\n<\/p>\n
Jess has never touched a slot machine, played the lottery or bought a scratch-off, but she fears she may have a gambling problem nonetheless.<\/p>\n
This July, the 28-year-old found herself spending up to $270 a week on blind boxes \u2013 that is, surprise items that are sold in sealed, opaque packaging. Activewear companies, bookshops and even candy stores all sell mystery bundles of their products, but the brands currently dominating the market produce collectible toys with cute but unusual names. If you want a complete collection of Labubu, Smiski, Dimoo, Pucky, Skullpanda or Sonny Angel figurines, then you will have to buy blind box after blind box, sighing at every duplicate and praying the next package contains the creature you need to finish the set.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s silly but it is very addictive,\u201d says Jess, who is based in Ireland but prefers not to reveal her full name or occupation. Jess started buying Labubu dolls in April after seeing them on TikTok: these strange, toothsome and fuzzy monsters have exploded in popularity this year thanks to celebrity endorsements and social media hype. Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind Labubus and many other mystery collectibles, is now estimated to be worth $40bn \u2013 but in June, the company\u2019s stock briefly plunged after a Chinese state media publication condemned blind box marketing as predatory.<\/p>\n
The buyer\u2019s guilt that I get nearly every time after I\u2019ve spent is insane \u2026 Sometimes I open things and I don\u2019t want themJess<\/p>\n
Jess believes she is addicted to blind boxes: after she tried banning herself from buying them in July, she \u201csnapped\u201d and suddenly found herself ordering 25 more. Sitting at home and waiting for parcels to arrive, she would itch to go out and physically get some more: \u201cI would end up buying stuff that I didn\u2019t care about just for the thrill of opening a box.\u201d Jess found herself purchasing mystery plushies from the brand Squishmallows, which she doesn\u2019t even like. \u201cI\u2019d open them and be like, \u2018Why do I now have this squishy lobster?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess says opening blind boxes feels like gambling because of the highs and lows: \u201cWhenever you get the one that you want, it\u2019s unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
On social media, it\u2019s easy to see the impulse buying provoked by blind box marketing. In one TikTok video with 2.6m likes, a woman buys a $27.99 Skullpanda, looks at the list of possible toys inside the box and says she would \u201cbe happy with any of them\u201d except the Christmas tree dolls. Low and behold, the box contains the Christmas tree, and \u2013 visibly frustrated \u2013 she rushes back to the store to buy a second box. Another $27.99 later, she becomes the less-than-proud owner of two Christmas trees.<\/p>\n
In a different video, a man buys six bags of mystery Disney pins at $44.99 each, but after ending up with 17 duplicates and an incomplete set, goes back to buy two more, bringing his total spend to almost $360.<\/p>\n
And some buyers don\u2019t just seek the toys they personally like \u2013 they also hunt for the \u201crare\u201d or \u201csecret\u201d items that are more uncommon and thus more valuable.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Labubu figurines sit on a shelf at the Labu\u2019Tique Shop in Anaheim, California, in June.<\/span> Photograph: MediaNews Group\/Orange County Register\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThe buyer\u2019s guilt that I get nearly every time after I\u2019ve spent is insane,\u201d Jess says, adding that she could have used the money for her forthcoming wedding. \u201cIf it were to continue like this, it would become dire, because who can pop off \u00a31,000 [$1,300] in a couple of months on literal shit?\u201d Jess says she feels \u201cdebilitated\u201d by her habit. \u201cSometimes I open things and I don\u2019t want them.\u201d<\/p>\n Dana Nguyen is a 27-year-old from Monterey, California, who has spent $4,000 on Labubu dolls since the start of this year (on the Pop Mart website, Labubu dolls and figurines range in price from $19.99 to $959.50 each). This April, Nguyen realised she had a problem when she went to her PO Box and saw 20 parcels waiting for her. \u201cI\u2019m telling myself I want to fly to Europe, I want to travel the world, but how can I do that if I\u2019m spending $4,000 on fur, cotton, vinyl, whatever these things are made of?\u201d<\/p>\n When asked to describe the feeling she gets when opening blind boxes, she says: \u201cHonestly, that\u2019s gambling. I\u2019m gonna say it flat out: it\u2019s straight gambling.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tell myself I won\u2019t be one of those people in Vegas gambling on the slot machines or on the tables \u2013 and then I\u2019m over here doing the exact same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n A<\/span>dults in America are buying more toys than ever before. In the first half of 2025, the number of toys bought for grownups increased 18% \u2013 and in 2024, adults bought more toys for themselves than for preschoolers for the very first time. Enthusiasts offer easy explanations for their \u201ckidulting\u201d, summarised neatly in one BBC headline: \u201cAdults buying kids\u2019 toys to escape global turmoil.\u201d As Nguyen puts it: \u201cYou\u2019re already struggling as it is, with the economy, with society, and you think: OK, let me just have a little sweet treat because I\u2019m not able to afford other luxuries in life.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, collecting is a very compelling habit. Cary Lee is an Australia-based marketing specialist who researches consumer behaviour. Lee has found six main reasons that people collect, including a sense of achievement, an extension of selfhood, community membership and a desire for a legacy. Lee\u2019s studies have shown that the financial motivation to build a collection (for instance, the idea it might be worth something one day) is relatively weak compared with these intrinsic, emotional incentives. \u201cWe have an innate part of us which wants to acquire items to make a collection,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Toy companies, of course, are well aware of this. In a 2020 prospectus for potential investors, Pop Mart wrote: \u201cWhile traditional toys are primarily for children to play with, pop toys target young adults between 15 years old and 40 years old in general, who seek for emotional value from expressing personality and attitude.\u201d The company declared itself \u201crelentless\u201d in its desire to \u201cattract and build a fast-growing, young and passionate fanbase\u201d and argued that blind boxes in particular inspire repeat purchases \u201cdue to unpredictability and fun\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a perfect selling point for people like me who are struggling with their mental health, to just have that little sweet treatDana Nguyen<\/p>\n In 2019, Pop Mart asked market research company Frost & Sullivan to survey more than 1,000 consumers and found that, \u201caround 70% of pop toy consumers would purchase blind box toys three times or more for a specific toy design they want\u201d.<\/p>\n Lee has conducted studies on blind boxes and has found that most US consumers often come across their first blind box in stores and buy them impulsively. Yet regardless of the outcome \u2013 whether they get the toy they like the look of or a dud \u2013 people are often compelled to go back and buy another box. One of Lee\u2019s papers uncovered \u201can addictive loop of impulsive purchases\u201d, arguing there was \u201ca \u2018dark side\u2019 to a seemingly innocuous product\u201d.<\/p>\n Online, an oft-repeated defence for the hyperconsumption of collectible toys is: \u201cIt makes me happy. It\u2019s not harming anyone\u201d \u2013 but is that really true? Beyond the environmental impact \u2013 not only are the toys themselves plastic, the packaging is often elaborate and multilayered to add to the thrill of unboxing \u2013 there is also personal wellbeing to consider. Nguyen says she initially hid the scale of her spending from her husband (whose business she helps run), and her mental health suffered at the peak of her blind box addiction.<\/p>\n \u201cI have bipolar and I have very manic episodes where I\u2019m willing to take more risks than I normally would,\u201d she says. After high-energy episodes, sometimes she finds herself irritable and in a low mood. \u201cYou just want a little quick fix. It\u2019s a perfect selling point for people like me who are struggling with their mental health, to just have that little sweet treat, to have that little bit of serotonin or dopamine in their systems.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Shoppers choose from 10 tons of mystery packs during a blind sale at Merlata Bloom shopping mall in February in Milan, Italy. <\/span> Photograph: Emanuele Cremaschi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Now that she has restricted herself to purchasing fewer blind boxes, Nguyen says: \u201cI feel like my nervous system has calmed a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n Eddie is a 34-year-old cashier from Mississippi who recently spent about $400 on blind boxes in a single month. \u201cIt made me feel sick to my stomach because I didn\u2019t feel like I was in control of what I was spending,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d immediately have buyer\u2019s remorse after making a purchase, and sometimes, I wasn\u2019t even excited to get the package. I was more worried about the damage I\u2019d done to my savings and finances.\u201d<\/p>\n A burgeoning field of study into these gambling-like mechanisms and their impact has researchers concerned. Leon Xiao is an assistant professor at the City University of Hong Kong who researches video game law and the challenges of regulating gambling-like products. Xiao\u2019s work has historically focused on \u201cloot boxes\u201d, which are digital blind boxes sold for real money inside video games. (The items inside often help players perform better in the game.) Yet Xiao is intrigued by the increased \u201cgamblification\u201d of physical merchandise. \u201cI\u2019ve seen T-shirts being sold in blind boxes, chocolates in blind boxes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n While Xiao pours cold water on one Chinese study published in 2022, which found that engaging with blind boxes was positively associated with suicide risk in young people \u2013 \u201cthat\u2019s obviously going too far. There\u2019s also a paper about drinking milk tea or boba linked to suicidal ideation\u201d \u2013 he is troubled by other research findings. One longitudinal study published in 2023 found that young people who bought loot boxes participated in more gambling six months later than those who did not. One of Xiao\u2019s own studies has found a correlation between buying mystery card packs and experiencing gambling problems. And a paper published this July argued that loot box spending can be associated with psychological distress and an increased risk of \u201cextreme distress\u201d. Xiao says: \u201cWe are concerned about vulnerable people spending more money and experiencing harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Xiao wonders whether new consumer laws might be the answer. In China, a set of advisory guidelines released in 2022 asked companies to publish probability disclosures, set age and spending limits, and even implement \u201cpity mechanics\u201d whereby customers are offered the item they desire after making a number of purchases. These guidelines also banned the sale of blind boxes to kids under age eight and required older children obtain parental permission before buying them \u2013 but in practice, enforcement is not so stringent.<\/p>\n It became like a game \u2026 Most of the time I didn\u2019t want the stuff, I just liked the excitement of waiting, finding and obtaining themBethan<\/p>\n In the US, the Federal Trade Commission has looked into video game loot boxes and even fined one developer $20m for unfairly marketing to children and misleading players about the odds, but the FTC declined to comment on blind boxes when contacted by the Guardian. In 2018, loot boxes were declared illegal under existing gambling laws in Belgium, but Xiao\u2019s research has found that enforcement remains a problem there, too.<\/p>\n Jesper Andersson is a 23-year-old from Sweden who realised in 2024 that he had spent more than $4,000 in just a few months on mystery packs in the video game Fifa. \u201cI\u2019ve gambled normally on football and stuff like that, but I get anxious if I even lose $10. But when I drop $100 on Fifa, I don\u2019t even care,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain why, it just feels very different.\u201d Perhaps it feels different because Andersson\u2019s Fifa pack habit started as a child \u2013 without his own disposable income, he asked for Fifa coins every Christmas for nine years.<\/p>\n A number of children\u2019s toys are now sold via a mystery mechanism: LOL Surprise! dolls, Mini Brands, and endless Disney figurines and plushies. It\u2019s easy to see how youngsters are becoming acclimatised to this type of consumption, which could arguably normalise gambling.<\/p>\n I<\/span>n June, Bethan found herself with no money left for gas thanks to her Labubu habit. The 55-year-old \u2013 who has just passed the California bar exam and asked to use a pseudonym \u2013 got hooked on the dolls in May. \u201cIt became like a game. Some of the time \u2013 most of the time \u2013 I didn\u2019t want the stuff. I just liked the excitement of waiting, finding and obtaining them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Bethan has spent hundreds of dollars on Labubus (and knockoff \u201cLafufus\u201d) in just a few months; while she has been able to pay her bills, she has had to borrow money for gas, has no money left for emergencies, and has increased her credit card debt. \u201cThere are things I didn\u2019t normally have to save up for but now I have to,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n But Bethan is not just motivated by the blind box mechanism \u2013 in fact, she has numerous packages sitting unopened in her house. She is compelled by a sense of competition; Labubus can sell out quickly online, and Bethan prides herself on tracking down sellers to get her hands on new releases. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s getting them before everybody else \u2026 at a low price before they go up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n As problematic as these compulsive behaviours can be, they could be exacerbated by new ways of shopping. Pop Mart runs a number of channels on TikTok where it drops new products in live streams, forcing consumers to scramble to add them to their carts. \u201cI genuinely spent three weeks every day trying to get one Labubu,\u201d Jess says, \u201cI\u2019ll never forget feeling how I felt when I got one.\u201d<\/p>\n Another app, Whatnot, hosts live stream auctions where people bid on collectibles and other products \u2013 it\u2019s currently the 15th most popular free iPhone app. Eddie says Whatnot exacerbated his problem spending. \u201cThe hosts and the chat make these kind of shopping events more fun but also parasocial,\u201d he says. \u201cYou see other people spending even more than you.\u201d Eddie found it hard to keep track of his spending inside the app: \u201cI never saw an overall total from a shop until my order arrived at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee, the marketing expert, says \u201cscarcity marketing\u201d like this can be very psychologically compelling. He argues that time limits on drops and auctions can create a \u201cfear of missing out\u201d, compelling consumers to act impulsively.<\/p>\n Defenders of blind boxes note that baseball cards have been around for over a century \u2013 and millennials bought mystery playing cards or stickers as kids. Yet, Lee says, what has changed now is the amount of money at stake and how easy it is to spend that money using digital platforms. While a pack of Pok\u00e9mon cards might have cost a few dollars in the 1990s, most of the blind boxes offered on Pop Mart\u2019s website range in price from $15-$26 \u2013 though the most expensive one currently available is nearly $300.<\/p>\n <\/span>Blind boxes of Labubu dolls at a Pop Mart store in Shenzhen, China, in June.<\/span> Photograph: VCG\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Bethan says she has \u201ccut back\u201d on blind boxes, but has not stopped. Andersson last spent money in Fifa a month before we spoke, while Eddie is now trying to stay away from blind boxes. Nguyen has managed to recoup her money by reselling her collection online during the peak of Labubu popularity, but she still has unpopular ones sitting around that she cannot sell.<\/p>\n Jess faces similar problems \u2013 she has tried to sell some of the Labubu figurines she does not like online but has found no one else likes them either. \u201cThey\u2019re definitely not in as high demand as they were at the start of this year.\u201d Jess is now prepared to sell her toys for half of what she paid for them. Yet although she now has \u201cquite a large collection of stuff and nowhere to put it\u201d, she is still buying more blind boxes. Her ultimate aim is to cut down to one box a month.<\/p>\n Most of the people I speak to would like to see greater regulation of blind boxes, although when I first bring up the idea, Jess admits: \u201cMy first reaction was: \u2018No! Please don\u2019t take these away from me.\u2019\u201d But she does believe blind boxes are akin to gambling, so suggests there should be \u201cgreater warnings about what you could be sucked into\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely convinced myself at the start that it wasn\u2019t something that could could hurt me, because of the nature of collecting cute things,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s very underhanded, how it can affect you without you realizing.\u201d<\/p>\n