CHECKPOINTGRADING STATION

For collectors, players and sellers

Ever been let down by a card grade?

Checkpoint predicts how PSA, BGS and CGC would grade your card, then tells you in plain dollars whether it's worth sending in.

Same cardSame photosSame answer
A word from the founderSee the station

A word from the founder

Clear it before you ship it.

My name is Jimi Cobb. I served in the Marine Corps, retired as a federal police officer, and I've been collecting Magic: The Gathering since 1994. I'd like to tell you about Checkpoint Grading Station.

If you've ever sent a card off to be graded, you know the feeling. You pay the fee, wait weeks, and hope it comes back a 10. All too often it doesn't, and the grade isn't worth the cost.

There are apps that try to predict the grade from a phone photo, but scan the same card twice and you can get two different results. In this hobby, if you can't trust the result, it's worth nothing.

That's why I built Checkpoint as a grading station, not just an app. The card sits on a stand under a camera with steady lighting, and it goes through the same Standard Operating Procedure every single time. The app predicts how PSA, BGS and CGC would grade it, looks up what it's worth graded and raw, and tells you in plain dollars whether to send it in: Cleared Hold or Stand Down.

The report doesn't just stay on your screen. Checkpoint prints a Dog Tag, a small QR sticker for the card's holder, like a vehicle history report, but for your cards. Anyone with a phone can scan it to see the card's photos, condition and predicted grade before they buy, sell or submit.

I've spent my career validating evidence. Now I want to bring that same standard to a hobby I've loved for more than thirty years.

Jimi CobbFounder · U.S. Marine Corps veteran

Get early accessSee the station

See the station

Built, printed and working

These are the founder's own stations, designed and 3D-printed in Ohio. The same base and mast take a webcam, a digital camera or a phone. Tap a photo to see it larger.

Webcam setupA compact station for a 4K webcam.
Digital camera setupA taller mast for a digital camera, with side lights.
Phone setupA phone nest on the same base and mast, for the phone you already own.
Three setup configurations

One base and one mast, three ways to capture. Swap the camera holder to use a webcam, a digital camera or the phone you already own. That's the modular design. Tap a setup to see it.

Patent pending. Demonstration stations shown; colors and details of the final product may differ.

What makes it different

Not just an app. Not just a stand.

Not another scan-and-price app

Price-check apps tell you what a card sells for. Nothing holds the card or the camera steady, so the same card can come back different from one scan to the next.

Not another phone holder

The scanning stands sold online hold a phone over a card, and that is where they stop. A holder by itself doesn't grade anything.

A modular system that does both

Checkpoint pairs a purpose-built, modular station with a top-tier grading app designed alongside it. The station adapts to your camera and your setup, and the two work as one.

Clear it before you ship it

Know what your card will grade before you pay to send it in.

Checkpoint Grading Station pre-grades trading cards against PSA, BGS and CGC standards, shows what the card is worth raw and graded, and tells you in dollars whether submitting makes sense.

Get early accessTake the 1-minute tour
Veteran-ownedPatent pending
26.6Mcards graded in 2025, a record
3grading standards side by side
1answer for the same card, every time
1994founder collecting Magic since

The problem

Grading costs money and weeks. Guessing costs more.

Sending a card to a grading company means fees, shipping and a long wait, and you only learn the grade at the end. The phone apps that try to help often give a different answer every time you scan the same card.

Checkpoint was built to give the same answer every time: the same card, captured the same way, gets the same result.

The 1-minute tour

Checkpoint in six slides

01
THE PROBLEM

Grading costs money and weeks.

Fees, shipping and a long wait, and you only learn the grade at the end. Phone apps that try to help can give a different answer every time you scan the same card.

02
THE MARKET
26.6 million

cards graded in 2025, a record.

And 24.5 million in just the first eight months of 2026. Card games now outgrade sports cards.

Grading totals: GemRate and cllct (2025 and 2026).

03
THE SOLUTION

Same card, same capture, same result.

A purpose-built, modular station paired with a grading app designed alongside it. The station holds each card and camera in a repeatable position under controlled light.

04
WHAT YOU GET

Three grades and a verdict, in dollars.

Predicted PSA, BGS and CGC grades side by side, raw and graded prices, and a clear call: Cleared, Hold or Stand Down. Plus Dog Tags and Quartermaster.

05
A COMPANION, NOT A RIVAL

We help you decide what to send.

Checkpoint works alongside the grading companies. No app, Checkpoint included, can judge eye appeal or tell a genuine card from a counterfeit. That takes a human expert.

06
WHERE WE ARE

Built, printed and patent pending.

Checkpoint Grading Station LLC formed in Ohio, October 2026. First station designed and 3D-printed by the founder. App in development, with a test version planned for early 2027.

Get early access

Download the one-page overview (PDF)

What it does

A pre-grade you can act on

Three grading standards

Predicted grades for PSA, BGS and CGC side by side, with centering, corners, edges and surface called out.

Submit or not, in dollars

Raw and graded market prices next to your predicted grade, so the decision comes down to a number.

Dog Tags

Every report gets a QR label for your top-loader or box. Scan it to pull up the card's report, like a vehicle history report for your card.

Quartermaster

A condition mode for sellers and shops: NM, LP, MP, HP or DMG, with batch labels and prices by condition.

Try it: should you grade it?

Put in your own numbers and see the kind of answer Checkpoint gives.

Example only. The real app starts from your card's predicted grade and live market prices.

SITREP · Card reportExample only
PSA9
BGS9
CGC9
ClearedHoldStand Down

Meet the Dog Tag: tap the label to flip it. Example only. Real Dog Tags open each card's own report.

The verdict

✓ Cleared

Worth grading. The numbers say send it in.

‖ Hold

A small gain. Worth it only if the grade comes in as predicted.

✕ Stand Down

Keep your fee. The grade won't pay for itself.

App plans

Pick the plan that fits how you collect

The app and the station are built to work hand in hand, but you don't need both. Use the app on its own with your phone and your setup, or add the station for the most consistent results. Your setup, your choice.

Scout

Free

Try it out with a few free grades every month.

Patrol

Collectors

Regular grading with prices and PDF reports.

Command Post

Serious collectors

Adds Dog Tags, Quartermaster and share links.

Garrison

Dealers & shops

Batch Dog Tags and Quartermaster for inventory.

Plank Owner

Founders offer

Command Post features for the first 100 customers.

Prices will be announced closer to launch. Get early access to hear first.

Need to know

Checkpoint's predicted grades are designed to be highly accurate, but they are estimates, not official grades, and no result is guaranteed.

Checkpoint also can't tell whether a card is genuine or counterfeit. Authentication is left to the grading companies: PSA, Beckett (BGS) and CGC.

The station

Same spot, same light, every card

Consistent results start with consistent photos. The Checkpoint station is a compact, purpose-built stand that holds each card and camera in a repeatable position under controlled light. It works with a webcam, a phone or a digital camera, and results improve as the camera does.

The station is patent pending. The app also works without it, with results marked as handheld.

Who it's for

From your binder to the shop counter

  • Collectors deciding which cards are worth grading
  • Card shops and dealers sorting stock and pricing raw singles
  • Anyone tired of paying to find out a card was a 7

Starting with Magic: The Gathering, then Pokémon, One Piece and more. Sports cards come later. Why Magic first?

Why Magic first

The game that started it all

Before Pokémon and before Yu-Gi-Oh!, there was Magic: The Gathering. Designed by Richard Garfield and released by Wizards of the Coast on August 5, 1993, MTG is recognized by Guinness World Records as the first modern trading card game. Its first 10 million cards sold out within months.

A lot of players and collectors, especially the under-30 crowd, assume Pokémon came first because it's the better-known name. It didn't. Magic invented the idea of collecting cards to build a deck and play, and nearly every trading card game since has followed the trail it blazed.

"Magic created a whole new genre of product that changed our industry forever."

Jordan Weisman, game designer

Without Magic's success, the trading card game hobby as we know it today might not exist.

Why we start here. Today's pre-grading apps aim mainly at the Pokémon community, which leaves Magic collectors, the hobby's original audience, under-served. Our founder has collected Magic since 1994, and his own collection is mostly MTG. So Checkpoint starts where the hobby started. Pokémon, One Piece and other games come next, followed by sports cards.

NOV13–15

Find us at MagicCon Atlanta

Look for the founder in the "Ask me about Checkpoint" polo. Say hello and ask your questions.

–Days
–Hours
–Min
–Sec

Road to launch

Where Checkpoint goes next

Check back here for updates, or get them by email.

★VETERAN
OWNED

Founder

Checkpoint Grading Station is veteran-owned and based in Ohio. It was founded by Jimi Cobb, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who has collected Magic: The Gathering since Revised Edition in 1994.

Contact[email protected]

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