In-game items have proven to be a massively popular and profitable part of many online games, the first one that springs to mind being the hats and general cosmetic items in Team Fortress 2. Another big in-game cosmetics system that’s been massively popular recently is in CS:GO, where knives and guns are traded, often for mad amounts of money.

One recent addition to this conversation has been in Rocket League, where in a massive update to the game in 2016, we saw the introduction of crates and keys. These crates, unlocked with said keys, contain things such as car bodies, decals, goal explosions, rocket boosts, and wheels.

Alongside this, we saw the introduction of in-game trading where users can join each a lobby and trade their in-game items between one another. This is a huge part of the game now, with there being trade values for all rare items, as well as players determined to grab the best car decals and rarest skins in the game.

So, how can we trade and how we do unlock these crates? Here’s a quick look at one of Rocket League’s most interesting features which has added a whole new element to the game.

How Do You Get Rocket League Crates?

So, first of all, what do you need to do in order to get these crates which contain so many cool items? First of all, you can unlock crates by simply playing the game. Upon completion of a match, there’s a chance that you’ll get a crate as soon as the match ends. With these post-match unlocks, the crates fall in amongst other unlockable items which can be added to the car, making the crate drops rather rare - especially the higher level crates that contain massively rare items. It’s generally estimated that you’ll unlock a crate once every 2-4 hours of gameplay.

Crates can also be traded for, with players generally wanting particular items in return for them - this is a subject we’ll look further into later on. Considering the luck required in order to receive a massive reward from a crate, the trades aren’t all too great.

How Do I Unlock My Crates?

As mentioned earlier on, you need to use keys in order to unlock the contents of your crates. You can find keys in-game by clicking on one of your crates and going through to Buy Keys. Here, you’ll be greeted with the options for keys based on the platform you’re playing on.

As shown above, when you go through to this page, you can see the potential items you could get by unlocking the crate.

As mentioned, you can trade for keys as well, with there being a massive market for these seeing as players would rather not part with their cash in order to open their crates. This brings us onto the next point:

How Can I Trade For Items?

One of the coolest new features added to Rocket League alongside the crates would be the inclusion on an in-game trading system. By inviting a player into your game lobby, you can request a trade with them, with both players able to offer items from their inventory to one another.

Multiple items can be traded in any combination at all, with that being totally down to the value of the items and what each player wants.

…values? Yes, values. There is a massive marketplace that has been created thanks to the in-game trading feature. RL Tracker looks to compile the general pricing for each item, giving you a good idea of what market values are for each rare item that you can pick up from crates.

There are several resources for players who are looking to get heavily involved in the trading scene:

Great Pass - Rocket League Item Trading Platform

Rocket League Exchange Subreddit

Rocket League Garage - Trading

Rocket League Trading Steam Community

On sites like these, you can look for items that you’re after - whether it be a set of keys or a highly rare item - and you can post your own trade offers for other users to mull over.

You’ll often find people in match lobbies who are looking to trade, though getting involved with these sites is a much quicker way to get what you’re after. After all, going into every lobby asking for trades won’t bring through too many results.