CSGO Pins – A Gadget That Is Both Physical And Virtual
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If you like CSGO skins, you might also be interested in a Counter-Strike item that is both a physical object and an in-game item, namely – CSGO pins.
Intertwining both the CSGO metaverse and a physical goods market is a vast and complicated topic, but there’s one thing that is easier to understand and describe in that realm.
Remember those tazos or figurines that were added to some sweets years ago? You’d buy either a bundle of lollipops or a pack of crisps and you got a random chance for a small collectible. Lootboxes in games do kind of work this way, except you’re not eating anything, and what you get is a digital item. However, Valve found a way to connect both solutions.
Here we’ll have a quick look at the CSGO pin distribution, how physical pins are connected to the digital ones and what is the current market for them.
How To Get CSGO Pins?
The pins are mainly distributed on big, Valve-endorsed events. There you can buy those packs with a random pin inside. Some of them are more common than others, so you’re more likely to find ones and less likely to find others.
The physical pin comes with a redeem code that allows you to get a digital item on your Steam account. However, after some time a Pin capsule was made available on the Steam market. To differentiate between the only-digital ones and the ones connected to a physical object and bought from the WeLoveFine shop, the latter received a Genuine attribute.
The only-digital pins can be easily bought on the market and are usually available for a relatively low price.
All CSGO Pins Listed
Here are all the existing pins available grouped into series they were published in.
CSGO Pins Series 1
The first of the bunch that has been published on February 26th, 2015. At first they could only be bought on Valve-sponsored competitions and events. A Collectible Pin Series 1 Capsule was added to Steam on May 31th, 2016 along with the offering of physical pins at WeLoveFine.
- Nuke Pin (High Grade)
- Train Pin (High Grade)
- Guardian Pin (High Grade)
- Tactics Pin (High Grade)
- Italy Pin (Remarkable)
- Militia Pin (Remarkable)
- Victory Pin (Remarkable)
- Mirage Pin (Exotic)
- Inferno Pin (Exotic)
- Dust II Pin (Extraordinary)
- Guardian Elite Pin (Extraordinary)
CSGO Pins Series 2
This Pin series has been added in a more sneaky way on September 29th 2016 along with other CSGO-related merchandise. These are significantly more rare than the others in their physical form, but some re-release has been promised.
- Phoenix Pin (High Grade)
- Guardian 2 Pin (High Grade)
- Bravo Pin (High Grade)
- Baggage Pin (High Grade)
- Overpass Pin (Remarkable)
- Office Pin (Remarkable)
- Cobblestone Pin (Remarkable)
- Cache Pin (Exotic)
- Bloodhound Pin (Exotic)
- Valeria Phoenix Pin (a.k.a. Valeria Pin) (Extraordinary)
- Chroma Pin (Extraordinary)
CSGO Pins Series 3
The third series was launched on December 19th 2017, however they were officially published on Steam on March 1st 2018.
- Guardian 3 Pin (High Grade)
- Canals Pin (High Grade)
- Welcome to the Clutch Pin (High Grade)
- Death Sentence Pin (High Grade)
- Inferno 2 Pin (Remarkable)
- Wildfire Pin (Remarkable)
- Easy Peasy Pin (Remarkable)
- Aces High Pin (Exotic)
- Hydra Pin (Exotic)
- Howl Pin (Extraordinary)
- Brigadier General Pin (Extraordinary)
Half-Life: Alyx Pin Series
The latest series has been a part of promotion for Half-Life: Alyx game premiere. Half-Life: Alyx Collectible Pin Capsule was published on March 22 2020, a day before the game itself launched. HL:A pin series is unique in several ways. First of all, it’s not associated with the CS:GO franchise strictly. It has one more High Grade pin than the other series. Also, the only pin that has a physical counterpart is the Alyx Pin. The only way to obtain it was to preorder Valve Index VR headset, and it came along with a Music Kit redeem for CS:GO.
- Combine Helmet Pin (High Grade)
- Black Mesa Pin (High Grade)
- CMB Pin (High Grade)
- Lambda Pin (High Grade)
- City 17 Pin (High Grade)
- Headcrab Glyph Pin (Remarkable)
- Copper Lambda Pin (Remarkable)
- Health Pin (Remarkable)
- Sustenance! Pin (Exotic)
- Vortigaunt Pin (Exotic)
- Alyx Pin (Extraordinary)
- Civil Protection Pin (Extraordinary)
Buying CSGO Pins
While they are not exactly as rare as physical counterparts, the digital CS GO pins for sale can be found on third party marketplaces for CS items, usually cheaper than their official Steam price.
Noteworthy, CSGO Genuine pins cannot be traded anyhow – they are only obtained if you bought the package and processed the redeem code found along your pin. No wonder if you find it confusing, because Dota 2 Genuine pins are totally tradeable and worth their share. Guess two different development teams approach the label differently.
CSGO Pins – Summary
To recap it all in a few words, CSGO pins can be both physical souvenirs and in-game collectibles that can be used to decorate your Counter-Strike profile. Most of them were first published on the occasion of big CSGO events and later distributed via in-game CSGO store and WeLoveFine shop, but the Alyx series seems to be an exception from the rule, albeit we cannot be sure if they won’t be sold in physical form in the future!
Hopefully you’ve learned all you needed to know about CS GO pins from that article. If there are any other questions you have, please let us know in the comments!
