My social media, like most, has been flooded with labubus. Love them or hate them, these are just one of many available products in the current blind box market: You buy the product before even knowing which design is inside.

According to Global Growth Insights, the blind box market was valued at over 2 million USD in 2024, and is set to almost double by the end of 2025.

I never would have predicted that in my 20s I would fall prey to this trend. With most items we purchase it would be bizarre to buy without knowing what is inside. I find myself researching extensively, and will bookmark an item for months before buying. I am known to be indecisive even when picking a sandwich in a meal deal, so why is it that these toys have become so popular?

These aren’t new concepts. The first blind boxes originated from the Japanese fukubukuro, or “lucky bags,” in the early 20th century, and were a method for department stores to sell leftover stock. This concept evolved into gashapon capsule toys in the 1960s and 70s.

I can recall standing by the tills at the supermarket as a young child whilst my parents would pay for shopping. For about £1, you would get a small figurine. The fun, it seemed, was finding out which random character you would get inside the plastic round capsules. My first taste of these was a small beagle keychain. They are a similar premise to the more popular Kinder Egg Surprise, and like many children I consumed an extensive amount of chocolate to build my collection of toys.

More recently, I bought my first Sonny Angel… and then my second, then third. At the core this is a sense of risk and reward. It’s something that you do feel compelled to return to again and again, since the unknown provides customers with a thrill which could be compared to gambling. Ultimately, everyone’s a winner, as these blind boxes are never empty.

We want to feel lucky, so perhaps in a stressful global climate we have been drawn back to these chance-based toys.