What’s in a Pokémon Elite Trainer Box?

An Elite Trainer Box holds 8–9 booster packs plus sleeves, energy cards, dice, condition markers and a storage box, and usually a set-exclusive promo card.

Every Elite Trainer Box (ETB) is made for one set, so its packs, its promo card and the artwork on the box all belong to that set. The extras are what set it apart from a booster bundle or a booster box: they’re the things a new player needs to sleeve up and play a deck, and the box itself is sized to store cards afterwards.

For the 4 newest sets out, here’s the cheapest Elite Trainer Box in stock at UK stores right now, and what it works out to per pack.

A few special sets break the rule: their Elite Trainer Box holds 10 packs. Celebrations mixes pack sizes, so we show no per-pack price for it.

Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Boxes add extra packs and a stamped promo to the retail ETB, and were originally sold only through the Pokémon Center. In Scarlet & Violet and Mega Evolution sets that’s 11 packs against the retail box’s 9, and 10 in Sword & Shield sets.

Stores also sell ETBs by the sealed case, straight from the distributor: 10 Elite Trainer Boxes to a case. They’re listed apart, on the Elite Trainer Box cases page, so a case is never compared with a single box.

• New players. Sleeves, energy, dice and markers in one box, with packs to start a collection.
• Gifts. It’s one box with everything inside, and the outside is made to be seen.
• Collectors of one set. The set-exclusive promo and the box art are only in that set’s ETB.

If packs are all you want, compare the per-pack prices above with a booster box or a bundle of the same set: the booster box vs ETB vs bundle guide puts them side by side.

DexCompare puts UK stores side by side: each one’s own listed price in GBP, excluding shipping, ranked by price and stock. Stores pay nothing to be listed, and commissions never change the order.

Buying from a store you haven’t used before? Check its contact details, delivery costs and returns policy first, and check the shrink-wrap and seals when your order arrives.