What the Labubu Blind Box Craze Has in Common With Gambling

The videos all follow the same general pattern: A creator holding a box giddily explains what they’re hoping to find inside. After ripping the tab on the box open, they withdraw a sealed bag, which they hold out to the camera as they noisily crinkle it. Next, they close their eyes, rip open the bag, and pull out the toy within, revealing to the viewer a small, elfin plush figure with rabbit-like ears and a sharp-toothed smile: A Labubu. We, the viewer, know first whether it’s the one the creator had hoped for, and watch as they open their eyes and scream with joy—or disappointment.

In the past year or so, Labubus seem to have taken over the world. Sold in opaque boxes to conceal which version is inside (the possible options are shown on the side of the box), the cute-but-creepy toys sell out in mere minutes both online and in store. Unboxing videos have racked up millions of views on TikTok, fakes (called “Lafufus”) have flooded the market, fights have broken out in shop queues, and high-priced heists have made headlines.

Although Labubu is definitely leading the charge, other collectible toys sold via blind box—including Dimoo, Smiski, and Sonny Angel—have also experienced a surge in popularity in recent months. Blind boxes are clearly having a viral moment, but they’ve been around in one form or another for many years. Read on to find out where blind boxes came from, how they rose to prominence, and why people are currently obsessed with them.

1. From Fukubukuro to Labubu
2. The Psychology of Blind Boxes
3. The Winning Labubu Formula

From Fukubukuro to Labubu

The earliest known iteration of the blind box started in Japan. “Lucky Bags (fukubukuro), containing a random assortment of goods at a set price, have long proved popular in Japan,” Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, the doll and toy curator at the Strong National Museum of Play, tells Mental Floss. The exact origins of fukubukuro aren’t certain, but they’re thought to date back to the early 1860s, when fabric shops would use the mystery bags to clear out offcuts at a reduced price. Soon, they became a common sight around the New Year.

Toys were added into the mystery bag mix around a century later with the introduction of capsule toy vending machines called gachapon (or gashapon). The name of the machine is onomatopoeic: gacha/gasha refers to the noise of the handle turning, and pon to what the capsule sounds like when it hits the tray. It’s thought that the first gachapon was installed by Ryuzo Shigeta in 1965 in Tokyo. Instead of having the machine randomly spit out small toys and candy as they were, Shigeta encased the products in a hard plastic shell—thereby adding an unboxing element to the experience.

Gachapon then got a big boost in popularity in 1977, when toy manufacturer Bandai trademarked the name gashapon and installed machines filled with toys of popular brands including Japanese superheroes Kamen Rider and Ultraman. Although Bandai’s toys were more expensive (¥100 compared to ¥10 or ¥20), the machines were a massive hit and spread throughout Japan.

Parnett-Dwyer identifies the early 2000s as the time when blind box toys started taking off in the U.S., with companies such as Kidrobot and tokidoki launching series of blind box figurines. Similar concepts had already found success in the States (and across the world): Mystery packs of baseball and Pokémon trading cards proved popular, for example, and the small toys included in cereal boxes and McDonald’s Happy Meals were a big draw.

But the current Labubu craze has taken blind boxes to new heights. The kimo-kawaii (“creepy-cute”) character was first introduced in 2015 and was launched by Pop Mart in 2019, but didn’t step into the spotlight until April 2024, when Lisa from K-pop group Blackpink started showcasing her collection. It was the Labubu keychain attached to her designer handbag that really sparked the trend. It wasn’t long before other celebrities—including Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, and Dua Lipa—were also seen sporting the doll on their luxury bags and amassing their own collections. From there, Labubus spread like wildfire.

But why are people so fanatical about the fanged and fluffy doll?

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The Psychology of Blind Boxes

Labubu mania may seem as simple as lots of people liking the little mischievous-looking toys, but it’s actually the result of a mixture of different psychological and cultural factors (and people liking the toys).

First up, you might question why people would spend money on a blind box when it might not even contain the specific toy that they want. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, explains that the answer lies in our brain chemistry: Blind boxes hit the same triggers as gambling. “The appeal draws heavily from slot machine mechanics with a combination of randomness, surprise, and anticipation,” she tells Mental Floss. “Variable rewards trigger dopamine, making them more compelling than predictable ones.”

Blind boxes play perfectly into the way our brains are motivated. “The thrill of not knowing taps into the brain’s reward circuits,” Rutledge explains. While there can be disappointment if the anticipation ends with an unwanted or already owned toy, “the randomness reinforces the possibility of a future reward, which can reinforce the cycle, similar to near-misses in gambling.” So the appeal of blind boxes isn’t just about desire for the toy itself; it’s about our psychological reaction to the whole experience.

Blind box buyers are motivated not only by getting one of the standard designs that they want, but also by the possibility of being one of the lucky few to find a so-called secret toy. Although what the secret toy could be isn’t always advertised, the secret versions are usually catalogued online by the collecting community. The chances of finding a secret Smiski range from 1 in every 12 boxes to 1 in every 144 depending on the line. Labubu collector Justine Cristobal told the LA Times that the allure of unboxing a secret toy motivates her to buy more. “They’re very limited, so that’s why you want it. You kind of crave it,” she said.

And then there’s the collectability of blind boxes, with some buyers wanting one of every possible version in a particular series. “We have an innate part of us which wants to acquire items to make a collection,” marketing specialist Cary Lee told The Guardian. In a 2025 study, Lee found that the collectible nature of blind boxes creates “an addictive loop of impulsive purchases.”

It’s also worth noting that young adults—not children—are the ones driving the blind box toy trend. Almost 40 percent of Pop Mart’s core audience is between 25 and 34 years old, with the 18 to 24 demographic coming in second at about 27 percent. “This is the trend of the younger generation,” Wang Ning, Pop Mart’s founder, told Forbes. The rise of Millennials and Gen Z embracing activities usually associated with children is known as “kidulting” and includes buying Barbie dolls, visiting Disney parks without kids, and rewatching KPop Demon Hunters for the 100th time.

Although frowned upon as regressive by some, the current trend of young adults leaning into kidulting makes psychological sense. “During uncertain times, engaging with childlike joys offers comfort and control,” Rutledge says. Times are most definitely uncertain right now—world politics are unstable and economic difficulties mean that many people aren’t hitting the big milestones that their parents hit. It’s no wonder that so many adults are looking to small joys for emotional escapism. Blind boxes are, in Rutledge’s words, “micro-doses of hope in an uncertain world.”

Social media has also spread the blind box trend far and wide. Where older unboxing videos on YouTube were long and slow, with more details about the product and opinions from the unboxer, the latest iteration of the unboxing video is fast and punchy to take advantage of TikTok’s algorithm, which is putting the toys in front of more eyes than ever before. “Fast-paced, visual, emotionally reactive content spreads easily,” Rutledge explains. Unboxing videos have become “part of a bigger trend where play becomes performance, creating a shared cultural ritual shaped by algorithms and aesthetics.”

Viewers of unboxing videos often experience similar feelings of anticipation and excitement as the person doing the unboxing—but at a safer distance since they aren’t the ones spending money. And while the unboxer might experience disappointment, Rutledge says that for the viewer, “the moment of reveal is satisfying, whether it’s a hit or a ‘dupe.’ ” There’s also an ASMR aspect to many of the videos, with creators emphasizing the tingle-inducing sounds of the box’s tab being pulled and the crinkling of the plastic bag hiding the toy.

But while some watchers are happy to live vicariously, others develop feelings of envy and are driven to buy their own blind boxes.

The Winning Labubu Formula

So why specifically have Labubus become the most popular blind box toy?

The first driving factor is the trickle-down effect of organic celebrity endorsements rather than inorganic paid brand promotion. While most people can’t afford to splurge on the designer handbag used by their favorite K-pop idol—Lisa’s Kaithe Elena bag costs $2600—they can often afford to buy the $30 Labubu keychain attached to that bag. Labubus are likely part of the phenomenon known as the Lipstick Effect: When people can’t afford to buy big luxuries during times of economic turmoil, little luxuries—such as lipstick, or in this case, Labubus—see a boost in sales.

The fact that Labubus are often incorporated into outfits also plays a part in their popularity. Rather than just sitting on shelves as display items, Labubus are fashion accessories. Not only does this allow the plush toy to become part of someone’s personal style—an extension of their identity—it also means that they’re highly visible in the world, which generates even more interest in them.

And then there’s the scarcity factor. Just getting your hands on a Labubu blind box is a challenge these days, which drives up demand. In 2024, Emily Brough, head of licensing for Pop Mart North America, told the LA Times that the scarcity of Labubus wasn’t manufactured. “It’s not like we’re just sending 12 to the store so that there’s this craze and nobody gets what they want,” she said. Instead, she places the blame on the timeline of the supply chain: Orders are placed months in advance, before the extent of demand for certain lines is known.

But whether manufactured or not, scarcity has almost definitely played a part in Labubu mania. A 2025 study into the behavior of blind box consumers found that scarcity led to “a decrease in the individual’s cognitive and executive control abilities.” Essentially, a lack of supply means that Labubu lovers are more likely to make unwise financial decisions, like buying blind boxes excessively when they’re finally available.

Much like Labubus themselves, which are both cute and creepy, blind boxes have a light and dark side. They can provide a fun moment of escapism, a trendy fashion accessory, and even a small part of someone’s identity. But, thanks to the gambling mechanics baked into blind boxes, they can also be addictive. It’s all of these factors coming together that has made blind boxes—and Labubus specifically—such a cultural phenomenon.