Review: 2013 Score Football

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:

• 10 Packs Per Box, 50 Cards Per Pack
• Three Autographs Per Box
• One extra Autograph or Memorabilia Card Per Box
• Fifty Rookies Per Box
• Ten Hot Rookies Per Box
• around $95 a box  

 

BASE CARDS:  I not only really like the design, but the photography is amazing. The cards give you that feel like you are at the game or remembering those moments on the field when you watched it on TV. Yes, I know it has a border and usually I am not a border type of guy, but once you get a glimpse of this photography the border appears as a TV screen as the cardboard brings the game to life.

There are also three subsets that wrap up this set.Airmail, Franchise and Road To The Super Bowl along with the 110 rookies in the classic 1989 Score design.Road To The Super Bowl wraps up the Ravens run through the playoffs and into the Super Bowl. The Airmail are top QB's in the game and Franchise are some of the most important players to teams. You know, Franchise players.

Overall there are 440-card base set that includes 220 veterans, 110 RCs, three 32-card subsets and  then the 14-card Road to the Super Bowl.

I like seeing subsets built back into products. It breaks them up. In terms of Base cards, Score gets a high five here.

 

 

INSERTS: Parallels galore!! We lucked out and pulled a End Zone black parallel numbered to 6. There are also Scorecard (we borrowed an image from Panini to show since we forgot to take a pic of one), Gold Zone, Red Zone and Artist Proof (low numbered pulls) and what we call "glitter" parallels. The Glitter parallel reminds me of Score Summitt parallels in 1995 that they called Ground Zero.Overall, well done design on the inserts.

The Hot Rookies jump off the cardboard at you with their bright colors. And for once it does bother me that players are in 00 numbered uni's, because seeing them in their NFL uniforms for the first time overtakes that part. I would rather see this then unmarked helmets that some companies use.There are also autograph and parallel versions to the Hot Rookies as well.

There are hard to find parallels of the base rookie cards as well as we landed a purple bordered version of first round QB EJ Manuel thats numbered to 99. There is also harder to find Black parallels. Not to mention Red and Blue retail parallels as well.

You get a decent amount of inserts per box.

 

AUTOGRAPHS: Two autographs per box is whats stated from Panini (will explain at the bottom in final notes why I said it that way)..but from what I hear there are actually 3 in every box. We found Tavon Austin hiding in our box early on. He should be a great weapon in this league and probably one of the better players in this draft.

I once again enjoy the original set design so an autograph looks great on it.

The Inscriptions design is that of the late 90's autograph insert that could be found in packs of Pinnacle. Back then the cards were printed on acetate. Here is an example of one:

I think its a great design and would have been awesome if Panini had followed the original suit of printing on acetate instead of cardboard.But still, very well designed.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS:A nice prime swatch of the Future Franchise receiver of the Bears Alshon Jefferey.A well designed material card as well. I like the white against the color of the memorabilia.The player stands out as well.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Did this product live up to its hype and celebrate 25 years of Score...YES!!! If I was Dennis Green and had to say something about this product, I would say "This product was what I thought it was!!" I was impressed just by Panini's images, but now that I have busted some of this product, not only will I highly recommend it to you, I really want more! And I will probably find a way to get it!

Honestly, there is a lot of fun in a box of Score Jumbo or even a pack. They are 50 card packs and rummaging through it is like buying a box of cards at a yard sale, you never know what you are about to find. The cards in the packs are also aligned like an Oreo cookie. You got to eat through the first chocolate cookie (base cards) to get to the awesome creamy center (inserts, autographs, memorabilia, other surprises) and you finish the rest of the cookie by finding the subset cards.

The one thing that I really need to point out is the box has a printing error on it, it states "one autograph or memorabilia per box" don't listen to it. There are at least 3 hits in a box and possibly more low numbered hits and printing plates and most likely a bonus autograph.

My final thoughts on this product is, not a bad price. 500 cards per box. A ton of parallels with great odds of hitting a low numbered one as I have seen at least every box with one under 50. 3-4 hits. 50 Rookie Cards of tomorrows stars. There is value in every box and fun waiting to happen.
 

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 5
                Insert Design: 5
                Memorablila/Autographs: 5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 5 if not easily 6.