How to Carry, Store & Travel With Your Pins at BlizzCon

First, let's cover the official rules.

That limit applies to whatever you're using to transport your pin collection as well.

If you're planning to bring a large backpack, messenger bag, or oversized pin case, measure it before leaving home.

Blizzard also prohibits wheeled carts and wagons, so those aren't an option for hauling a particularly large collection around the convention center.

There isn't one perfect solution. How you should carry your pins depends largely on how many you're bringing and what you plan to do with them.

For most collectors, the choice comes down to a traditional pin binder, a pin roll, or a smaller third-party pin book.

Official Blizzard Collectible Pins binder.

Blizzard has released several styles of official pin binders over the years, and they remain one of the most recognizable storage options for Blizzard collectors.

A traditional pin binder is particularly useful when you're actively trading.

You can sit down with another collector, unzip the binder, and flip through pages without digging through individual bags or containers.

Binder = best for volume and browsing.

The downside is weight. Enamel pins don't seem particularly heavy individually, but fill an entire binder with them and you'll notice the difference after carrying it around for several hours.

Official Blizzard Collectible Pins roll.

The Blizzard pin roll takes a different approach. Instead of a traditional book-style binder, pins attach to fabric panels that roll into a compact package for transportation.

The biggest advantage is portability. If you only want to carry your active traders rather than a huge collection, the roll can be much easier to fit into a convention bag.

Pin roll = best for portability.

You certainly don't need an official Blizzard product.

Amazon and other retailers sell everything from small portable pin books designed for a few dozen pins to large zippered binders with removable pages.

For BlizzCon, we generally prefer a binder or case that completely closes.

Look for features such as:

• A zippered exterior
• Removable or replaceable pages
• Enough spacing between pages that pins aren't pressed against each other
• A size that comfortably fits inside your BlizzCon bag
• Room for pins you acquire during the convention

The biggest binder isn't necessarily the best binder.

Remember: you have to carry it.

You probably don't need to carry your entire Blizzard pin collection around BlizzCon.

It can be tempting, especially when you know you're going to be surrounded by other collectors, but ask yourself how many of those pins you're actually willing to trade.

Your personal collection doesn't necessarily need to leave your hotel room.

There isn't much benefit to carrying an extra five pounds of pins around all day just to repeatedly tell people:

"Sorry, those aren't for trade."

For collectors bringing a large number of pins to Anaheim, this is one of our favorite setups.

Bring your larger collection or trade inventory on the trip, but don't carry all of it into BlizzCon every morning.

Keep your main collection secured at your hotel and create a smaller day binder containing the pins you're most interested in trading.

You can rotate pins between the two as the weekend progresses.

If someone asks about a pin you left behind, you can always arrange to meet later.

There isn't a right or wrong way to organize a trading binder, but a little organization makes trades much easier.

Some collectors organize their pins by franchise:

Others organize by trade status:

You can also combine the two approaches. The important thing is knowing where your pins are.

If someone asks whether you have any Diablo pins, you shouldn't have to search through ten pages to find them.

You're probably going to acquire pins.

Maybe a lot of pins.

Between trades, purchases, capsule machines, giveaways, and whatever other surprises await at the Darkmoon Faire, it's entirely possible to leave BlizzCon with considerably more pins than you brought.

Plan for that before the convention starts.

Leave a few empty spaces in your binder, bring an extra page, or carry a small zippered pouch specifically for newly acquired pins.

Not every new pin needs to immediately go into your binder.

When you're standing in the middle of the Darkmoon Faire surrounded by people, opening your entire collection every time you make a trade can become inconvenient.

A small zippered pouch or compact case can become your "incoming pins" area.

Make the trade. Secure the pin. Put it away. Keep moving.

Later, when you're sitting down or back at the hotel, you can properly organize everything.

Avoid throwing loose pins directly into a backpack or pocket where they can scratch each other or lose their backs.

Bring extras.

Pin backs are tiny, easy to lose, and exactly the kind of thing you don't think about until you suddenly need one.

Pins safely mounted inside a binder generally don't need anything elaborate.

Pins worn externally on a backpack, jacket, hat, or lanyard are another story.

Those pins are constantly being bumped and rubbed while you move through crowds. A loose back can turn an expensive collectible into a pin lying somewhere on the Anaheim Convention Center floor.

For pins you're wearing, consider using locking pin backs.

A lanyard can be a fun way to advertise that you're a pin trader.

Put a handful of inexpensive traders on it and other collectors can immediately see that you're interested in trading.

But we wouldn't recommend using a lanyard as your primary storage method.

Pins can get bumped, snagged, or lost while you're moving through a crowded convention.

We especially wouldn't recommend walking around with very rare or expensive pins exposed on a lanyard.

Some Blizzard pins are worth considerably more than others.

If you're bringing valuable pins to BlizzCon, treat your binder the same way you would any other valuable personal item.

• Keep your backpack zipped.
• Don't leave your binder unattended.
• Be careful when several collectors are looking through collections at the same time.
• Keep especially valuable pins somewhere secure inside your binder.
• Consider photographing your binder pages before leaving your hotel each morning.

Taking a quick photo gives you a record of exactly what you brought with you that day.

You can also use your BlizzardItems collection and wishlist to keep track of what you own and what you're hunting for without carrying your entire collection with you.

If you're flying to BlizzCon, we recommend keeping your pin collection with you in your carry-on or personal item whenever practical.

There are two big reasons.

Keep your pins secured inside their binder or case and make sure individual pins aren't loose.

And remember to plan for the return flight too.

The collection you bring home may be larger than the collection you flew to Anaheim with.

All bags at BlizzCon are subject to inspection.

Make security's job—and yours—easy.

Keep your binder accessible rather than buried underneath everything else in your backpack.

If security wants to inspect your bag, you don't want to unload your entire weekend onto a table just to reach it.

Also remember that Blizzard's prohibited-item rules apply to everything else in your bag, not just your pin collection.

Always check the official BlizzCon Event Policies shortly before attending in case anything changes.

For most collectors, you really don't need an elaborate setup.

A great BlizzCon pin kit might look like this:

When you're packing at home, having a giant binder containing 150 traders sounds awesome.

When you've been walking around BlizzCon for eight hours, it sounds significantly less awesome.

BlizzCon is a big event. You'll be standing in lines, walking between halls, visiting the Darkmoon Faire, buying merchandise, eating, meeting friends, and probably accumulating even more things as the day goes on.

Your pin setup should make trading easier—not become something you spend the entire weekend hauling around.

And most importantly, make it easy to pull out your traders when you meet another collector.

Because that's the whole point.

— BlizzardItems

Carrying your pins is only one part of getting ready for trading at BlizzCon.