I'm the same way. Sometime it just feels good to throw up a movie or RUclips video and do something repetitive with your hands. And if I get to keep the items in games I spent hundreds of dollars on safe in the process, win/win for me.
Right... I like to sleeve so I can read all the cards for the first time and check out the art. I don't find it annoying at all. The worst part is running out of sleeves and having to buy more.
I sleeve all my games in Dragon Shield matt sleeves. Not sure where you get Dragon Sleeves for $5.00. I thought they were closer to $15 a box. I am likely going to start gaming at a meetup gaming group. I don't trust that they won't get dirty fingers on them. And most of my games are Kickstarter games and replacing a damaged card is way to costly to consider. I've double sleeved some games in the past. That was when I was playing Magic and some of my cards were stupid expensive so protecting them was a must.
All my Nemesis content is sleeved, color coded by expansion and they are Matte finish, Dragon Shield brand which run aboout $12 a box. My Dice Throne sets are Sleeved that's about it. Other games I have can wear down they'll live. Probably should sleeve ISS Vanguard when it arrives
I sleeve cards that are going to be shuffled a lot, and only ever all cards in a boardgame if it's a game I know I'm going to have in my collection for a long time. In collectible card games, I sleeve and often double sleeve all the expensive cards, but not the lesser value cards. In LCGs, spesifically Arkham horror LCG, I sleeve everything EXCEPT the player cards. They go into binders, and are only removed and sleeved when they are being used in a deck. Sleeves offer the benefit of security, easier shuffling and easier handling when picking up and flipping cards on a table, but they can get expensive if you're an avid sleever and don't do it correctly. If I had Marvel champions, I would probably do the same as in other LCGs and store the cards in binders, and sleeving up what I use when I use it
The day I started bringing my games to public board game meetings I started sleeving them one by one XD even though they have a no food/drinks on the table rule. Just the increased number of people touching the cards makes me want to sleeve everything.
I’ve played card games my whole life…. I just keep a case of dragon shield matte black and clear around. (A box of 100 dragon shields is like 12 dollars) A game like champions I would sleeve religiously (if I hadn’t gotten rid of it)
I think these are the ones I most prefer the feel of, but I buy sleeve kings for the : - price (£2 for 110 of the standard size) - Range of sizes (they cover pretty much every card size used, so it makes it easier to retain a consistent feel) - Thickness (the 60 microns thickness feels a practical compromise of durability and avoiding the card stacks getting too high / not fitting back in the box)
I’ll multitask and sleeve while watching a show. Because of the extra cost, I’ll NOT sleeve games where the card count is undefined: won’t do Marvel Champions, Arkham Horror LCG nor my huge Cards Against Humanity collection, where even though my Marvel United X-Men order and Oathsworn are both 1000+ cards it’ll be a single sleeping project vs being open ended.
If the cards of the game are going to be shuffled regularly then I will sleeve them. If the cards are hardly used then I don't worry about it. I use Sleeve Kings. When I first got into gaming I was not into sleeving. Over time I changed my mind. I also DO NOT allow food or drink anywhere near the game or the table, even with sleeved cards.
FWIW we game in a pub and some there are drinks around. I've yet to see spillage accident, but do recall a couple of near misses (one was me!). My aim of sleeving is more about reducing any stress about handling cards or accidentally damaging them, as much for the other players as myself. I've probably only got 2-3 games that I probably couldn't justify the cost of replacing if they got damaged, one large (but not all-in) Kickstarter and two that are long out of print.
I’ll echo that Sleeve Kings are a great balance between premium feel, right fit, and thickness. They’re not loose, they feel well, and they’re thin enough to store and stack much easier. That being said, I really do like GameGenic mattes for my next level up, but they’re really hard to find locally.
Confession - I can't shuffle unsleeved cards, it feels like I'm knocking two blocks of wood together. Luckily I actually enjoy the sleeving process, it's kinda zen.
In the past I did tried to kept every card sleeved. In my experience this is just not practical at all for several reasons: 1. If you sleeve a game and a year later an expansion shows you have to hunt for the very same sleeves, which you may even not remember. 2. A topical card game may have from 300-500 cards. This may add a cost of about 30 to 50 dollars more, unless you use really cheap sleeves. 3. Usually most game inserts don’t work with sleeves cards. 4. Sometimes sleeves comes in weird sizes. 5. If your local gaming store doesn’t have a varied supply of sleeves you have to wait for sleeves and buy them on line. The main reason I still sleeve cards is when you shuffle a lot. This protects the cards and also feels good. You really become addicted to sleeping. My advice to new people in the hobby is “Don’t sleeve” unless you are playing collectible card games like Magic, and you are playing with expensive cards, If you buy a game or two and play only those games, sure sleeving is ok. This I also recommend, “Don’t succumb to FOMO!”.
We only sleeve games that require constant shuffling example deck builders. And even then only buy penny sleeves, 1000 sleeves for $10. We do have sleeves for MC just for the deck we play and change each game. The last game we played didn't sleeve because it was Sinister Motives and would have to sleeve and unsleeved during the campaign.
I don't sleeve anymore. "Dogeared just means well loved" to paraphrase NRB Adam. And, if a game is well and truly ruined, a replacement is typically cheaper and more convenient anyway. One thing that you sort of touched on with shuffle quality is the difference in card stock quality across games and sometimes even between expansions of the same game. Sleeves help homogenize that gap. NRB Adam also highlighted that deluxe Radlands has more robust plastic cards in his 10 Best Board Games For The Pub video, which is an upgrade that probably isn't that hotly demanded, but something I wish more games would offer.
YES, probably my most favorite cards EVER. Was really impressed by the Radland cards. Not sure if I should still sleeve for worry of the ink coming off or not, but they feel and look fantastic. Probably won't. xD
Pros: - Shuffle (by far the biggest reason to sleeve imho) - Protection Cons: - Cost - Time to sleeve, (although I do this while watching a TV show or movie most of the time) - Boxes/Inserts that are not designed to hold sleeved cards As someone whose game group likes to enjoy some craft beers and snacks during our boardgame nights I generally prefer to have my games sleeved. That being said it also depends on the cost of the game if I either: Don't sleeve at all, use lower quality sleeve/just partially sleeve, or use premium quality sleeves (at least for standard sized cards).
Also I only sleeve games if I can manage to get 10 plays of it in a month. If so the game warrants having the sleeves since it will inevitably get warm out at that rate of play. If I play a game less than 10 times a month it probably won’t need the sleeves. I had to sleeve the game hidden leaders because my game group played that game 10 in less than two weeks. So i sleeved that game up in order to limit the wear and tear which was pretty bad with all the scratches and bends on cards. Other than that I don’t sleeve my games mostly. Only two of my games are sleeves right now. I wish I did it more cause I love sleeving games!
I have my entire marvel champions collection sleeves in clear and black matte dragon shields. All the good guys in clear and bad guys in black. I should have done all clear but it’s too late now lol
I feel that I’m extending the life of the cards by keeping wear and tear to a minimum by sleeving. Especially when it comes to backed games that may never see life beyond the original campaign. These cards can literally be one of a kinds, irreplaceable. I tend to buy the majority of my sleeves from one company. If I have to buy other sleeves, I leave the package in the game, so I know what I need to buy for future expansions.
Depends on how much you’ll be handling shuffling the cards: Nemesis: sleeve the character action and contamination cards. Nothing else really needs it. Dominion: The card quality is low and you’ll constantly be shuffling, sleeve it all. Arnak: constantly shuffling, sleeve. Aquatica: you’ll be shuffling once before the game. Don’t bother sleeving.
Sound advice. Selective sleeving just for cards that see regular usage / shuffling and where it's not open info. FWIW I haven't sleeved Cockroach poker, despite it very much fitting those guidelines. The reasoning is it's so widely available / cheap, that if it ever came to it, I'd simply buy a new copy.
@@iansutton7416 good call! The Crew is similar: You shuffle them all the time, the cards are cheaply made, but you shuffle them SO much that sleeving them would be a pain because you wouldn’t be able to bridge them.
I end up having most of my games sleeved. But I have a small collection and would only sleeve if: a) something needs to be shuffled a lot (wear and tear) b) marked cards for deduction/bluffing would be a problem c) I am convinced I still want to play this in 10+ years.
+1 to Sleeve King. It is great! I only sleeve the cards that are regularly held in hands. In Marvel Champions' case, I only sleeve the heroes that I play. The rest are left un-sleeved to save money, space and time. On shuffling, I actually prefer the un-sleeved cards. It shuffles much better without the sleeves. The feeling of your skin on paper is not the same as plastic...
$5 for 100 dragon shield sleeves? That's a steal! If I look really hard on the internet, I can get them for €8 but the price in the brick and mortar stores starts at €11. That's why I switched to dragon perfect fit sleeves. They are "only" €5 and as a bonus they take up less space ;)
why not just use thin sleeve? most of these problems go away. Don't need storage because thin sleeves are thin. Usually, 2-3 times cheaper than think sleeves. You can still shuffle it quickly like thick sleeve.
all games sleeved with 100+ microns some games i have even double sleeved 😅 the good: - easier to shuffle - protected the bad: - expensive - space if necessary i re-sleeve my game with the same sleeves
I pretty much sleeve everything. I know I sleeve things I don’t need to but I do it anyway. It makes shuffling way easier, especially for me since I physically can’t do “traditional” shuffling. Money wise, I stick with sleeve kings unless they don’t make the size I need, then I try for paladins. Big reason for that is the thickness. I adjust storage to sleeved cards. My OCD would probably force me to re-sleeve if something new came out for a game and the company changed. But maybe not, cause townsfolk tussle is sleeved in sleeve kings and paladins… though the change is exclusively to the card size. I think I’d probably keep the cards separate for the new content unless I really wanted to leave it permanently mixed in to the base. I actually find it kinda cathartic to sleeve while watching something or when I just need to do something mindless. And my wife actually enjoys it, so she probably does around 75% of the sleeving.
i never eat around my cards or let anyone touch them eating, and i always wash my hands before playing even if they are not particularly dirty, soft drinks are ok IF they are sleeved, alcohol i never allow nesr to my cards, ever (not talking about braindead card games like uno or a standard deck of normal cards...
To me i have....to sleeve i don't touch the Game if i don't put sleeves first but i understand your point You put more Price to the Game and if You wanna sell the Game they don't wanna pay for the sleeves Even if You Say that the Game have sleeves
i sleeve all my games, but odd sized sleeves can be troublesome because you'll have to deal with lower quality sleeve companies such as mayday sleeves unfortunately... their quality is so poor, even with their premium line it's maddening
I wasn't a huge proponent of sleeving... until a friend joined our board game group who had oily hands. Love the guy to death and he is great fun at the table but my cards, my poor cards.
100% sleeved games. I live in Brazil, and here, the cost of games is US Cost x10(nota that lviing expenses is around 1:1 or 1:2, so games are REALLY expensive(e.g. Nemesis costs R$1000 x U$D 100, or TFM AE costing R$350 x U$D 35 or so, and there usually aren't good discounts on games. if you want something "cheap" AKA natural dollar conversion of U$D(of a new game), you gotta buy used...) . Sleeves cost around R$10-15 for 100. If your game has damaged components, reselling them is a real pain(if you want to), so, at the end of the day, not worth not sleeving usually. There are cheaper games, and those may be possible to go by unsleeved(R$50-100), but for the rest... People are kind of wary of buying unsleeved gasmes, as they may come with a lot of wear for a reasonably expensive product. (Also, it pains me every time I shuffle unsleeved cards, lol)
Dragon shields $5? $11 Canadian - on sale at the cheapest FLGS! Anyways, I sleeve what is necessary - frequently shuffled, unevenly shuffled (e.g. Marvel Champs - standard encounter set would be worn to ribbons after my 150 plays), or if any nick, mark, etc. would "spoil" the game -> e.g. a hidden traitor game - wouldn't be much fun if you could tell what one of the identity cards is. For LCG's you can just sleeve what you're currently playing with -> build your deck with naked cards, and put the sleeves on after you've decided on what cards go in your deck. (i do this for champs, but oddly, keep all the villains and modular sets permanently sleeved)
I've gotten one shipment of Sleeve Kings ... I like them, but I don't have a ton for comparison purposes. I sleeve cards that have a lot of hand holding... Moonrakers for instance, I sleeve the standard cards (Reactor, Thruster, Damage, Shield and Miss), but I do not sleeve the Contracts, Ship Parts or Objectives.
To quote a comment I made on discussion on this topic in a Discord server I'm in: "Considering I have a player who will sometimes cough or sneeze across a table without seeing it as an issue, well... I'm glad I have all of Middara (and other games, but that's been the most recent long term table resident) sleeved." The immediate response from somebody else in that discussion was "BAN". To which I didn't disagree with in principle, but circumstantially has not happened yet. In either case, while I fully acknowledge there isn't a need to sleeve everything, I still do it anyway. To use the Middara example, there is functionally no point sleeving the Discipline and Item Upgrade cards, as they are never shuffled. Items are occasionally shuffled and drawn from, but not often, except for Consumables. Really, only Initiative, and the aforementioned Consumable Item, cards are constantly shuffled (and soon potentially Variant Monster cards), and thus really deserve sleeves. Now, something like ISS Vanguard, which has nearly 3,000 cards (many of which are triggered-draw specific, and not shuffled), or Aeon Trespass: Odyssey with around 2,000 cards (which again, has likely more than half of the cards as being never shuffled), we'll see what I do or don't for sleeving. I don't expect to be playing either of those games with the same player mentioned in the quote, due to the time investment of either game, but if I do, I will likely fully sleeve them, as well. ----- That all being said, I looked at my spreadsheet, and fully sleeving (or purchasing enough sleeves to fully sleeve upon arrival of future games) my games has cost a little under 8% of the cost of the games themselves. I have bought two pledges of Paladin sleeves, at $1.20 per pack of 55 sleeves, when purchasing at their $360 tier. I still have about $200 worth of sleeves that are not already slated for use with existing or pending games. Mostly in the more common sizes, but also 2 or more packs extra of the uncommon sizes.
Sleeve everything!!! Dragon Shield on Villain and Encounter decks, Ultra Pro black gloss on all Heroes, Clear sleeves on all double sided cards, is what I'm currently doing. I use the Artist Cases from Hobby Lobby with dividers from Tesseract Games and Artist Case inserts from Broken Token, to organize EVERYTHING. The way i chose sleeves was based on cost and protection available. Ultra Pro Black Gloss bought in bulk are the best bang for your buck, while the Dragon Shields offer great protection but are not needed in the raw number as Hero Packs, aside from the big box expansions. But when its's all done and organized, it is very rewarding and impressive to the average hobbyist. Secret tip: Buy in bulk, buy often, buy proven products that have been around a long time. Sleeves do cost extra and make the overall game more expensive, but so do the dividers. But even with all that, I wouldn't do it any other way. Happy with my choice even with the additional costs. To me, it's and investment and that's just how I choose to view it.
I just bought 3,000 sleeves for Marvel United...yes, I sleeve :D As for why, my best example is my copy of RoboRally (1994 version), which I bought long before I ever sleeved anything. Those cards now sit together as one large clump, and you have to break them apart before starting to shuffle...
Sleeves for games that has alot of shuffleing. For example, marvel champions yes, wingspan no. Clank yes, zombicide no. When fantasy flight stopped there sleeves I reserved all of marvel.... it was really bad.
For me personally, I will sleeve cards only if there is HEAVY shuffling AND if the card quality is medium. A game like ruins of arnak have heavy shuffling for me. you start with a small deck and you can easily shuffle your deck every round or 2 round. also arnak have really thin cards. in a case like that, I will sleeve my cards. in a game like Bloodborne the board game, I find there is heavy shuffling too. But if you look at Arkham horror lcg...you rarely shuffle the cards. So it really depends for me and I always think really carefully before sleeving. Oh, and it must also be a game I WILL be playing a LOT, if it's a game that hit the table twice a year? I won't even think about sleeving it.
I have two games CURRENTLY that are sleeved, Marvel Legendary & Pathfinder ACG, but I did buy a bunch of sleeves from the last Paladin campaign. The problem I have though is that I did write down the games that I have coming & planned to sleeve, but that little note is somewhere in the trash and long gone :D Oh well, I have a couple of thousand sleeves for random purposes and kickstarters that'll come over the next year or so.. Games that involve a lot of shuffling, games that I really appreciate and that are pretty - those are the ones I'll sleeve. But ONLY if the game box / tray can fit the sleeves.
I love sleeving my newly-bought cards. It's a nice way of enjoying the smell of it while staring at the other components. That and because my game is Unmatched. 31 cards per deck isn't a hassle compared to a majority of other games with cards. And oh, shuffling IS a bonus that I love. The only thing that MIGHT make me reconsider sleeving is if game manufacturers produce good quality plastic cards that Playing Card manufacturers make - cards that can endure insane amounts of careless riffles.
Very much for sleeving cards. Big into tcg games and that is a must practically. The real issue was the pricing and quantity needed for sleeves that I felt were worth using like dragon shields or ultra pro. I have luckily stumbled on a pretty good option that is thinner yes, but still functions perfectly fine from my experience so far, is cheaper, and comes in much larger quantities. Sleeve Kings Card Game Card Sleeves (63.5x88mm) 60 micron. I was hesitant because I am used to the thick sleeves of tcg's, but they do seem fairly good for what they are, a nice in between kinda. Only 2.50 on amazon for each 110 and have yet to run into faulty ones so far. I would recommend just trying a few for a game to see if you like them. They do feel a little thin which worried me, but once sleeved and actually handling it was fine. Maybe just be a tad more gentle maybe, but idk how necessary that really is honestly. Not sponsored, literally just happy with the find and performance so far and thought I might recommend others that may be struggling to find options.
Sleeve. Even before I started backing kickstarters, I had one copy of Avalon get ruined because it had been played, so people could tell which cards were which. Yes, I can just buy another copy.. OR, I can just buy sleeves and then I've saved myself the money on the new copy of the game. The cost differential means it's not even close. Secondly, replacing kickstarter games can be nigh on impossible, so sleeving those is essential to me. It also helps people who can't shuffle to shuffle, which is an added bonus. Like many others, I use Sleeve Kings as a balance between quality and cost, and got put onto them via Alex. When they run another campaign, I'll be right back there to back them again. Also, like others have said, don't ever JUST sleeve. Do it while watching tv or a movie at home or something like that. Sleeving without multitasking is not something I do - because yeah, I find it astoundingly boring.
I like sleeved so newer cards don't get marked vs older cards from normal wear. Some games I sleeve, some I don't... Depends on how much I like the game. Love the sleeve jam shuffle, hate big decks that fall over. I use KMC hypermat and perfect fit double sleeve. Android Netrunner was an FFG LCG, but seems impossible to find right now. My Marvel Champions is half sleeved, I haven't played in a while yet I keep buying it.
I only sleeve card games, Marvel Champions, Legendary and Marvel United are my sleeved games and $3 cheap sleeves but probably $500 in sleeves I'm sure with everything in these 3 games sleeved. Legendary and Champions are in double Monster cardboard boxes.
Quack - For most games no. But there are a few exceptions. Small games like Coup and Love Letter, I will sleeve because it is important to not have distinguishing marks. Magic the Gathering, Mostly because of value, so current decks get sleeved with Dragon Shield sleeves, and rares get penny sleeves in storage and in the Deck sleeve. Back in the day I sleeved every (12k+) card from DC and Marvel VS System card, and I still have all of them in penny sleeves.
I had to sleeve Dominion because the money and victory cards were starting to wear unevenly compared to the kingdom cards I had to sleeve Terraforming Mars because the card quality was obviously getting worn. I could smell it happening. And I want to play Terraforming Mars a lot.
I don't necessarily mind the process of sleeving but I've come a long way in my idea of needing to sleeve things. Smash Up was my limit (I also, no longer own Smash Up). But I knew that any time a new expansion came out I had to purchase at least two packs of purple UltraPro sleeves for the new decks and maybe an extra pack of light blue for the location cards. That ultimately (I quit the game when the Marvel version was announced because I'm sick and tired of Marvel in board games) left me with a couple thousand cards that I had to maintain sleeves on, make sure to have spares if any tore, and continue to increase the price of my games for what is largely an unnecessary process. With very few exceptions do I think games need sleeves. Most games at this point have excellent quality cards. Tortuga 2199 was one of the few that I went out to sleeve (and of course those were obnoxiously sized cards) because of how bad of quality they were. After two plays there was serious wear on them. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle was another I sleeved because of just how much those cards have gotten used. After two full plays of the campaign and both expansion plays, they needed to be sleeved because of how rough they were getting. Those are really the only types of cases in which I sleeve. For the most part, games either don't get used anywhere near enough to require it or they're just quality products in general. Not sleeving saves money, it saves time, it saves frustration, and it makes games infinitely easier to store. We have drinks on my table and non-debris creating snacks (no cheetos!) and I don't worry about it. I also am in my 30s and play mostly with people in their mid-20s to mid-40s and we all understand that it's much cheaper to just take care of things the first time around.
We sleeve our games where cards get handled the most. If it's a secondary feature of a game, we don't bother. When buying sleeves we buy by the case (multiple boxes) and always from a reputable company. That means they're never going to stop making them and you don't have the tearing issues that you get with cheap sleeves. Doesn't mean you need to go top dollar (dragon shield) either. You can often get deals on cases on eBay. I find sleeving to be a good activity to do while doing something else like TV. Also, we have friends who sleeve EVERYTHING and genuinely enjoy the process, so they'll help on big games.
My wife and I find sleeving cards to be very therapeutic and easy to do while doing other things. If shuffling isn't a major mechanic of the game (like Spirit Island where cards are only shuffled once a game), then I won't sleeve. If the game is something which will likely never be out of print (like Uno), then I won't sleeve. Otherwise I'm 50/50 on sleeving.
It depends on the audience. If I'm going to play it with younger people, I will sleeve it. If I might take it to the pub, or anywhere with liquids, I probably will double sleeve it. If it's likely to stay at home, or dedicated game club, I might be so eager (but it depends on how much it's handled). I actually don't like the feel of shuffling with sleeves as much, but I can definitely understand why you would enjoy it. But that's said, sleeving is strangely cathartic for me. As long as it's not prohibitive, just sitting in front of the computer, watching a movie, or a gaming video, and just plug through them, semi-subconsciously.
I'll sleeve hidden identity games, where a damaged card could literally just ruin the game. I'll sleeve the really valuable games in the collection (KDM or similar). For the Arkham LCG we sleeve the player decks we're currently using, same with Gloomhaven and Tainted Grail. Makes them nicer to handle and also is a handy way to keep separate the cards we have from those we might acquire in the future. I get why people sleeve deckbuilders like Legendary or Dominion because the base cards you use every game will get a lot more wear than the others, but honestly the product I'd really like is a pack of new copies of those starter cards. If those could be bought it'd be loads cheaper than sleeving 1000 of cards.
I personally use KMC hyper Matt for games that get shuffled a lot (like Marvel Champions) , and Sleeve King (their new thicker line is fantastic in terms of price/quality ratio) for everything else There's nothing more frustrating then your friend accidentally staining a card with their dirty fingers, or bending/chipping a corner with a rough shuffle... Ease of mind for a few $ is worth it
I’ve never been a sleever bc of the cost. The one or two games I have sleeved I used cheap ones which poke and tear easily. The only games I might consider sleeving in the future are deck builders I play often and gloomhaven (OG, JotL, & Frosthaven 😳) primarily for ease of shuffling, but I also hate the feel of cards that have been handled A LOT. They get that gritty sticky feel, even from clean hands. Just oil and dirt build up. But again that extra cost is killer, especially these days with things already getting more expensive. 🤷♂️
I agree with most of the points you mention for both sides. I personally don't like sleeving and don't. I might for Ark Nova, though, as the cards are very flimsy and poor quality. I like the feel of cards like Sleeping Gods
I sleeve everything. EVERYTHING! I appreciate the protection and I like the feel of the sleeves. But I also don’t have very many games that are all cards. I’d still sleeve them tho, I sleeved Dominion and Settlers of the North.
I sleeve cus: - I play with both gamers and non gamers that don't understand how to take care of games - I can't get another copy easily since I pay more for shipping ( I'm from Latin America) - I play with both adults and kids. - I like how sleeves shuffle If the came is retail and super easy to access locally I don't bother. I.e i didn't sleeve exploring kittens or the crew
It all depends! If the game involves picking up cards often, i find it very useful to sleeve since i normally play on hardwood tables and it's easy to damage cards with nails ( and they're hard to pick up). If the price of the game is high or it has KS exclusives i care about, I'll definitely sleeve before bringing it somewhere. Help protect cards from people and the elements. I mostly buy sleeve kings based on Alex's recommendation. I'm starting to want 200 sleeves for the top 8 or so sizes board games come in. I use super cheap penny sleeve for my unmatched collection. I sleeve as i watch standup comedy or hokey highlights, or it's fun to check out the art on the cards, so i don't mind sleeving the cards. I also don't play board games as frequently as you so i only sleeve a game or 2 a month. I just wish all inserts made room for sleeved cards..!
Edit: TLDR of the below, don't think about sleeving to protect your games think about how you'll feel when the cards actually start to wear. Will you think this sucks and is terrible, or will you think you had a good run with the game playing it so many times the cards have even worn down? If the former, then sleeve your cards. If the later, don't. Rule 1, only sleeve things you think you'll play enough that they need to be sleeved in the first place. Dependent upon card quality and how often shuffling happens. Case in point, I think I'll probably play Imperium Classics/Legends often enough to justify the sleeves but I haven't done so yet however the cards are so prone to bending with no border around the edges for the artwork that sleeves are basically required from the get go. On the other side Maracaibo will never be played enough to justify sleeves, even if I do get to play it for several dozen hours and go through a full campaign with it. Also if you need to shuffle small numbers of cards regularly, sleeves can make a big difference (riffle shuffling sucks with small numbers, pile shuffling is tedious, mash shuffling without sleeves is like nails on chalkboard). Rule 2, only sleeve something which has the potential to be worth it at the end. This means at the end of the lifetime of the game, sleeving a game that costs you 40 dollars that you might be able to sell at a slight premium when it's out of print just isn't worth it. On the other hand a game that sells well with sleeves or has a high chance of fetching a premium when out of print and you'll be okay keeping it that long. Rule 3, don't sleeve games used for people aren't used to sleeves and/or new to gaming. News flash to sleeve types out there, they're not great to hold and play with. If you think otherwise, it's you placing your desire to have them kept in pristine condition and forcing yourself to get used to them. Normal people aren't going to instantly be onboard and comfortable with sleeved cards. Rule 4, only sleeve what is useful to sleeve and with the appropriate quality. Marval Champions for example, your hero deck should be high quality sleeves if you want to use sleeves. Decks you keep around for others to use, premium if you need to for the particular player if you've got a regular opponent, regular sleeves for those okay with that, and no sleeves as the baseline. Villain decks, either regular sleeves for shuffling if you play them enough or no sleeves. And don't sleeves your deckbuilding cards until you actually use them in a deck. Rule 5, ignore all other rules and do what you want if it makes you more comfortable/feel better. The money you save on sleeves isn't worth the panic and worry if you're the type to panic and worry about that sort of thing. This is why my Arkham/LOTR scenario cards have generic mid-range sleeves despite absolutely not needing them.
I sleeve only cards that are shuffled and held in hand often (Gloomhaven modifier cards, Tainted Grail combat cards) and/or have to be shuffled heavily before each game session (Terraforming Mars). Regarding sleeving process it is fine while watching videos such as yours. ;) On the other hand painting miniatures is much more painful for me, I have to relly focus on it (but it is worth it as well!).
Sleeving my Power Rangers collection (600+ cards) took about an hour and a half. I hate sleeving but man I love my cards sleeved lol. I feel you pain with MC, I buy a new pack of sleeves with each hero pack.
I sleeve because I like the feel of sleeved cards. I use Sleeve Kings standard sleeves, and at $2.50 for 110, I feel it is a good value. I definitely don't mind the process, it's a great thing to do while watching a show or some Quackalope playthrough videos. 😎
I will always sleeve. A habit. Otherwise game is not ready for playing. Problem is that inserts are sometimes useless when sleeving or game boxes too small… If game use non-standard card size, it may be challenging and pricey to find suitable sleeves. For standard size cards, cheap 100 sleeves for 1€ is enough. Don’t have to use those expensive Dragon Shields you use.
At first, I didn't enjoy sleeving but now really enjoy it although it does eat up A LOT of time. I really don't think there's any downside to sleeving your games with the exception of some board game inserts not accommodating them, taking up time and of course the money cost. The great thing about sleeves is that it can retain the value of your game since you're not going to be damaging the cards (considering if your handle them with sensible care) and if you don't like the game, you can simply re-use it again. In my early days I used to use a lot of FFG sleeves which were expensive as hell. These days, I sleeve depending on how the cards are going to be used. If there's a lot of shuffling and handling, I find FFG or/and sleeve kings fit the bill. If I'm just going to be touching it once and placing it on my play area (like an engine builder game) I find penny sleeves will do the job.
I mostly sleeve deck builders (dominion style) because the starting hands get beat sooo much more than “market” cards and you can always tell the difference between them if you don’t sleeve (which unfortunately a lot of deckbuilding games have cards that say things like reveal the top card if it has a cost, do x). Sleeve kings (60 microns) are the way to go: cheap and better quality than “penny sleeves”
I always sleeve my board games, I prefer to keep them protected. My only exception is living card games like Marvel Champions or Arkham. In that case I only sleeve the cards I am currently playing with. This makes storage easier and I only need a couple of boxes of Dragon Shields.
I sleeve for the same reason. Shuffling ease. That's why my Marvel Champions is sleeved. I have 95% of the released content. But I went with the cheap Arcane Tinmen sleeves which are much much less than Dragon Shields. They also feel nicer than dragon Shields actually :)
Haha dragon shield 20 bucks in Australia for 50 sleeves, I have over 300 board games every single expansion for marvel legendary and legendary...every sleeved and any thin cardboard laminated, I no my collection I paid nearly 25k Australian.some reason I have to sleeve ?
For me, it became a must for the games I like. I dont know, but I feel like my friends' hands are pretty much dirty. Some sleeves became really dirty after just a few games, and I was like d@ F#$k... glad I sleeved that. At least i can wipe the sleeves easily compared to cards... Also, sleeving is a way to spend time with SO talking or watching something while doing it.
I sleeve almost everything. When I have new set of Arkham or whatever else, I create one giant stack of cards, one giant stack of sleeves, and then turn on something like a Quackalope video. Reasons: 1. Shuffling. I just suck at shuffling. Being able to set up games faster and shuffle faster is worth it to me. 2. Tactility. I’ve handled cards that have been played to death without sleeves and I can feel the grime from fingers and tables. The cards stick together when I shuffle. I hate it. Also, sleeves makes it easier for me to pick up cards from a board. 3. Protection. Accidents happen and some of my games are out of print. I also just like having pristine stuff that will last longer and maybe resell better. An argument to be made is that you can just rebuy most games, but the idea of just perpetually trashing an entire boardgame and rebuying it and creating more waste bothers me. Is introducing more plastic the right answer? Probably not? There’s also the counter argument that all things are temporary. Old games a destroyed or forgotten while new games are constantly created. And I’m not taking my games with me when I die. My kids won’t want to inherit them. They’re going into a dumpster or donation box, so why be so precious with them? I guess there is a desire to halt time and try to preserve an experience I love for as long as I can no matter how futile it is. Also, I have done the whole unsleeve an entire collection whose sleeves I can’t find again, redistribute those sleeves to other games already sleeved with easier to find sleeves that aren’t getting expansions. Collect those sleeves and resleeve the first collection. Thank goodness for internet videos to keep me from getting bored.
I would prefer having high quality plastic cards, but pretty much no board game have that, so sleeving is necessary for most games. The exception is cheaper games or games where you just draw cards with little shuffling. Also if the box can't contain sleeved cards I sometimes won't bother either.
Other than the added cost, I enjoy sleeving and having everything protected. I feel anxious playing a game without sleeves, worrying about the risk of them getting damaged. Knowing everything I own is sleeved helps me sleep at night. Yes, im OCD. ; )
I won’t sleeve anything. I even take sleeves off 2nd purchases. The worn edges prove just how much we play them. I’ve got a copy of coup that lives in my work lunch box (in a ziplock bag, but in and out of a fridge)
I’d like to know where you got 100 DS Clear Mattes for $5. I usually pay double that (USD) and even buying in bulk on Amazon only cuts the cost down to just under $9 per 100 ct. box.
I sleeve most of my cards. And I almost exclusively use standard sleeve kings sleeves. But if it's a game with a TON of cards I don't. I most recently didn't sleeve massive darkness 2. But I really do like the sleeving process and I like using sleeved cards 🙂
I sleeve if shuffling a lot, or handling a lot. I like Sleeve Kings for thick enough sleeves, but not too thick. But there are exceptions, such as Wingspan with two expansions: I sleeve special cards, but not those hundreds of bird cards.
For me, I'm a big sleeve fan just for the extra protection, I'm buying into rather expensive games and I want them to last. And that's especially true for limited and special edition versions, or versions out of print. I also have great pleasure in the sleeved shuffle, it's so much smoother and for games with large card shuffle needed, that matters a lot. I also came from the mtg community so it was just the standard for me. I do get selective on what things are sleeved though, if they're cards that don't require shuffling or a lot of player handling, I'll probably put off sleeveing. I'm also not going out of my way for the more expensive sleeves and stick to more of the Gamegenic Prime variety, they sell in a bulk size that's cheaper and they're just generic clear sleeves meaning it's easier to find replacements if they do stop making them.
I sleeve all my games, mainly for protection from both spills and well my shuffling. I have played cards pretty much my whole life and when I get a normal deck of cards in my hands I tend to riffle shuffle them, and not carefully lime you did in your demonstration but rather gast and rough. When I grab a sleeved deck it makes me stop and realize not to do that and put a bend into the deck over time. I also try and have my 7year old niece play games whenever I can and you don't want to take a risk of getting cards messed up with kids handling them. I do agree with your point about the expense tho, I have found sleeve kings to be a good sleeve at a good value. And keep a stock of 8810 and 8808 on hand ( the 2 most commonly used sizes) along with a few other random sizes leftover from previously sleeved games.
I am someone who never uses sleeves… but I may be converted. Mechs vs Minions cards with just a few shuffles have started to show some edge wear. Two or three shuffles. 😑🙄 So I got sleeves for the entire game and will be using those exclusively for that game. So now I know why I would want sleeves. The card quality is suspect so I need sleeves. Oh well. It’s a great game regardless of card quality. My son loves it!
I love sleeves. I don't sleeve every game, but I sleeve a lot. For me, it's not about protection. It is a bit about shufflebility, but mostly, it's about the feel while playing. I come from the tcg/ccg world, where everyone has their own playmat and sleeved decks. I'm used to cards feeling a certain way on the table and in my hand. When I play without sleeves and a good mat, the experience is off and feels lesser. If I have a board game I love, I might as well throw another $20 into it to dramatically increase the playing experience.
I sleeve most of my games, for both shuffling and protection. The protection part is not just on wearing, it also protect the cards from water, which a tiny drop will easily ruin a card and makes the whole game unplayable. Especially for games that are expansive, or not easy to obtain again (e.g. KS games)
I never sleeve. Ever. Sleeves annoy me, not just setting them up, but just using them in gameplay. Even if someone offered to do it for me, I'd still decline. They just aren't THAT precious. It will take a while before you even see wear, and even then, so what? They get a little wear. It's a sign of a loved game.
Sleeping is almost Cathartic for me. I don’t get expensive ones but it keeps things looking nice for me - especially with 4 kids… Also I like the feel when I go and shuffle them. (I cannot shuffle standard cards so…)
I am more likely to sleeve than no. If the cost to re-obtain the game becomes significantly higher than the cost to sleeve, I will sleeve. The issue of getting cards back into a box is a real problem that doesn’t always have a good solution. I tried playing Welcome To the Moon without sleeves, but I saw minor damage to the cards after a single play. But I can’t fit the game into the boxes with sleeves! For now the game will go unplayed.
The likelihood for me to want to sleeve a game depends on a ratio of how often the cards are shuffled and how many cards are involved. For example. I will always want to sleeve every deck-builder. The tiny starting decks are a pain to shuffle and sleeving them makes it easy, plus they're shuffled a lot even in a single game. Oh, there are also a couple of examples of a game with, as you mentioned, hidden information, where it matters A LOT if there are any visible differences between cards. So I do like to sleeve those as soon as I've confirmed that I like them just to make sure I don't know what my opponent is playing.
I like to sleeve my games, specifically the ones that will be shuffled a lot. there is an argument for me sleeving up Legacy games such as pandemic BUT i found that using multiple colors made sorting and distinguishing specific decks really helpful. As for your argument on what sleeves to get dragon shields and ultra pro will never go out of business since their card sizes are used across multiple TCGS. But I would like to point out that not all sleeves are cut uniformly so there can be some that are cut a hairline differently. If you care about marked cards or disbursable cards, that can be an issue. speaking of marked cards, for games of deductive logic where knowing what a player has, sleeving and being able to replace sleeves to remove any distinguishing marks preserves the gaming experience.
Everything that gets shuffled gets sleeved. Kickstarter exclusive games that are difficult to replace get sleeved for protection. If a publisher offers sleeves as part of a kickstarter I usually purchase them, because they'll give me the correct size and quantity I need. Otherwise, I use the same Dragon Shields you're using in this video. If you really got those for only $5/pack, please tell me where. I don't mind the process of sleeving at all. Just put on an interesting podcast or audio book and the time passes easily.
Stopped sleeveing games and actually take them of all my games (in total there were around 2500 sleeves). It just become too cumbersome to hunt down specific sleeves for some nonstandard cards, got to make some custom inserts for them and if later there is one big stack of cards (like hogwarts battle with all expansions) sleeved cards tends to slip on each other and it just a recipe for disaster. Sold most of sleeves (many where in really good condition) and left just a few for some pnp games and rare ocasions like translating some cards. Now only game that is just sleeved is Journeys in Middle earth as I was wainting for all expansions and the cards started go gains some wear and tear (I feel like FFG make them too low quality for the amount you shuffle them) and propably gonna desleeve soon so that wear on them will kind of equalize. Actually I found that I enjoy seeing some wear and tear on my games as it indicates that it is loved and player (which is propably also because we only keep games that we gonna play or have a sentimental value, others are either sell of give away to friends or family)
I tend to sleeve everything, though if a game doesn't shuffle the cards I'm less worried. I do sleeve to protect the cards, but the main benefit for me is shuffling: the cards feel better, and shuffle far easier - if the cards are not sleeved they tend to be difficult to shuffle without damaging. Another benefit is that if the game has poor quality cards, a premium sleeve can turn that flimsy piece of card that bends easily into something more resilient. And aye: the cost can be high. I have spent hundreds of pounds on sleeves. Though there is something that you could have done to reduce the cost for LCGs like Marvel Champions: most of the cards will sit in the box unused 90% of the time, so what I do for mine is sleeve all the villain cards and store all the player cards in a ring binder using sleeve wallets from ultra-pro. When I build decks, I take out the cards I want and then sleeve the completed deck. Far-fewer sleeves are needed, and flicking through the cards to build your deck is far easier. It also means that the collection is easier to manage as I find rifling through a massive pile of cards can be hard to find specific cards / hard to keep in order. For the time: I just have some videos or a film on and sleeve at the same time: it is mindless enough that it requires little-to-no thought to do (depending on if you're using clear or matte, since the matte are only smooth on one side you need to make it consistent.. :) There is one other issue with sleeves that you didn't mention: they slide... So many times - especially with new sleeves - I have had to baby-sit a freshly shuffled deck as when it is just sat on the table it will slide out. I need to either get or make some deck holders to avoid this issue.
I like sleeving all types of card games including board games which could be both harder to find replacement and expensive to find cards for the board games either retail or funding projects like Kickstarter, GameFound, etc. I like them not only to protect them from damage and also to expand their cards' lifespan and prevent them from wear and tear.
Also a Sleeve Kings Kickstarter backer and have PLENTY of sleeves for the foreseeable future, not to mention at a fair price. Does bum me out when they don't fit back in the box, other than that it a process I enjoy.
If it's out of production, then most definitely! Examples are Pandemic:Iberia or the Battlestar Galactica series. If its readily available, then no. Also, if there is a chance of identifing a card by the damage and gaining an advantage then it ought to be sleeved.
Sleeping is a gimmick some hyperactive salesman pushed out. People seem to like it. I can't handle the cards. They end up on the floor when they're sleeved.
Honestly, I don't mind sleeving things. It's simple, and in a way, therapeutic.
I prefer everything being sleeved in my collection.
I'm the same way. Sometime it just feels good to throw up a movie or RUclips video and do something repetitive with your hands.
And if I get to keep the items in games I spent hundreds of dollars on safe in the process, win/win for me.
Right... I like to sleeve so I can read all the cards for the first time and check out the art. I don't find it annoying at all. The worst part is running out of sleeves and having to buy more.
@@siejaiz Ugh. THE ABSOLUTE WORST.
I sleeve all my games in Dragon Shield matt sleeves. Not sure where you get Dragon Sleeves for $5.00. I thought they were closer to $15 a box. I am likely going to start gaming at a meetup gaming group. I don't trust that they won't get dirty fingers on them. And most of my games are Kickstarter games and replacing a damaged card is way to costly to consider. I've double sleeved some games in the past. That was when I was playing Magic and some of my cards were stupid expensive so protecting them was a must.
If you buy them in a case, they're just a hair above 6 apiece at my local store...but that's for a case.
@@timraley8299 that is good to know. I don’t think my store has such a deal but worth asking
@@TheTinnman You'd also need...a whole case, which is a hard ask unless you've gotten a massive delivery of standard-sized cards haha
All my Nemesis content is sleeved, color coded by expansion and they are Matte finish, Dragon Shield brand which run aboout $12 a box. My Dice Throne sets are Sleeved that's about it. Other games I have can wear down they'll live. Probably should sleeve ISS Vanguard when it arrives
I sleeve cards that are going to be shuffled a lot, and only ever all cards in a boardgame if it's a game I know I'm going to have in my collection for a long time.
In collectible card games, I sleeve and often double sleeve all the expensive cards, but not the lesser value cards.
In LCGs, spesifically Arkham horror LCG, I sleeve everything EXCEPT the player cards. They go into binders, and are only removed and sleeved when they are being used in a deck.
Sleeves offer the benefit of security, easier shuffling and easier handling when picking up and flipping cards on a table, but they can get expensive if you're an avid sleever and don't do it correctly.
If I had Marvel champions, I would probably do the same as in other LCGs and store the cards in binders, and sleeving up what I use when I use it
The day I started bringing my games to public board game meetings I started sleeving them one by one XD even though they have a no food/drinks on the table rule. Just the increased number of people touching the cards makes me want to sleeve everything.
I’ve played card games my whole life…. I just keep a case of dragon shield matte black and clear around.
(A box of 100 dragon shields is like 12 dollars)
A game like champions I would sleeve religiously (if I hadn’t gotten rid of it)
I think these are the ones I most prefer the feel of, but I buy sleeve kings for the :
- price (£2 for 110 of the standard size)
- Range of sizes (they cover pretty much every card size used, so it makes it easier to retain a consistent feel)
- Thickness (the 60 microns thickness feels a practical compromise of durability and avoiding the card stacks getting too high / not fitting back in the box)
I’ll multitask and sleeve while watching a show.
Because of the extra cost, I’ll NOT sleeve games where the card count is undefined: won’t do Marvel Champions, Arkham Horror LCG nor my huge Cards Against Humanity collection, where even though my Marvel United X-Men order and Oathsworn are both 1000+ cards it’ll be a single sleeping project vs being open ended.
Love sleeving. Its basically therapy. Slow, monotonous and calming. Maybe thats just me. Also the resell argument and shuffling. All good things.
It’s not. Very therapeutic and a nice stress reliever.
Me too. I love to sleeve
100%
Shuffling is the key. So easy to shuffle and I don’t like having to bend my cards shuffling them the traditional way.
I bring my games to meetups where I'm mostly playing with people I've never met before so there's no way I'm not sleeving my games' cards.
If the cards of the game are going to be shuffled regularly then I will sleeve them. If the cards are hardly used then I don't worry about it. I use Sleeve Kings. When I first got into gaming I was not into sleeving. Over time I changed my mind. I also DO NOT allow food or drink anywhere near the game or the table, even with sleeved cards.
FWIW we game in a pub and some there are drinks around. I've yet to see spillage accident, but do recall a couple of near misses (one was me!). My aim of sleeving is more about reducing any stress about handling cards or accidentally damaging them, as much for the other players as myself.
I've probably only got 2-3 games that I probably couldn't justify the cost of replacing if they got damaged, one large (but not all-in) Kickstarter and two that are long out of print.
+1 on this comment all the way =)
I’ll echo that Sleeve Kings are a great balance between premium feel, right fit, and thickness. They’re not loose, they feel well, and they’re thin enough to store and stack much easier. That being said, I really do like GameGenic mattes for my next level up, but they’re really hard to find locally.
+1 for sleeve kings on high card count card games. I use them for Arkham LCG. Though prefer paladin sleeves above all for most games.
Anyone try sleeve kings new premium sleeves? Supposed to be a better match to the old FFG sleeves than Gamegenic.
Confession - I can't shuffle unsleeved cards, it feels like I'm knocking two blocks of wood together. Luckily I actually enjoy the sleeving process, it's kinda zen.
In the past I did tried to kept every card sleeved. In my experience this is just not practical at all for several reasons:
1. If you sleeve a game and a year later an expansion shows you have to hunt for the very same sleeves, which you may even not remember.
2. A topical card game may have from 300-500 cards. This may add a cost of about 30 to 50 dollars more, unless you use really cheap sleeves.
3. Usually most game inserts don’t work with sleeves cards.
4. Sometimes sleeves comes in weird sizes.
5. If your local gaming store doesn’t have a varied supply of sleeves you have to wait for sleeves and buy them on line.
The main reason I still sleeve cards is when you shuffle a lot. This protects the cards and also feels good. You really become addicted to sleeping.
My advice to new people in the hobby is “Don’t sleeve” unless you are playing collectible card games like Magic, and you are playing with expensive cards,
If you buy a game or two and play only those games, sure sleeving is ok. This I also recommend,
“Don’t succumb to FOMO!”.
We only sleeve games that require constant shuffling example deck builders. And even then only buy penny sleeves, 1000 sleeves for $10. We do have sleeves for MC just for the deck we play and change each game. The last game we played didn't sleeve because it was Sinister Motives and would have to sleeve and unsleeved during the campaign.
My approach is if I like the game and want to keep it, I'll sleeve the cards.
I don't sleeve anymore. "Dogeared just means well loved" to paraphrase NRB Adam. And, if a game is well and truly ruined, a replacement is typically cheaper and more convenient anyway.
One thing that you sort of touched on with shuffle quality is the difference in card stock quality across games and sometimes even between expansions of the same game. Sleeves help homogenize that gap. NRB Adam also highlighted that deluxe Radlands has more robust plastic cards in his 10 Best Board Games For The Pub video, which is an upgrade that probably isn't that hotly demanded, but something I wish more games would offer.
YES, probably my most favorite cards EVER. Was really impressed by the Radland cards. Not sure if I should still sleeve for worry of the ink coming off or not, but they feel and look fantastic. Probably won't. xD
Pros:
- Shuffle (by far the biggest reason to sleeve imho)
- Protection
Cons:
- Cost
- Time to sleeve, (although I do this while watching a TV show or movie most of the time)
- Boxes/Inserts that are not designed to hold sleeved cards
As someone whose game group likes to enjoy some craft beers and snacks during our boardgame nights I generally prefer to have my games sleeved. That being said it also depends on the cost of the game if I either: Don't sleeve at all, use lower quality sleeve/just partially sleeve, or use premium quality sleeves (at least for standard sized cards).
Also I only sleeve games if I can manage to get 10 plays of it in a month. If so the game warrants having the sleeves since it will inevitably get warm out at that rate of play. If I play a game less than 10 times a month it probably won’t need the sleeves. I had to sleeve the game hidden leaders because my game group played that game 10 in less than two weeks. So i sleeved that game up in order to limit the wear and tear which was pretty bad with all the scratches and bends on cards. Other than that I don’t sleeve my games mostly. Only two of my games are sleeves right now. I wish I did it more cause I love sleeving games!
I have my entire marvel champions collection sleeves in clear and black matte dragon shields. All the good guys in clear and bad guys in black. I should have done all clear but it’s too late now lol
I feel that I’m extending the life of the cards by keeping wear and tear to a minimum by sleeving. Especially when it comes to backed games that may never see life beyond the original campaign. These cards can literally be one of a kinds, irreplaceable. I tend to buy the majority of my sleeves from one company. If I have to buy other sleeves, I leave the package in the game, so I know what I need to buy for future expansions.
I never sleeve. Usually I get the print and play files to make replacement decks.
Where do you usually go to find those files?
I found this video while I was sleeving cards for an expansion. :)
Lol nice
Depends on how much you’ll be handling shuffling the cards:
Nemesis: sleeve the character action and contamination cards. Nothing else really needs it.
Dominion: The card quality is low and you’ll constantly be shuffling, sleeve it all.
Arnak: constantly shuffling, sleeve.
Aquatica: you’ll be shuffling once before the game. Don’t bother sleeving.
Sound advice. Selective sleeving just for cards that see regular usage / shuffling and where it's not open info.
FWIW I haven't sleeved Cockroach poker, despite it very much fitting those guidelines. The reasoning is it's so widely available / cheap, that if it ever came to it, I'd simply buy a new copy.
@@iansutton7416 good call! The Crew is similar: You shuffle them all the time, the cards are cheaply made, but you shuffle them SO much that sleeving them would be a pain because you wouldn’t be able to bridge them.
I end up having most of my games sleeved.
But I have a small collection and would only sleeve if:
a) something needs to be shuffled a lot (wear and tear)
b) marked cards for deduction/bluffing would be a problem
c) I am convinced I still want to play this in 10+ years.
+1 to Sleeve King. It is great!
I only sleeve the cards that are regularly held in hands. In Marvel Champions' case, I only sleeve the heroes that I play. The rest are left un-sleeved to save money, space and time.
On shuffling, I actually prefer the un-sleeved cards. It shuffles much better without the sleeves. The feeling of your skin on paper is not the same as plastic...
I like the tactile feel as well.
Yep
$5 for 100 dragon shield sleeves? That's a steal! If I look really hard on the internet, I can get them for €8 but the price in the brick and mortar stores starts at €11. That's why I switched to dragon perfect fit sleeves. They are "only" €5 and as a bonus they take up less space ;)
why not just use thin sleeve? most of these problems go away. Don't need storage because thin sleeves are thin. Usually, 2-3 times cheaper than think sleeves. You can still shuffle it quickly like thick sleeve.
all games sleeved with 100+ microns
some games i have even double sleeved 😅
the good:
- easier to shuffle
- protected
the bad:
- expensive
- space
if necessary i re-sleeve my game with the same sleeves
I pretty much sleeve everything. I know I sleeve things I don’t need to but I do it anyway. It makes shuffling way easier, especially for me since I physically can’t do “traditional” shuffling.
Money wise, I stick with sleeve kings unless they don’t make the size I need, then I try for paladins. Big reason for that is the thickness. I adjust storage to sleeved cards.
My OCD would probably force me to re-sleeve if something new came out for a game and the company changed. But maybe not, cause townsfolk tussle is sleeved in sleeve kings and paladins… though the change is exclusively to the card size. I think I’d probably keep the cards separate for the new content unless I really wanted to leave it permanently mixed in to the base.
I actually find it kinda cathartic to sleeve while watching something or when I just need to do something mindless. And my wife actually enjoys it, so she probably does around 75% of the sleeving.
i never eat around my cards or let anyone touch them eating, and i always wash my hands before playing even if they are not particularly dirty, soft drinks are ok IF they are sleeved, alcohol i never allow nesr to my cards, ever (not talking about braindead card games like uno or a standard deck of normal cards...
To me i have....to sleeve i don't touch the Game if i don't put sleeves first but i understand your point You put more Price to the Game and if You wanna sell the Game they don't wanna pay for the sleeves Even if You Say that the Game have sleeves
i sleeve all my games, but odd sized sleeves can be troublesome because you'll have to deal with lower quality sleeve companies such as mayday sleeves unfortunately... their quality is so poor, even with their premium line it's maddening
I wasn't a huge proponent of sleeving... until a friend joined our board game group who had oily hands. Love the guy to death and he is great fun at the table but my cards, my poor cards.
I never used to sleeve anything until a few years ago. When I really got into board game and realized how expensive they are.
If cards need to be shuffled, I sleeve. If they don’t need to be shuffled, I sleeve. It’s a curse.
100% sleeved games. I live in Brazil, and here, the cost of games is US Cost x10(nota that lviing expenses is around 1:1 or 1:2, so games are REALLY expensive(e.g. Nemesis costs R$1000 x U$D 100, or TFM AE costing R$350 x U$D 35 or so, and there usually aren't good discounts on games. if you want something "cheap" AKA natural dollar conversion of U$D(of a new game), you gotta buy used...) . Sleeves cost around R$10-15 for 100. If your game has damaged components, reselling them is a real pain(if you want to), so, at the end of the day, not worth not sleeving usually. There are cheaper games, and those may be possible to go by unsleeved(R$50-100), but for the rest... People are kind of wary of buying unsleeved gasmes, as they may come with a lot of wear for a reasonably expensive product.
(Also, it pains me every time I shuffle unsleeved cards, lol)
hate sleeving btw, but i do it occasionally, not all cards feels better sleeves either
Dragon shields $5? $11 Canadian - on sale at the cheapest FLGS! Anyways, I sleeve what is necessary - frequently shuffled, unevenly shuffled (e.g. Marvel Champs - standard encounter set would be worn to ribbons after my 150 plays), or if any nick, mark, etc. would "spoil" the game -> e.g. a hidden traitor game - wouldn't be much fun if you could tell what one of the identity cards is. For LCG's you can just sleeve what you're currently playing with -> build your deck with naked cards, and put the sleeves on after you've decided on what cards go in your deck. (i do this for champs, but oddly, keep all the villains and modular sets permanently sleeved)
I've gotten one shipment of Sleeve Kings ... I like them, but I don't have a ton for comparison purposes. I sleeve cards that have a lot of hand holding... Moonrakers for instance, I sleeve the standard cards (Reactor, Thruster, Damage, Shield and Miss), but I do not sleeve the Contracts, Ship Parts or Objectives.
To quote a comment I made on discussion on this topic in a Discord server I'm in:
"Considering I have a player who will sometimes cough or sneeze across a table without seeing it as an issue, well...
I'm glad I have all of Middara (and other games, but that's been the most recent long term table resident) sleeved."
The immediate response from somebody else in that discussion was "BAN". To which I didn't disagree with in principle, but circumstantially has not happened yet.
In either case, while I fully acknowledge there isn't a need to sleeve everything, I still do it anyway.
To use the Middara example, there is functionally no point sleeving the Discipline and Item Upgrade cards, as they are never shuffled. Items are occasionally shuffled and drawn from, but not often, except for Consumables. Really, only Initiative, and the aforementioned Consumable Item, cards are constantly shuffled (and soon potentially Variant Monster cards), and thus really deserve sleeves.
Now, something like ISS Vanguard, which has nearly 3,000 cards (many of which are triggered-draw specific, and not shuffled), or Aeon Trespass: Odyssey with around 2,000 cards (which again, has likely more than half of the cards as being never shuffled), we'll see what I do or don't for sleeving. I don't expect to be playing either of those games with the same player mentioned in the quote, due to the time investment of either game, but if I do, I will likely fully sleeve them, as well.
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That all being said, I looked at my spreadsheet, and fully sleeving (or purchasing enough sleeves to fully sleeve upon arrival of future games) my games has cost a little under 8% of the cost of the games themselves. I have bought two pledges of Paladin sleeves, at $1.20 per pack of 55 sleeves, when purchasing at their $360 tier. I still have about $200 worth of sleeves that are not already slated for use with existing or pending games. Mostly in the more common sizes, but also 2 or more packs extra of the uncommon sizes.
Sleeve everything!!! Dragon Shield on Villain and Encounter decks, Ultra Pro black gloss on all Heroes, Clear sleeves on all double sided cards, is what I'm currently doing. I use the Artist Cases from Hobby Lobby with dividers from Tesseract Games and Artist Case inserts from Broken Token, to organize EVERYTHING. The way i chose sleeves was based on cost and protection available. Ultra Pro Black Gloss bought in bulk are the best bang for your buck, while the Dragon Shields offer great protection but are not needed in the raw number as Hero Packs, aside from the big box expansions. But when its's all done and organized, it is very rewarding and impressive to the average hobbyist. Secret tip: Buy in bulk, buy often, buy proven products that have been around a long time. Sleeves do cost extra and make the overall game more expensive, but so do the dividers. But even with all that, I wouldn't do it any other way. Happy with my choice even with the additional costs. To me, it's and investment and that's just how I choose to view it.
I just bought 3,000 sleeves for Marvel United...yes, I sleeve :D
As for why, my best example is my copy of RoboRally (1994 version), which I bought long before I ever sleeved anything. Those cards now sit together as one large clump, and you have to break them apart before starting to shuffle...
Sleeves for games that has alot of shuffleing. For example, marvel champions yes, wingspan no. Clank yes, zombicide no.
When fantasy flight stopped there sleeves I reserved all of marvel.... it was really bad.
For me personally, I will sleeve cards only if there is HEAVY shuffling AND if the card quality is medium. A game like ruins of arnak have heavy shuffling for me. you start with a small deck and you can easily shuffle your deck every round or 2 round. also arnak have really thin cards. in a case like that, I will sleeve my cards. in a game like Bloodborne the board game, I find there is heavy shuffling too. But if you look at Arkham horror lcg...you rarely shuffle the cards. So it really depends for me and I always think really carefully before sleeving. Oh, and it must also be a game I WILL be playing a LOT, if it's a game that hit the table twice a year? I won't even think about sleeving it.
I have two games CURRENTLY that are sleeved, Marvel Legendary & Pathfinder ACG, but I did buy a bunch of sleeves from the last Paladin campaign. The problem I have though is that I did write down the games that I have coming & planned to sleeve, but that little note is somewhere in the trash and long gone :D Oh well, I have a couple of thousand sleeves for random purposes and kickstarters that'll come over the next year or so..
Games that involve a lot of shuffling, games that I really appreciate and that are pretty - those are the ones I'll sleeve. But ONLY if the game box / tray can fit the sleeves.
I love sleeving my newly-bought cards. It's a nice way of enjoying the smell of it while staring at the other components.
That and because my game is Unmatched. 31 cards per deck isn't a hassle compared to a majority of other games with cards.
And oh, shuffling IS a bonus that I love. The only thing that MIGHT make me reconsider sleeving is if game manufacturers produce good quality plastic cards that Playing Card manufacturers make - cards that can endure insane amounts of careless riffles.
Very much for sleeving cards. Big into tcg games and that is a must practically. The real issue was the pricing and quantity needed for sleeves that I felt were worth using like dragon shields or ultra pro. I have luckily stumbled on a pretty good option that is thinner yes, but still functions perfectly fine from my experience so far, is cheaper, and comes in much larger quantities.
Sleeve Kings Card Game Card Sleeves (63.5x88mm) 60 micron. I was hesitant because I am used to the thick sleeves of tcg's, but they do seem fairly good for what they are, a nice in between kinda. Only 2.50 on amazon for each 110 and have yet to run into faulty ones so far. I would recommend just trying a few for a game to see if you like them. They do feel a little thin which worried me, but once sleeved and actually handling it was fine. Maybe just be a tad more gentle maybe, but idk how necessary that really is honestly.
Not sponsored, literally just happy with the find and performance so far and thought I might recommend others that may be struggling to find options.
Sleeve. Even before I started backing kickstarters, I had one copy of Avalon get ruined because it had been played, so people could tell which cards were which. Yes, I can just buy another copy.. OR, I can just buy sleeves and then I've saved myself the money on the new copy of the game. The cost differential means it's not even close.
Secondly, replacing kickstarter games can be nigh on impossible, so sleeving those is essential to me. It also helps people who can't shuffle to shuffle, which is an added bonus.
Like many others, I use Sleeve Kings as a balance between quality and cost, and got put onto them via Alex. When they run another campaign, I'll be right back there to back them again.
Also, like others have said, don't ever JUST sleeve. Do it while watching tv or a movie at home or something like that. Sleeving without multitasking is not something I do - because yeah, I find it astoundingly boring.
I like sleeved so newer cards don't get marked vs older cards from normal wear. Some games I sleeve, some I don't... Depends on how much I like the game. Love the sleeve jam shuffle, hate big decks that fall over. I use KMC hypermat and perfect fit double sleeve.
Android Netrunner was an FFG LCG, but seems impossible to find right now. My Marvel Champions is half sleeved, I haven't played in a while yet I keep buying it.
I only sleeve card games, Marvel Champions, Legendary and Marvel United are my sleeved games and $3 cheap sleeves but probably $500 in sleeves I'm sure with everything in these 3 games sleeved. Legendary and Champions are in double Monster cardboard boxes.
Quack - For most games no. But there are a few exceptions. Small games like Coup and Love Letter, I will sleeve because it is important to not have distinguishing marks. Magic the Gathering, Mostly because of value, so current decks get sleeved with Dragon Shield sleeves, and rares get penny sleeves in storage and in the Deck sleeve. Back in the day I sleeved every (12k+) card from DC and Marvel VS System card, and I still have all of them in penny sleeves.
I had to sleeve Dominion because the money and victory cards were starting to wear unevenly compared to the kingdom cards
I had to sleeve Terraforming Mars because the card quality was obviously getting worn. I could smell it happening. And I want to play Terraforming Mars a lot.
I don't necessarily mind the process of sleeving but I've come a long way in my idea of needing to sleeve things. Smash Up was my limit (I also, no longer own Smash Up). But I knew that any time a new expansion came out I had to purchase at least two packs of purple UltraPro sleeves for the new decks and maybe an extra pack of light blue for the location cards. That ultimately (I quit the game when the Marvel version was announced because I'm sick and tired of Marvel in board games) left me with a couple thousand cards that I had to maintain sleeves on, make sure to have spares if any tore, and continue to increase the price of my games for what is largely an unnecessary process. With very few exceptions do I think games need sleeves. Most games at this point have excellent quality cards. Tortuga 2199 was one of the few that I went out to sleeve (and of course those were obnoxiously sized cards) because of how bad of quality they were. After two plays there was serious wear on them. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle was another I sleeved because of just how much those cards have gotten used. After two full plays of the campaign and both expansion plays, they needed to be sleeved because of how rough they were getting. Those are really the only types of cases in which I sleeve.
For the most part, games either don't get used anywhere near enough to require it or they're just quality products in general. Not sleeving saves money, it saves time, it saves frustration, and it makes games infinitely easier to store. We have drinks on my table and non-debris creating snacks (no cheetos!) and I don't worry about it. I also am in my 30s and play mostly with people in their mid-20s to mid-40s and we all understand that it's much cheaper to just take care of things the first time around.
We sleeve our games where cards get handled the most. If it's a secondary feature of a game, we don't bother. When buying sleeves we buy by the case (multiple boxes) and always from a reputable company. That means they're never going to stop making them and you don't have the tearing issues that you get with cheap sleeves. Doesn't mean you need to go top dollar (dragon shield) either. You can often get deals on cases on eBay. I find sleeving to be a good activity to do while doing something else like TV. Also, we have friends who sleeve EVERYTHING and genuinely enjoy the process, so they'll help on big games.
My wife and I find sleeving cards to be very therapeutic and easy to do while doing other things. If shuffling isn't a major mechanic of the game (like Spirit Island where cards are only shuffled once a game), then I won't sleeve. If the game is something which will likely never be out of print (like Uno), then I won't sleeve. Otherwise I'm 50/50 on sleeving.
It depends on the audience. If I'm going to play it with younger people, I will sleeve it. If I might take it to the pub, or anywhere with liquids, I probably will double sleeve it. If it's likely to stay at home, or dedicated game club, I might be so eager (but it depends on how much it's handled). I actually don't like the feel of shuffling with sleeves as much, but I can definitely understand why you would enjoy it.
But that's said, sleeving is strangely cathartic for me. As long as it's not prohibitive, just sitting in front of the computer, watching a movie, or a gaming video, and just plug through them, semi-subconsciously.
I'll sleeve hidden identity games, where a damaged card could literally just ruin the game. I'll sleeve the really valuable games in the collection (KDM or similar). For the Arkham LCG we sleeve the player decks we're currently using, same with Gloomhaven and Tainted Grail. Makes them nicer to handle and also is a handy way to keep separate the cards we have from those we might acquire in the future.
I get why people sleeve deckbuilders like Legendary or Dominion because the base cards you use every game will get a lot more wear than the others, but honestly the product I'd really like is a pack of new copies of those starter cards. If those could be bought it'd be loads cheaper than sleeving 1000 of cards.
I personally use KMC hyper Matt for games that get shuffled a lot (like Marvel Champions) , and Sleeve King (their new thicker line is fantastic in terms of price/quality ratio) for everything else
There's nothing more frustrating then your friend accidentally staining a card with their dirty fingers, or bending/chipping a corner with a rough shuffle...
Ease of mind for a few $ is worth it
I’ve never been a sleever bc of the cost. The one or two games I have sleeved I used cheap ones which poke and tear easily. The only games I might consider sleeving in the future are deck builders I play often and gloomhaven (OG, JotL, & Frosthaven 😳) primarily for ease of shuffling, but I also hate the feel of cards that have been handled A LOT. They get that gritty sticky feel, even from clean hands. Just oil and dirt build up. But again that extra cost is killer, especially these days with things already getting more expensive. 🤷♂️
I agree with most of the points you mention for both sides. I personally don't like sleeving and don't. I might for Ark Nova, though, as the cards are very flimsy and poor quality. I like the feel of cards like Sleeping Gods
I sleeve everything. EVERYTHING! I appreciate the protection and I like the feel of the sleeves. But I also don’t have very many games that are all cards. I’d still sleeve them tho, I sleeved Dominion and Settlers of the North.
I sleeve cus:
- I play with both gamers and non gamers that don't understand how to take care of games
- I can't get another copy easily since I pay more for shipping ( I'm from Latin America)
- I play with both adults and kids.
- I like how sleeves shuffle
If the came is retail and super easy to access locally I don't bother. I.e i didn't sleeve exploring kittens or the crew
It all depends!
If the game involves picking up cards often, i find it very useful to sleeve since i normally play on hardwood tables and it's easy to damage cards with nails ( and they're hard to pick up).
If the price of the game is high or it has KS exclusives i care about, I'll definitely sleeve before bringing it somewhere. Help protect cards from people and the elements.
I mostly buy sleeve kings based on Alex's recommendation. I'm starting to want 200 sleeves for the top 8 or so sizes board games come in. I use super cheap penny sleeve for my unmatched collection.
I sleeve as i watch standup comedy or hokey highlights, or it's fun to check out the art on the cards, so i don't mind sleeving the cards. I also don't play board games as frequently as you so i only sleeve a game or 2 a month.
I just wish all inserts made room for sleeved cards..!
Edit: TLDR of the below, don't think about sleeving to protect your games think about how you'll feel when the cards actually start to wear. Will you think this sucks and is terrible, or will you think you had a good run with the game playing it so many times the cards have even worn down? If the former, then sleeve your cards. If the later, don't.
Rule 1, only sleeve things you think you'll play enough that they need to be sleeved in the first place. Dependent upon card quality and how often shuffling happens. Case in point, I think I'll probably play Imperium Classics/Legends often enough to justify the sleeves but I haven't done so yet however the cards are so prone to bending with no border around the edges for the artwork that sleeves are basically required from the get go. On the other side Maracaibo will never be played enough to justify sleeves, even if I do get to play it for several dozen hours and go through a full campaign with it. Also if you need to shuffle small numbers of cards regularly, sleeves can make a big difference (riffle shuffling sucks with small numbers, pile shuffling is tedious, mash shuffling without sleeves is like nails on chalkboard).
Rule 2, only sleeve something which has the potential to be worth it at the end. This means at the end of the lifetime of the game, sleeving a game that costs you 40 dollars that you might be able to sell at a slight premium when it's out of print just isn't worth it. On the other hand a game that sells well with sleeves or has a high chance of fetching a premium when out of print and you'll be okay keeping it that long.
Rule 3, don't sleeve games used for people aren't used to sleeves and/or new to gaming. News flash to sleeve types out there, they're not great to hold and play with. If you think otherwise, it's you placing your desire to have them kept in pristine condition and forcing yourself to get used to them. Normal people aren't going to instantly be onboard and comfortable with sleeved cards.
Rule 4, only sleeve what is useful to sleeve and with the appropriate quality. Marval Champions for example, your hero deck should be high quality sleeves if you want to use sleeves. Decks you keep around for others to use, premium if you need to for the particular player if you've got a regular opponent, regular sleeves for those okay with that, and no sleeves as the baseline. Villain decks, either regular sleeves for shuffling if you play them enough or no sleeves. And don't sleeves your deckbuilding cards until you actually use them in a deck.
Rule 5, ignore all other rules and do what you want if it makes you more comfortable/feel better. The money you save on sleeves isn't worth the panic and worry if you're the type to panic and worry about that sort of thing. This is why my Arkham/LOTR scenario cards have generic mid-range sleeves despite absolutely not needing them.
I sleeve only cards that are shuffled and held in hand often (Gloomhaven modifier cards, Tainted Grail combat cards) and/or have to be shuffled heavily before each game session (Terraforming Mars). Regarding sleeving process it is fine while watching videos such as yours. ;) On the other hand painting miniatures is much more painful for me, I have to relly focus on it (but it is worth it as well!).
Sleeving my Power Rangers collection (600+ cards) took about an hour and a half. I hate sleeving but man I love my cards sleeved lol. I feel you pain with MC, I buy a new pack of sleeves with each hero pack.
I sleeve because I like the feel of sleeved cards. I use Sleeve Kings standard sleeves, and at $2.50 for 110, I feel it is a good value. I definitely don't mind the process, it's a great thing to do while watching a show or some Quackalope playthrough videos. 😎
I will always sleeve. A habit. Otherwise game is not ready for playing. Problem is that inserts are sometimes useless when sleeving or game boxes too small… If game use non-standard card size, it may be challenging and pricey to find suitable sleeves. For standard size cards, cheap 100 sleeves for 1€ is enough. Don’t have to use those expensive Dragon Shields you use.
At first, I didn't enjoy sleeving but now really enjoy it although it does eat up A LOT of time.
I really don't think there's any downside to sleeving your games with the exception of some board game inserts not accommodating them, taking up time and of course the money cost. The great thing about sleeves is that it can retain the value of your game since you're not going to be damaging the cards (considering if your handle them with sensible care) and if you don't like the game, you can simply re-use it again.
In my early days I used to use a lot of FFG sleeves which were expensive as hell. These days, I sleeve depending on how the cards are going to be used. If there's a lot of shuffling and handling, I find FFG or/and sleeve kings fit the bill. If I'm just going to be touching it once and placing it on my play area (like an engine builder game) I find penny sleeves will do the job.
I mostly sleeve deck builders (dominion style) because the starting hands get beat sooo much more than “market” cards and you can always tell the difference between them if you don’t sleeve (which unfortunately a lot of deckbuilding games have cards that say things like reveal the top card if it has a cost, do x). Sleeve kings (60 microns) are the way to go: cheap and better quality than “penny sleeves”
I always sleeve my board games, I prefer to keep them protected. My only exception is living card games like Marvel Champions or Arkham. In that case I only sleeve the cards I am currently playing with. This makes storage easier and I only need a couple of boxes of Dragon Shields.
I sleeve for the same reason. Shuffling ease. That's why my Marvel Champions is sleeved. I have 95% of the released content.
But I went with the cheap Arcane Tinmen sleeves which are much much less than Dragon Shields. They also feel nicer than dragon Shields actually :)
Haha dragon shield 20 bucks in Australia for 50 sleeves, I have over 300 board games every single expansion for marvel legendary and legendary...every sleeved and any thin cardboard laminated, I no my collection I paid nearly 25k Australian.some reason I have to sleeve ?
For me, it became a must for the games I like. I dont know, but I feel like my friends' hands are pretty much dirty. Some sleeves became really dirty after just a few games, and I was like d@ F#$k... glad I sleeved that. At least i can wipe the sleeves easily compared to cards... Also, sleeving is a way to spend time with SO talking or watching something while doing it.
I sleeve almost everything. When I have new set of Arkham or whatever else, I create one giant stack of cards, one giant stack of sleeves, and then turn on something like a Quackalope video. Reasons:
1. Shuffling. I just suck at shuffling. Being able to set up games faster and shuffle faster is worth it to me.
2. Tactility. I’ve handled cards that have been played to death without sleeves and I can feel the grime from fingers and tables. The cards stick together when I shuffle. I hate it. Also, sleeves makes it easier for me to pick up cards from a board.
3. Protection. Accidents happen and some of my games are out of print. I also just like having pristine stuff that will last longer and maybe resell better. An argument to be made is that you can just rebuy most games, but the idea of just perpetually trashing an entire boardgame and rebuying it and creating more waste bothers me. Is introducing more plastic the right answer? Probably not?
There’s also the counter argument that all things are temporary. Old games a destroyed or forgotten while new games are constantly created. And I’m not taking my games with me when I die. My kids won’t want to inherit them. They’re going into a dumpster or donation box, so why be so precious with them? I guess there is a desire to halt time and try to preserve an experience I love for as long as I can no matter how futile it is.
Also, I have done the whole unsleeve an entire collection whose sleeves I can’t find again, redistribute those sleeves to other games already sleeved with easier to find sleeves that aren’t getting expansions. Collect those sleeves and resleeve the first collection. Thank goodness for internet videos to keep me from getting bored.
I would prefer having high quality plastic cards, but pretty much no board game have that, so sleeving is necessary for most games. The exception is cheaper games or games where you just draw cards with little shuffling.
Also if the box can't contain sleeved cards I sometimes won't bother either.
Other than the added cost, I enjoy sleeving and having everything protected. I feel anxious playing a game without sleeves, worrying about the risk of them getting damaged. Knowing everything I own is sleeved helps me sleep at night. Yes, im OCD. ; )
I won’t sleeve anything. I even take sleeves off 2nd purchases. The worn edges prove just how much we play them. I’ve got a copy of coup that lives in my work lunch box (in a ziplock bag, but in and out of a fridge)
I’d like to know where you got 100 DS Clear Mattes for $5. I usually pay double that (USD) and even buying in bulk on Amazon only cuts the cost down to just under $9 per 100 ct. box.
I sleeve most of my cards. And I almost exclusively use standard sleeve kings sleeves. But if it's a game with a TON of cards I don't. I most recently didn't sleeve massive darkness 2.
But I really do like the sleeving process and I like using sleeved cards 🙂
I sleeve if shuffling a lot, or handling a lot. I like Sleeve Kings for thick enough sleeves, but not too thick.
But there are exceptions, such as Wingspan with two expansions: I sleeve special cards, but not those hundreds of bird cards.
For me, I'm a big sleeve fan just for the extra protection, I'm buying into rather expensive games and I want them to last. And that's especially true for limited and special edition versions, or versions out of print. I also have great pleasure in the sleeved shuffle, it's so much smoother and for games with large card shuffle needed, that matters a lot. I also came from the mtg community so it was just the standard for me. I do get selective on what things are sleeved though, if they're cards that don't require shuffling or a lot of player handling, I'll probably put off sleeveing. I'm also not going out of my way for the more expensive sleeves and stick to more of the Gamegenic Prime variety, they sell in a bulk size that's cheaper and they're just generic clear sleeves meaning it's easier to find replacements if they do stop making them.
ditto!
I sleeve all my games, mainly for protection from both spills and well my shuffling. I have played cards pretty much my whole life and when I get a normal deck of cards in my hands I tend to riffle shuffle them, and not carefully lime you did in your demonstration but rather gast and rough. When I grab a sleeved deck it makes me stop and realize not to do that and put a bend into the deck over time. I also try and have my 7year old niece play games whenever I can and you don't want to take a risk of getting cards messed up with kids handling them.
I do agree with your point about the expense tho, I have found sleeve kings to be a good sleeve at a good value. And keep a stock of 8810 and 8808 on hand ( the 2 most commonly used sizes) along with a few other random sizes leftover from previously sleeved games.
I am someone who never uses sleeves… but I may be converted. Mechs vs Minions cards with just a few shuffles have started to show some edge wear. Two or three shuffles. 😑🙄 So I got sleeves for the entire game and will be using those exclusively for that game. So now I know why I would want sleeves. The card quality is suspect so I need sleeves. Oh well. It’s a great game regardless of card quality. My son loves it!
I love sleeves. I don't sleeve every game, but I sleeve a lot. For me, it's not about protection. It is a bit about shufflebility, but mostly, it's about the feel while playing. I come from the tcg/ccg world, where everyone has their own playmat and sleeved decks. I'm used to cards feeling a certain way on the table and in my hand. When I play without sleeves and a good mat, the experience is off and feels lesser. If I have a board game I love, I might as well throw another $20 into it to dramatically increase the playing experience.
I sleeve most of my games, for both shuffling and protection.
The protection part is not just on wearing, it also protect the cards from water, which a tiny drop will easily ruin a card and makes the whole game unplayable. Especially for games that are expansive, or not easy to obtain again (e.g. KS games)
I never sleeve. Ever. Sleeves annoy me, not just setting them up, but just using them in gameplay. Even if someone offered to do it for me, I'd still decline. They just aren't THAT precious. It will take a while before you even see wear, and even then, so what? They get a little wear. It's a sign of a loved game.
Sleeping is almost Cathartic for me. I don’t get expensive ones but it keeps things looking nice for me - especially with 4 kids…
Also I like the feel when I go and shuffle them. (I cannot shuffle standard cards so…)
I am more likely to sleeve than no.
If the cost to re-obtain the game becomes significantly higher than the cost to sleeve, I will sleeve.
The issue of getting cards back into a box is a real problem that doesn’t always have a good solution. I tried playing Welcome To the Moon without sleeves, but I saw minor damage to the cards after a single play. But I can’t fit the game into the boxes with sleeves! For now the game will go unplayed.
The likelihood for me to want to sleeve a game depends on a ratio of how often the cards are shuffled and how many cards are involved. For example. I will always want to sleeve every deck-builder. The tiny starting decks are a pain to shuffle and sleeving them makes it easy, plus they're shuffled a lot even in a single game. Oh, there are also a couple of examples of a game with, as you mentioned, hidden information, where it matters A LOT if there are any visible differences between cards. So I do like to sleeve those as soon as I've confirmed that I like them just to make sure I don't know what my opponent is playing.
I like to sleeve my games, specifically the ones that will be shuffled a lot.
there is an argument for me sleeving up Legacy games such as pandemic BUT i found that using multiple colors made sorting and distinguishing specific decks really helpful.
As for your argument on what sleeves to get dragon shields and ultra pro will never go out of business since their card sizes are used across multiple TCGS. But I would like to point out that not all sleeves are cut uniformly so there can be some that are cut a hairline differently. If you care about marked cards or disbursable cards, that can be an issue.
speaking of marked cards, for games of deductive logic where knowing what a player has, sleeving and being able to replace sleeves to remove any distinguishing marks preserves the gaming experience.
Everything that gets shuffled gets sleeved. Kickstarter exclusive games that are difficult to replace get sleeved for protection. If a publisher offers sleeves as part of a kickstarter I usually purchase them, because they'll give me the correct size and quantity I need. Otherwise, I use the same Dragon Shields you're using in this video. If you really got those for only $5/pack, please tell me where. I don't mind the process of sleeving at all. Just put on an interesting podcast or audio book and the time passes easily.
... people are dirty.... I don't mind the long process of sleeving. I use gamgenics, the packages all are resealable and easy open/close.
Stopped sleeveing games and actually take them of all my games (in total there were around 2500 sleeves). It just become too cumbersome to hunt down specific sleeves for some nonstandard cards, got to make some custom inserts for them and if later there is one big stack of cards (like hogwarts battle with all expansions) sleeved cards tends to slip on each other and it just a recipe for disaster. Sold most of sleeves (many where in really good condition) and left just a few for some pnp games and rare ocasions like translating some cards. Now only game that is just sleeved is Journeys in Middle earth as I was wainting for all expansions and the cards started go gains some wear and tear (I feel like FFG make them too low quality for the amount you shuffle them) and propably gonna desleeve soon so that wear on them will kind of equalize. Actually I found that I enjoy seeing some wear and tear on my games as it indicates that it is loved and player (which is propably also because we only keep games that we gonna play or have a sentimental value, others are either sell of give away to friends or family)
I tend to sleeve everything, though if a game doesn't shuffle the cards I'm less worried. I do sleeve to protect the cards, but the main benefit for me is shuffling: the cards feel better, and shuffle far easier - if the cards are not sleeved they tend to be difficult to shuffle without damaging. Another benefit is that if the game has poor quality cards, a premium sleeve can turn that flimsy piece of card that bends easily into something more resilient.
And aye: the cost can be high. I have spent hundreds of pounds on sleeves. Though there is something that you could have done to reduce the cost for LCGs like Marvel Champions: most of the cards will sit in the box unused 90% of the time, so what I do for mine is sleeve all the villain cards and store all the player cards in a ring binder using sleeve wallets from ultra-pro. When I build decks, I take out the cards I want and then sleeve the completed deck. Far-fewer sleeves are needed, and flicking through the cards to build your deck is far easier. It also means that the collection is easier to manage as I find rifling through a massive pile of cards can be hard to find specific cards / hard to keep in order.
For the time: I just have some videos or a film on and sleeve at the same time: it is mindless enough that it requires little-to-no thought to do (depending on if you're using clear or matte, since the matte are only smooth on one side you need to make it consistent.. :)
There is one other issue with sleeves that you didn't mention: they slide... So many times - especially with new sleeves - I have had to baby-sit a freshly shuffled deck as when it is just sat on the table it will slide out. I need to either get or make some deck holders to avoid this issue.
I like sleeving all types of card games including board games which could be both harder to find replacement and expensive to find cards for the board games either retail or funding projects like Kickstarter, GameFound, etc. I like them not only to protect them from damage and also to expand their cards' lifespan and prevent them from wear and tear.
Also a Sleeve Kings Kickstarter backer and have PLENTY of sleeves for the foreseeable future, not to mention at a fair price. Does bum me out when they don't fit back in the box, other than that it a process I enjoy.
If it's out of production, then most definitely! Examples are Pandemic:Iberia or the Battlestar Galactica series. If its readily available, then no. Also, if there is a chance of identifing a card by the damage and gaining an advantage then it ought to be sleeved.
Sleeping is a gimmick some hyperactive salesman pushed out. People seem to like it. I can't handle the cards. They end up on the floor when they're sleeved.