How the community giveaway works: milestones and fair draws

What a milestone is

Every 50,000 reader visits across the whole site completes a community milestone, and each milestone awards a prize. Think of it like a fundraising thermometer for the community, not a game you play.

Your own browsing has no effect on your chances. The meter updates every 15 minutes and rounds down to the nearest 100, so no single person can see their visits move it.

Which visits count

We only count real readers, and we don't use cookies to do it.

Counted

A real page was loaded in a browser and actually shown (on screen for 5 seconds, or scrolled or tapped)
Once per visitor, per page, per 30 minutes
Up to 25 visits per visitor per day; anything past that still loads normally but doesn't move the meter

Not counted

Bots, crawlers, and traffic from data centers
Pages preloaded in the background but never opened
Our own staff and test sites
Error pages and anything that isn't a page

To tell visitors apart without cookies, we use a one-way fingerprint of the connection that resets every day, so it can't follow anyone from one day to the next. We check the meter against our analytics every month.

How prizes are chosen

Visits decide when a prize happens. The Community Fund decides how big it is, so visits never create money that isn't there.

Each prize is picked from a catalog of sealed product (booster bundles, Elite Trainer Boxes, collection boxes, and sometimes booster boxes) that fits the fund's current budget.
The next prize is announced as soon as the previous milestone completes, so the meter always shows a real item.
A milestone is never skipped. If the fund is short, we top it up ourselves and the ledger shows it.
Milestone size only changes at the start of a month, announced in advance and written into the Official Rules.

Entries

How often: One free entry per person per month. It covers every milestone drawn that month.
Who: Legal residents of the 50 US states and DC, except New York and Florida, 18 or older.
Wins: One win per person per month.
What we ask for: An email address, confirmed by a link. A shipping address only if you win.
Newsletter: A separate, optional checkbox. Never required to enter.
Bonus entries: None. Everyone gets the same single entry.

How the draw works

Every draw can be re-checked by anyone, using only public information.

The milestone completes
We record the exact time and take a snapshot of every eligible entry for the month.
We publish the entry list's fingerprint
A SHA-256 hash of the sorted entry list goes up on the winners page, so the list can't be changed afterward.
Public randomness picks the winner
We use the first drand (League of Entropy) random number published at least 10 minutes after the milestone, a number no one could know in advance.
Anyone can check it
Winner = hash(random number + entry-list fingerprint), modulo the number of entries. The winners page shows every input so you can redo it.
We confirm and ship
We check eligibility, then the prize ships from the retailer straight to the winner. If a winner doesn't respond in time, a backup winner is drawn the same way.

What we'll never say

Our copy rules, published so you can hold us to them.

We say	We never say
Every 50,000 reader visits, someone in our community wins.	Keep browsing to unlock the prize.
Funded by half of our qualifying revenue.	Every page you view counts.
Free to enter; one entry per person per month.	Share or refresh to help us hit the goal.
Next prize: …	Anything about viewing or clicking ads.

No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the 50 US states and DC, except New York and Florida, 18 or older. Void where prohibited. See the Official Rules. Not affiliated with The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, or TCGplayer.

Counted

Not counted

The milestone completes

We publish the entry list's fingerprint

Public randomness picks the winner

Anyone can check it

We confirm and ship