StreambinderCard Collecting Glossary: Terms Every Collector Knows
Join any collector community and you'll hear a new language: "I pulled a Shiny," "my dupes are up for trade," "the drop ends Sunday." If you're new to collectible cards, the jargon can feel like a secret code.
This glossary explains the words you'll meet most often. Each entry starts with the general meaning, then shows how it works in Streambinder, a free music trading card game where every card is a real artist, track or album.
Getting cards
Pack. A sealed bundle of random cards. You don't choose what's inside, and that's the thrill. In Streambinder, a pack holds 5 cards. You keep 5 free packs in reserve, a new one recharges every 10 minutes, and when the reserve is empty a pack costs 100 coins. Your first 5 packs guarantee a Rare or better as the last card.
Pull. What you get out of a pack. "Nice pull" means you landed something good.
Card. One collectible item. In Streambinder, each card is an artist, a track or an album, taken from what your country actually listens to.
Edition. A version of the game built around one country. Streambinder has 15: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Sweden, Japan and South Korea. Each has its own cards.
Daily streak. A reward for coming back every day. Streambinder's lasts 28 days: 10 coins a day, plus free 10-card packs on days 7, 14, 21 and 28.
Coins. The in-game currency, used to buy packs and to bid at auctions. Coins are a game currency only, never real money.
Rarity and value
Rarity. How hard a card is to get. In most card games it's decided by the designers. In Streambinder it comes from real listening: the more a card is streamed, the rarer it is. The six levels are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mythic. Per card in a pack, the chances are 46%, 28%, 15%, 7%, 3.2% and 0.8%.
Common. The most frequent rarity, and often a rising artist or a deep cut.
Mythic. The top level. Mythic cards are rare pulls: the thresholds depend on the country, but they're built on streaming numbers in the billions for the biggest stars. A card you own never loses its rarity, and it can even move up if its streams keep climbing.
Shiny. A holographic version of a card, around 1 in 300. A Shiny is a flex, because it's the same card with extra sparkle. See our Shiny cards guide for how to spot and keep them.
Forge. A way to turn doubles into something special: 10 normal copies of the same card can be turned into 1 Shiny. You lose all 10 copies, so it's worth thinking twice.
Set. A group of cards that belong together, such as every card by one artist. "Completing a set" is the classic collector goal.
Doubles, drops and volumes
Duplicate (or "dupe"). A second copy of a card you already own. Doubles aren't wasted: you can sell them for coins, keep them as trade material or use them to work toward a Shiny.
Drop. The release of new cards. Collectors watch drops closely because new cards are only available for a while.
Volume. A themed batch of cards. Streambinder volumes cover ideas such as Rising Stars (emerging artists), Christmas and the holidays or New Year.
Limited edition. A set that's only available for a short time. Streambinder's volumes run for three weeks at most, two are always open at once, and new ones arrive on Mondays at 10:00 (Paris time). When a volume ends, its packs disappear, but the cards you pulled stay in your collection. We explain the details in our guide to limited edition cards.
Trading and selling
Trade. Swapping cards with another collector. In Streambinder you trade with friends: you offer a card, they offer one back.
Auction. Putting a card up for sale to the highest bidder. Players bid with coins, which makes auctions a way to find that one missing card, or to turn a valuable double into coins.
Gift. Giving a card or a pack to someone else, with no strings attached. Gifts are a great way to help a friend finish a set.
Wishlist. The list of cards you're looking for. Friends can see it, which makes gifting and trading easier.
Sell. Exchanging a card for coins at a fixed value. It's the quick option for doubles you don't need. Shiny cards are never sold automatically, so you won't lose one by mistake.
If trading is new to you, our guide to card trading strategy explains when to trade, when to sell and when to hold.
Showing off
Showcase. A display of your best cards. Streambinder lets you build showcases so friends can see your favorite pulls.
Badge. An achievement for hitting a milestone. There are more than 90 of them, covering everything from opening packs to collecting entire artist sets.
Leaderboard. A ranking of players. It can be about the biggest collection, the most Shinies or the best blind test score, among others. See how leaderboards and badges work.
Game words you'll also see
Blind test. A music quiz where you identify a song from a short clip. Streambinder has a daily one with 25 clips taken from your own collection, 4 possible answers each and 1 coin per correct answer.
Higher or Lower. A quick game: two cards, one question: which has more streams?
Fantasy League. A weekly competition with friends. Your team is 1 captain artist plus 4 tracks, and points come from real streaming growth. Local artists earn a 25% bonus. Our music fantasy league guide explains how it works.
Ready to use the vocabulary?
The easiest way to learn collecting words is to use them. Open your first pack and by the end of the day you'll have pulled, sold a duplicate and maybe added a card to your wishlist. Streambinder is an independent project and isn't affiliated with Spotify.