sold me on the product, love seeing those older rookie cards with a different picture on the front.
I decided to purchase 3 boxes of the product once I read over the details. The 3 boxes cost just around $100 so this was one of my cheaper trips to the local card shop. Mind you the store owner almost fell over when I asked him for 3 boxes of it instead of buying a box of something higher end.
Due to prior obligations I wasn't able to bust the boxes until Friday, which was a good thing because you need some time on these boxes to sort and rip them. The boxes themselves look like average small retail boxes rather than typical Hobby boxes, and for Panini products, these packs I found easier to open than others.
After ripping through 108 packs with 756 cards I needed a break. It wasn't one of the more fun breaks but did have it's moments looking for this years hot rookies. Here is a breakdown of what I received in my 3 boxes
Box #1: Box #2: Box #3:
Rookie Cards: 36 Rookie Cards: 36 Rookie Cards: 36
Rookie Variation: 1 Rookie Variation: 1 (Luck) Rookie Variation: 1
Glossy cards: 44 (RGIII Hot RC) Glossy cards: 44 Glossy cards: 44 (RGIII)
Hot Rookies: 6 Hot Rookies: 6 Hot Rookies: 6
Complete Players: 4 Complete Players: 4 Complete Players: 4
In the Zone: 6 In the Zone: 6 In the Zone: 6
Gold Zone: 4 Gold Zone: 4 Gold Zone: 4
Numbers Game: 4 Numbers Game: 4 Numbers Game: 4
Scorecard: 4 Scorecard: 4 Scorecard: 4
Rookie Flashback: 1 Rookie Flashback: 1 Rookie Flashback: 1
Artist's Proof: 1 (/32) Artist's Proof: 0 Artist's Proof: 1 (/32)
As for the Base cards I was trying to put together the complete set, with the 3 boxes I figured I would have a good shot at that. I did fall short though even with all those cards. Missed 17 from the Base set and 24 Rookies. The Base doubles were a bit too much for my liking with 141 Base doubles and 31 Rookie Doubles. I was really hoping that the doubles would not be this high, plus I thought I could make a 300 card base set with 3 boxes. This was a little discouraging in that regard but maybe I put too much into this product.
A couple of things I did notice which were similar on all 3 boxes. One is that the Rookie variation picture card will be the Rookie card sorted before that last 2 cards in the pack. The sequence went 4 Base cards, 1 Insert, 1 Rookie, 1 Glossy. The Variation was placed in the Insert slot of the pack. This way you know when buying a box which one is different without going through each rookie you received and matching photos.
The Second thing I noticed is you would sometimes receive 2 Glossy cards in a pack. In each box I received 44 Glossy cards, from Base, Inserts and Rookies. I was surprised at this due to the original odds at 1 per pack. Again when opening the packs, because the glossy are a little hard to tell on the Inserts just look a little closer at them and with almost 2 per pack your bound to miss a couple when opening.
The Third noticeable thing about these assortments was on the RGIII and Andrew Luck RC's. I received 1 Luck in the first box, 2 Luck's (RC and Variation) in the second box, and 1 RGIII (Glossy) and 1 Luck in the third box. Of course these are the two guys people want so I knew they wouldn't be put into the same box often or might not even show up in a box or two in a case. The good news is your bound to hit either one of them in 1 box. For me on three boxes RGIII was a harder pull to get.
So on the lower end purchase of 3 2012 Panini Score Hobby boxes I was pleased, but felt a little empty once all done and said. I was really hoping to build a complete set of the Base and just have to look for a few Rookies to finish it off. Being left with 41 total cards missing from the complete set is ok but not expected with a low end product. I wasn't expecting an autograph or low number parallel so when I hit 2 Artists Proof's numbered out of 32 it was a bit of a surprise. Again I was mainly going after this for a Set Building project so I really can't complain too much about it from that perspective. If you plan on buying a box or two to try and score a big hit you won't, but you will have some fun and some sorting to do afterwards. You would need a case break to try for a Autograph and the math alone on the amount of packs and cards would kill me before I write another review so I'll stay with my search for the remaining 41 cards.
Gambler Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Set Builder: 3.5/5
Parallels: 3.5/5
Design: 3/5
Rookies: 4/5
Fun Aspect: 3.5/5
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