Challenge: Single-Store Budget Cap
27 July 2026
The idea: the pod agrees on one retailer (a specific online store, or "whatever's in stock at your local game shop this week") and a total budget — say £75 for the full 100 cards. Every card in the deck must currently be buyable from that store, at that store's listed price, and the running total can't go over the cap.
Why it stays interesting
Every store's stock and pricing is a little different, so the same budget number produces a different puzzle depending which retailer the pod picks. It also naturally rules out chasing whatever the "objectively best" staple is — if your nominated store doesn't stock it, or it blows the budget, you build around something else instead.
Cost control
This one is the cost control — the single-store-plus-hard-cap combination directly stops the "whoever spends the most" problem, since nobody can go over the agreed total no matter how deep their collection already runs. Screenshotting the cart total (or keeping a running spreadsheet) at the end is an easy way to prove everyone actually stayed under budget.