Physical games can be just as addictive as apps when they rely on the "thrill of the hunt" to keep kids engaged.
Children are falling for gambling-style mechanics in physical card games, often with the encouragement of parents who view the hobby as a healthy, tech-free alternative to digital screens.
Low-tech toys are not a free pass. Parents often push kids toward physical hobbies to escape "digital addiction," but many analog collectibles use the exact same psychological triggers—variable-ratio rewards—found in gambling and video game loot boxes. This study shows that a game’s physical form doesn’t protect a child’s brain from forming addictive reward-seeking habits.
Researchers investigated the explosion of "cigarette card" games—which use discarded or replica tobacco packaging—among school children. They wanted to determine if these games were harmless nostalgia or a gateway to more dangerous behaviors. The rise of these games is fueled by a desire to get kids off devices, creating a blind spot for parents who overlook the gambling mechanics and tobacco branding inherent in the cards.
Children in the study explicitly linked the "thrill" of finding rare cards to the psychological highs typically associated with winning a bet.
- The vast majority of participants were boys, highlighting a gendered appeal for these competitive, collection-based games.
- Parents frequently acted as facilitators, purchasing the cards to encourage outdoor play and social bonding without realizing they were normalizing tobacco imagery.
- Social dynamics created a "play or be excluded" environment, where children felt intense pressure to participate just to maintain their friendships.
The real danger isn't just the cards; it's the desensitization. By collecting "rare" cigarette brands, children are being conditioned to view tobacco logos as symbols of status and achievement. Furthermore, the "reward-driven" loop suggests that the actual play is secondary to the chemical "hit" of a win, which mimics the early stages of a gambling disorder.
This was a small, qualitative study of only 21 parent-child pairs in China. It does not prove a causal link between these games and future gambling. Because the sample was almost entirely boys, the findings may not reflect how these games or similar collectibles affect girls.
- If your child is obsessed with "rare" collectibles... evaluate whether they enjoy the mechanics of the game or are simply chasing the "high" of a lucky find.
- If a physical hobby features branding for adult products like tobacco or alcohol... replace the hobby with one that doesn't use "cool" imagery to normalize harmful industries.
- If you are encouraging a "low-tech" hobby purely to reduce screen time... look closely at the reward system to ensure you aren't trading a digital dopamine loop for a physical one.
A toy doesn't need a screen to be addictive. Be skeptical of any hobby where the primary driver is the "hit" of the find rather than the activity itself.
Weng X, Deng Y, Xia Y et al. (2026). Exploring Gambling-like Behaviors in Children's Cigarette Card Games and Parental Pro-game Perceptions in China: A Qualitative Study. Journal of gambling studies. doi:10.1007/s10899-026-10514-2 — pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov