For us here at Kawaii Gifts, getting new figures means new Ichiban Kujis! If you’ve been a customer with us for a while, you know we’ve had more than a few over the past year or so. But for those who’ve never played, never noticed, or never even heard of it; what is an Ichiban Kuji?

To put it simply, an Ichiban Kuji is a raffle– a Japanese raffle game where every ticket wins and you’re guaranteed a prize! There are all sorts of possibilities for types of prizes and themes for a raffle! They tend to stick to a series; whether that be an anime, game, or mascot character, the list goes on. Each prize variety has a letter tier with the prize value higher and the odds lower the closer to the start of the alphabet you get! A is the best, of course!

As for the specifics, there are around 60 to 80 tickets in one Ichiban Kuji and each ticket is usually priced at $15 in our shop. To keep the game’s excitement going until the very end, there’s also a special last ticket prize, either being a completely different prize from the rest of the options, or a special design of a top prize. This means that even if all the top tier prizes have been won, there’s still one special prize that’s only available to the purchaser of the final ticket remaining in the raffle. That ticket corresponds to a prize, just like the rest of them, but the buyer is also guaranteed that final prize, too!

Tickets are available both in person and online. For online or in-app orders, an employee will be recorded revealing your ticket and that video confirmation will be sent over email. The only difference is that the lower tier prizes will be randomized for online customers while in store you can pick out your preferred character or design. If you have any character preferences, please feel free to include them in the notes with your order and we’ll be happy to do our best to accommodate based on the prize options in stock.

Some past themes we’ve had here at Kawaii Gifts include Jujutsu Kaisen the Second and the Third, Kirby’s Burger, My Hero Academia: Hero Vs. Villains, and My Hero Academia Next Generations!! 

Interested? Not to worry, we have ongoing raffles as well! 

We tend to keep one or two raffles active at a time, and don’t start a new one until the priors’ tickets are sold. Currently, our My Hero Academia Ultra Impact raffle is about halfway through, with about half of the top prizes remaining and many common prizes to choose from! We recently started a new arrival, Evangelion EVA-01 vs EVA-13. Prizes range from figures to file folders to shoulder bags to hand towels! The Unit-01 and Unit-13 figures are absolutely the biggest figures we’ve ever had, literally coming with a handle to carry like a briefcase!

Neither of these your speed? Our next raffles will be Naruto Will of Spinning Fire and BTS’ TinyTan Sweet Time! Top prizes will include figures and plushies, respectively. These will be our first Ichiban Kuji of each series, and will be out as soon as a running raffle ends! You can keep an eye on each raffle's progress by checking the poster in our Shadyside shop. That way you know when things are getting down to the wire, or if your favorite character has already been won.

If this is your first time reading, we are Kawaii Gifts, a small business of 20 years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for reading our blog and visiting our website! Be sure to check out our Instagram at @shopkawaiigifts, our app, Kawaii Gifts, on IOS and Android, and all other social media linked on our home page for the latest Kawaii news, like new Ichiban Kujis!