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How Premium Bandai sells One Piece and Gundam boxes: the Chance to Buy lottery, step by step
Bandai sells many of its hottest One Piece and Gundam boxes in the US through a lottery called Chance to Buy, not a race. Here's how it works, how long each step takes, what winners pay, and how to be ready for the next one.
In short
- It's a lottery, not a queue. You enter during a window of several days; Bandai picks a set number of buyers at random. Being first doesn't help.
- Winners get a few days to pay. Miss that window and the chance is gone; Bandai says it may also count against you next time.
- The price is the box price: $120 for a One Piece booster box in every lottery we found, about the $119.76 MSRP.
- As of October 6, two Gundam lotteries were open, taking entries until October 11. None has been posted yet for EB-05 or Stardust Trails.
What Chance to Buy is
Chance to Buy is how Premium Bandai USA, Bandai's own online store, sells a limited number of popular items. Instead of opening a product page at a set time and letting the fastest buyers check out, it opens an entry window. When it closes, "potential purchasers will be selected at random from all eligible entries received throughout the chance-to-buy program entry period by an independent agency," and only they can buy (Premium Bandai, OP-17).
That makes it different from a queue, where your place depends on when you arrive. In a drawing, entering on the first night or the last gives you the same chance. Bandai says the odds "depend on the number of eligible entries" and doesn't publish them.
The four steps
Every Chance to Buy page lays out the same four steps. Here they are for the OP-17 and OP-16 booster boxes in September 2026, with times in Central (OP-17, OP-16):
- Enter. September 16 at 9:00 PM CT to September 26 at 10:59 PM CT. One entry per person, from a free Premium Bandai account.
- Check results. On "My Page" after September 29 at 9:00 PM CT. If you aren't picked, Bandai doesn't tell you.
- Pay. Winners had until October 3 at 10:59 PM CT. Limit 1 per item.
- Wait for it to ship. December 2026, about two months after the payment window.
Every Premium Bandai USA lottery page we found that gives times opened at 10:00 PM Eastern, which is 9:00 PM Central, and closed at 11:59 PM Eastern (10:59 PM Central).
Every lottery we've found
| Item | Entry | Winners | Price | Ships |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gundam GD01 boxes and ST01A–ST04A starters | closed May 19, 2025 | not stated | not stated | not stated |
| One Piece OP-13 box | Mar 18–21, 2026 | 1,000 | $120 | Aug 2026 |
| One Piece EB-03 box | Mar 18–21, 2026 | 1,000 | $120 | Aug 2026 |
| One Piece OP15-EB04 box | Apr 16–22, 2026 | 1,008 | $120 | Aug 2026 |
| One Piece OP-16 box | Sep 16–26, 2026 | 864 | $120 | Dec 2026 |
| One Piece OP-17 box | Sep 16–26, 2026 | 5,004 | $120 | Dec 2026 |
| Gundam SC01 Deck Build Box | Oct 5–11, 2026 | 3,000 | $39.99 | Mar 2027 |
| Gundam PB04 Premium Goods Set | Oct 5–11, 2026 | 2,850 | $89.99 | May 2027 |
Each item's Premium Bandai USA page: OP-13, EB-03, OP15-EB04, OP-16, OP-17, SC01, PB04; Gundam 2025: Bandai (May 16, 2025). All checked October 6, 2026.
Three patterns stand out. The entry window has run from four to eleven days. The number of winners varies a lot, from 864 to 5,004 for a single box, so one lottery's odds say little about the next. And the payment window is short, four to ten days.
The rules that matter
- Who can enter: people 18 or older with a free Premium Bandai account and a US address (any of the 50 states or DC) (Premium Bandai FAQ).
- One entry, one account. Extra accounts or email addresses void your entries, and "use of any automated system to participate is prohibited."
- No reselling. The One Piece pages say "No resales. Entries with resale intent will be disqualified." The right to buy can't be transferred.
- If you don't pay in time, you "automatically lose" your chance, and "failure to make a purchase after you have been selected may render you ineligible for future promotions." The pages don't mention a second drawing for unclaimed boxes; Bandai says the item "may be sold at other events at a later date."
- If fewer people enter than there are items, everyone who entered gets to buy.
Bandai's other lottery: the Official Shops
Bandai also runs its own ONE PIECE CARD GAME Official Shops, physical stores, and uses a separate lottery for release weekends there. For OP-17, it took applications from August 12 to 18 for in-store purchases from August 28 to 30, "to ensure the safety of both customers and staff," at nine shops including Plano, Texas (Bandai Official Shop). Entry for that one was through each shop's registration page, not Premium Bandai.
How to be ready
- Make your free Premium Bandai account now, with your US address, so you aren't creating one on the night it opens (register).
- Note the opening time: 9:00 PM Central on the start date, on every lottery page that gives one. You don't have to enter that minute; any time in the window counts the same.
- Check My Page on results night. Bandai doesn't email people who aren't picked, and winners have only a few days to pay.
- Enter once. A second account can void you.
- Watch our Windows page, which tracks Bandai's One Piece drawings.
What's next
Gundam SC01 and PB04: entries close October 11 at 10:59 PM CT; results October 14.
EB-05 and Stardust Trails (both October 30): as of October 6, Premium Bandai USA hasn't posted a Chance to Buy for either, and the Official Shops haven't posted an EB-05 lottery (Premium Bandai Hot Deals, Official Shop news). For OP-17, the Official Shop lottery notice came about two weeks before release. See the EB-05 release page and the Stardust Trails release page for every store.
Premium Bandai is also running "Premium Bandai Week," listed from September 24 to October 13 on its Hot Deals page.
We'll add how each new lottery goes to this guide. New to these games? Start with our One Piece and Gundam buying guides, and see how other stores' lines compare.
Rules and dates are from each Premium Bandai USA lottery page and Bandai's news pages, checked October 6, 2026; Bandai can change a program "without prior notice." Times are Central.