After tripling After making money pulling expensive Pokémon cards from digital packs on the Rips app, I immediately knew what I had to do next: keep pulling. It was time to make sure, increase my volatility settings and start spending real money opening even more expensive packs.

These digital card packs, ready for quick withdrawal and even faster rewards, are gaining popularity. People have downloaded the Rips app more than 6 million times since its launch in October 2025, and half of those downloads occurred in the last two months, according to data from Apptopia. You pay money to copy digital packs and earn physical cards, but you also have the instant option to resell them.

Rips exemplifies the current online moment in which I am bombarded with new and inventive ways to go all in digitally. From sports betting to prediction markets, the smartphone in my pocket is the best place to lose it all while trying to make some quick money. Rips did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Even before trying Rips, I was familiar with the platform thanks to TikTok’s incessant ads. Other notable apps offer a similar format, such as influencer Logan Paul’s RipIt. These platforms take advantage of the popularity of opening packs of physical cards, usually Pokémon trading cards, to find rare cards that sell for a lot of money. The application is only for users over 18 years of age.

Courtesy of Reece Rogers

Courtesy of Reece Rogers

Since Rips offers to buy back cards immediately, users have the opportunity to withdraw thousands of dollars more than when they started withdrawing packs earlier in the day. Well, unless you’re me, then you’re just setting the money on fire and leaving without cash or cards.

It’s time to rip

When I first opened Rips, I was greeted with what appeared to be an AI-generated image of a neon vending machine, filled with packs of cards and bathed in dramatic lighting, while standing alone in a dark, nondescript warehouse. The full name of the app is Rips by Triumph. Triumph also operates a popular app where users pay to play arcade games and potentially win money.

The main mechanic of the Rips app is to open shiny single card packs. Users can choose between Pokémon, Basketball or One Piece cards. The cheapest option is the Pokémon Starter Pack, which costs $1, and goes up to the Pokémon Diamond Pack, whose digital opening costs $2,500. You can change your “volatility level” in the settings of many of these packages. Higher volatility means you have a higher chance of picking cards on either end of the spectrum and a lower chance of getting something in the middle price tier.

If a user opens a $1 package, then the cheapest card they could take out is worth 10 cents and the most expensive is worth $20. At the other end of the price range, the $2,500 packages, the ripper is guaranteed a card worth at least $850, but the most expensive card he was able to draw is worth $82,166.