1991 Topps Instant Win Game

In addition to cards from each set, I like to keep a copy of whatever promotion the card company was running with the set. In a recent repack I pulled an unopened pack of 1991 Topps. For whatever reason I didn't have any of the promo cards from this set. Problem solved!

Topps promo cards for several years before this, looked pretty much the same, but the prize you could win was different. 1991 was their 40th anniversary (also my 40th birthday), and Topps packed a random card from their 40 years of sets in packs, at a 1 in 1,000 ratio. I bought a fair amount of 1991 Topps but never got one of these inserts.

If you pulled a promo card with a number starting with an X, you were an instant winner and by sending in the promo card, you got some random card. You were also entered into a drawing for the Grand Prize and Second Prize.

If you didn't get an Instant Win promo card, you could still send in the promo card, or a 3x5 index card.

The Grand Prize was pretty sweet, a complete set for each of the 40 years of Topps production. In 1991, Topps said that this prize had an approximate value of $125,000. With inflation and a probable increase in value, just the 1952 Topps set is worth $65,000 today (according to the last issue of Beckett I saw earlier this year).

The second place prize was a complete set of Topps from some random year. There would be 6 second place prizes. I imagine you were more likely to get a 1989 set of Topps rather than a 1952 set.

These types of contests were illegal in Canada, and there was usually some arithmetic quiz for Canadians to pass in order to enter. The tests were something like 3 + 5 = x. Oddly, the 1991 contest was only open to US residents, no Canadians need apply.

That tiny print was a lot easier to read with my 40-year-old eyes in 1991.