"Gatcha", from Japanese "gatchapon"; there's little dispenser machines which sell plastic eggs containing a random collectible from a set. There are thousands of different product lines.

Basically game lootboxes, but IRL. People like gambling, it seems.

are they regulated under gambling laws? Sounds like fraud to me.

They are and I hate it. It‘s bad enough with trading cards, but now every single collectible is employing gacha mechanics and it’s frustrating.

I don't get it. It's a "collectable". Your "hobby" is "collecting". You put your "collection" on a shelf and look at it.

That's not a hobby to me. It's just consuming for consumption's sake.

Well, they took that formula and made it worse because now you can't just buy it, you have to roll a dice or get a second hand.

Also nothing wrong with just having a shelf with things you like to look at.

> Also nothing wrong with just having a shelf with things you like to look at.

Sure. That's a collection of things you like but it's not "collecting". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4onp1zbjSjU

For eg Magic cards, a secondary market formed very quickly where you could buy exactly what you wanted.

"Everything is gambling now"

Protip: If you call it an investment, it becomes not only respectable but it is in fact the responsible thing to do for your customer's financial security.