How do I scan trading cards and get the exact variant?

Lay the card flat on a plain surface in soft, even light, fill the frame with it, and let a card scanner match the photo to the right card. The card itself is usually easy; the exact printing (Normal, Holofoil, Reverse Holofoil, 1st Edition, Foil) is the hard part, so check the finish and the small print on the card before you trust a price. In Bull Run you tap Scan, pick Quality, Fast or Page mode, and each scan shows the matched card with a printing button you can tap to fix. Only Quality checks the printing; Fast and Page find the card but leave the printing for you to pick.

Why the variant matters more than the name

The same card can come in several printings, and they can be worth very different amounts. A holofoil and a plain copy of one card often share the same name, set and number. That is why a price is only useful once the set, the number and the printing are all right.

How do I get a clean scan?

Use a plain table that is a different colour from the card.
Scan indoors or in shade. Bright sun washes out the shine that shows a card is foil.
Keep your fingers off the card's face. A thumb on the corner can hide what the scanner needs.

How can I tell the printing myself?

Foil or holo: tilt the card under a light. Holofoil usually shines in the picture box; reverse holo shines everywhere except the picture.
Magic: a small star or dot in the collector line at the bottom tells foil from non-foil printings.
Yu-Gi-Oh: the set code between the picture and the text box (like SUDA-EN021) names the set, and the colour of the name helps tell the rarities apart.

How Bull Run does it

Open the Scan tab. Under "Scan to your collection", tap Scan to use the camera or Photos to pick pictures from your phone.
Pick a mode with the Quality / Fast / Page switch (the camera has the same switch at the top). Quality takes a normal photo plus a flash photo to help spot foil and the exact printing. Fast takes one quick photo once the card is steady, so you can work through a stack about a card a second, but it does not detect the printing: holo, reverse holo and 1st Edition copies come in with a "?" for you to pick. Page scans a whole 9-pocket binder page and reads printings the same way as Fast.
Each scan becomes a tile: your photo beside the card it matched. A green strip means the match is sure; orange or red means it wants a look.
Check the printing button on the matched picture (for example NRML, FOIL or RHFOIL). A "?" means the scanner guessed, so tap it and pick the right printing from the list, which shows each printing's price.
Tap a picture to pick a different card or set the quantity, condition and price paid, then tap Add to collection.

When the printing matters (a holo, a reverse holo or a 1st Edition), scan that card in Quality. Photos picked from your library always use Quality. A "Flag cards above $…" chip marks pricier cards with an orange flag so they stand out. Prices shown are estimates, not guarantees.

Which plan includes it?

Free: up to 100 Fast scans a day, plus 5 Quality scans or binder pages a day to try them out. On Free, a scan the scanner is unsure about is left for you to confirm.

Pro: more Fast scans and more Quality scans and binder pages each day, plus the AI double-check that reads the photo when the scanner is unsure of a card or whether it is foil.

Premium: everything in Pro with the most scans of each kind per day.

A binder page counts as one Quality scan, however many cards are in it. Allowances reset every day at 3 am Mountain time, and Profile, Today's usage shows how many you have used. Any free account can try Pro free for 14 days.

Scan your first cardOpens in the Bull Run TCG app. No app yet? You will be taken to the install page.