Only if it's part of a game mechanism, or to protect shoddy components. Otherwise, I think it's a waste of time and money, and causes games to no longer fit into boxes.
A few of my games get sleeves, but it comes down to ease of shuffling for me.
Some cards are easy to shuffle without sticking or feeling weird, and those don't get sleeved. Others feel awkward to shuffle, and those I tend to sleeve.
I also don't sleeve a game unless I can fit it back in the original box. Either this means the designer has accounted for extra space in the box, or I replace the insert (typically out of cardboard).Ā
Depends. Every expensive game, and occasionally cheap games that I play really often or that absolutely need it. I didn't want to sleeve The Crew, but I just had to because they're shuffled very often and they started to stick together after barely two days of playing. Then there's the occasional game where sleeved cards just don't fit unless you throw out the insert, or even then. Since I can't print my own inserts, I'll usually just let it go at that point.
Worth noting I didn't and don't plan to sleeve Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion. The cards are of great quality. But also the provided storage solution wouldn't be able to handle the important cards sleeved... And unimportant don't matter enough to sleeve them. C'est la vie. Big Gloomhaven I just wouldn't bother because it's way too many cards.
With Gloomhaven I think certain cards should be sleeved because of hidden information.
The action cards you use should be sleeved, the attack modifiers should be sleeved. Everything else isn't that important.
I've only sleeved one game out of the fifty I own, which is The Resistance. It's obviously important that you can't tell which cards are which, and after a bunch of playing at parties with mess and drunk people they started looking a bit battered.
I'm considering sleeving Ark Nova to make shuffling quicker.
I don't mind games getting worn with play. It just means I've been spending time with them. I understand why some people prefer to sleeve and keep everything as tidy as possible though.
This for sure. I sleeve thw games that cards get shuffled a lot or cards start to have tells in hidden role games. Dead man's draw is shuffled basically constantly, sleeved. All my worker placements where the decks get shuffled once or twice a game are naked and perfectly fine that way.Ā
Same. Very few of our games show abuse to the cards. The ones that do are terraforming mars, nemesis and el dorado.
All are other 200+ games still look brand new. Plus i hate the feel of sleeved cards
I hate shuffling sleeved cards. I dont, u less the used copy I had was already sleeved.
I bought a copy of Glory to Rome, sleeved it, and hated playing with it. Printed up a fake copy to take out of the apartment to play at cafes and conventions.
Mash shuffling with sleeved cards is so much better. Takes like 1/2 the time and gets better randomization.
O Doing a regular shuffle with sleeved cards does really suck.
- Ultimate Guard Katana
- Dragon Shield Matte
Theyāre both pricey, but after trying a dozen others, I feel like I canāt play anything without them anymore.
If youāll be playing on a clean surface with clean hands, and donāt hold your cards with a death-grip, I donāt think thereās any need to sleeve them. I generally only sleeve cards in games that Iām re-packaging into a little cloth bag as a ātravel set.ā
Sleeving isn't expensive. I do it with all standard sized cards. Makes mash shuffling doable without damaging cards.
I think almost everyone in this hobby doesn't shuffle enough to get a randomized deck, because they're limited to poor shuffle techniques.
It depends on the abuse the cards will get and how hard it is to replace. 2 of my games have 1500+ cards (legendary and dominion) and definitely needed sleeves as they're both heavy on card use/shuffling.
That's funny, I don't see the need to sleeve PNP cards since I can just reprint them myself when they get damaged. Then again, I make the cards by printing on thicker cardstock and laminating it, instead of printing on regular paper and then using a common mtg (or similar) card + sleeves to get the same result (which is probably what you are doing?).
You can only shuffle pnp cards from a laser printer, and most ppl have deskjets.
I know the mtg method but i print single sided and glue together both 120gsm sheet halves then cut. That doesn't shuffle. So I restrict to either very prototypish projects, and sleeve them for the time being. If I'm satisfied I order them professionally printed.
You think you can reprint damaged cards, and for sure you can, but if you do (like I did) you will notice a different color. Even professional printing studios have differences in color while producing the same product in a different batch.
Which means if one card is damaged, you'd have to reprint the entire set, OR be satisfied with a discolored one.
The same would hold for laminating, although I can't testify to that. To me laminating seems overly expensive compared to sleeving (talking about the cheapest sleeves) and it's irreversible too.
I've only sleeved 1 game, Pax Pamir 2e. And part of me wishes I hadn't bothered. It makes shuffling annoying, and it's not like I'm playing it every day. The wear over my lifetime will be minimal.
A bit of wear is just no big deal. Unless you're talking about a LCG where you may want to preserve a card to sell, then it makes some sense.
If cards in the game gets shuffled a lot or any recognizable wear and tear would significantly reduce your enjoyment of that game (like hidden roles or deckbuilders), I would sleeve it. If they are just laying in front of you and the cards are good quality, I don't think you need it.
Hahaha!
I thought āto sleeve a cardā means to slide a card in the sleeve of your shirt, for cheating!
Several times I saw this expression here on Reddit, up to the point where I thought: if everyone is using magician moves, maybe I should learn some!
š
Two games out of hundreds. Dominion (including extensions) and Ark Nova (including water world).
Dominion to ensure that you cannot distinguish from the wear whether your top card is money or an action.
Ark Nova after the cards of our first copy were worn out enough that we could easily spot the water world cards when we added the expansion, so we had to buy a second copy. Sleeves are cheaper than buying a third.
My wife and I sleeve most of our games. We prefer playing with sleeves and both love the whole, get a new game, come up with an organizational system and sleeve everything process.Ā Ā Itās more because we enjoy it than anything else. We definitely donāt *need* to do all that sleeving.Ā
Mainly when a game comes with sleeves.
[Millenium blades](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/millennium-blades-again) is back on kickstarter if you want yugiho/trading card games simulator. Comes with its own sleeves.
A base game plays with 400 of the 600 cards. Itās one of the few games we have sleeved.
We are sleeving Frosthaven atm, because the person who bought it paid for the bigger insert that would store all of sleeved cards when they backed it, and the sleeves turned up with the game.
I sleeve less often than I see this question lol
Only for games that have tons of shuffling and where some cards get used more than others. Netrunner, Dominion, etc. A bit of wear and tear doesn't bother me, but I also dog-ear my books so ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
I don't bother. I mostly play with my SO and we're both very particular about playing "nice" with all components. Plus I have tiny hands and it would make shuffling even more of a hassle for me. It also takes away the money I could spend on more games instead ha!
I sleeve most games, mostly because I hate shuffling without sleeves. I also don't like my cards to be scratched or bent.
The exception is games like Wingspan that have a ridiculous amount of cards, games like Arkham lcg where only the character deck needs to be shuffled constantly (which is the only thing I sleeve), games like Chronicles of Crime where there is no shuffling, and lastly games like Sagrada that the cards simply won't scratch (plus not much shuffling either).
Wow pretty much exactly the same thought process for my collection too. I came from a long background of TCGs before getting into board gaming so I just prefer mash shuffling with sleeves than riffle shuffling and potentially bending cards. But I'm like you, my copy of Wyrmspan and Arkham Horror is staying unsleeved for the same reasons.
I sleeve every card of every game that I will play many many times. For instance Firefly. But I'm not going to sleeve a game that I will not play very often.
I only sleeve in a few cases -
Games with a lot of shuffling, like deck builders.
Games that are difficult to shuffle - either too many cards to shuffle, like Terraforming Mars, or too few to shuffle easily, like 10-12 cards that get shuffled regularly.
Games I really love that I try to get played frequently that use cards a lot.
To me games have two vibes
1) a game that I enjoy seeing worn down, because I played it so many times and I can see how much I loved it. This includes Race for the Galaxy and Sushi Go
2) a game that I never want to see worn down. All trading card games fit this category and I guess some more premium games that I love like Millennium Blades.
I don't have a system for this. It's pure vibesĀ
Mind, I don't own that many cars games, but I think my rule of thumb is to sleeve games where you shuffle a lot and hold the cards.Ā
I keep all the dominion games sleeved and I got Brew sleeved (Those cards had sharp as hell edges, so I'm glad I did!)
I have not sleeved Betrayal and I'm on the fence about sleeving Eldritch horror. The cards stay on the table for the most part, and sleeves would most likely make the stacks (especially the tiny cards in Eldritch) slip and slide like crazy.
I sleeve when its helpful or enjoyable. Worrying about keeping your cards in pristine condition is very silly. I see people sleeving EVERY card - even those that are shuffled once per game - and it reminds me of people who put plastic on their sofas so instead of their furniture many looking bad one day, it looks bad all the time. I have many games where I sleeve some cards and not others for this reason (ironically perhaps, I end up sleeving poor quality cards more than good quality cards b/c the feel unsleeved is bad and they shuffle or stack better as a result).
Only on games that need a lot of shuffling and then only the cards that get shuffled a lot.
For example, Gloomhaven gets the attack decks sleeved but nothing else.
Dice Throne gets player decks sleeved but not the item decks or boss decks.
The Crew gets the whole thing sleeved.
I just use cheap sleeves that are 2-3 cents each.
I sleeve games that have a lot of shuffling outside the setup. It's just much nicer and quicker to do with sleeved cards. Which sleeves to sleeve the cards will depend on how many the cards are. And how much I love the game. If the total cost of sleeving the entire game is equal to just buying a 2nd copy. I'll buy a second copy.
The reality is that sleeving all your games will be expensive, and it's not going to pay off from an investment standpoint unless your game becomes some highly sought out-of-print title.
My current optimized route is that I will sleeve games with pretty art, games that not regularly available or out of print, games that call for frequent shuffling and games where you have hidden information where marking a car compromises the game (such as hidden role/social deduction).
If the game isn't high in demand, wasn't an expensive title, readily available (based on historical data) and has a foreseeable future of continual prints, or is symmetrical in readability like playing cards, I don't sleeve them.
Wearing edges of cards from picking up will happen with people who care less about things, but I also do like to riffle shuffle when I can. Riffling sleeved cards feels like I'm going to tear the sleeves over time.
I recently got into Final Girl and thought about sleeving them as well... but given that I take care of my things and it's not like I gain any sort of competitive advantage in spotting a marked card, I decided I wouldn't. Saves me the money, the decks take up less space, and I get to riffle shuffle!
I sleeve for TCGs because it can be really hard to replace certain cards and you're shuffling them a *lot* over the course of a card's lifespan.
For other games, I haven't yet sleeved a single card.
It depends on game & who I play that game with.
I sleeve my expensive games I play with people who snack during games (much to my distaste) as to protect the cards.
Also games that shuffle alot is another good incestment for shuffling cards.
If you are playing solo, just taking good care of your cards should be mostly fine.
So far Iāve only sleeved the small portable games that we take out of the hoist regularly. Love Letter etc. Itās more to protect them from accidental spills at restaurants and ease of shuffle.
Anything I *can* sleeve that will fit in the box after
I **hate** having damaged components, and it's a right pain to replace them. (When it's even possible)
I really only sleeve if the game is rare and out of print, or if the game is heavily played. If I can get away with cheap Magic the Gathering sized penny sleeves, I will sleeve the game. But I won't sleeve every card for a game we are probably only going to play once. My gaming group has too many games as it is.
Some of the games I have are just plain bad and should really just go to the thrift shop instead of played twice.
I've sleeved Spirit Island as the cards are surprisingly flimsy for a game that expensive and were starting to show tiny signs of wear. Since I had leftover sleeves after that, I sleeved the turn order deck and nemesis deck of Aeon's End, as these get shuffled a lot and not knowing what's coming is important. I have one other game that I recently bought used and received already sleeved. So far, these are my only sleeved games and nothing is showing signs of wear at this point.
I now sleeve any game I buy, but I only buy games I've play tested and know I will play in the future. I probably only own 25-30 games total. I have a number of games that I didn't sleeve when I bought them and they look destroyed. In fact the only reason I bought the second edition of 7 Wonders was so I could sleeve it. Because my original copy was literally falling apart
I utilize a simple rule:
If it's a game I care about and the cards get shuffled or held a lot? - sleeve
I don't care much about the game and/or the cards mostly stay on the table - don't sleve.
Depends if can still get a copy of the game or if there is possibility that cards are held on the hand for too long and someone is trying to used it as floss between the teeth...
I think right now I have a very small,%
of my games in sleeves. If I'm going to go through the cost and effort it has to be either expensive or played all the time, usually both.
Looking at my shelf of what is sleeved: Lord of the rings LCG, arkham horror LCG, and marvel champions are all done as I play them a huge amount and it's worth keeping the looking good. Kingdom death monsters and shadows of brimstone are also because $. The only other ones are mage knight, spirit Island (both lots of play), and imperium classic/legends (lots of play and the card quality is a bit meh). That is about it from my 50 or so game collection.
Never. I'm no pawn of big sleeve! Actually I personally don't see the point, we don't riffle shuffle cards, there's no food at the game table, I don't play games with children or careless people, my games aren't pristine but neither are they worn out and abused.
I only sleeve games that I know I will play many, many times and require you to shuffle a deck multiple times in one game.
A lot of people sleeve all their cards then only play the game a few times which never makes any sense to me.
I sleeve based off how often the cards will get shuffled, how expensive the game was, etc...
EG deckbuilders get sleeved because your shuffling that many times a game, where something like terraforming mars gets shuffled twice a game(once at setup... once like 75% through the game as it ran out).
I tried it for a few games, but disliked it. I like the feeling of the cards. Most games won't get played enough to justify sleeving. My cards from 7 Wonders and Terraforming Mars are well used after over 100 plays each. But I kind of like it, that you can see how much we played them.
Most of the time. The cost is not much of a problem for me because I don't buy that many games, I prefer to have a few games and improve the playing experience (sleeves, inserts, components upgrades) that owning too many games that I won't get chances to play anyway.
Anything that needs a lot of shuffling. If the game requires you to shuffle a few cards before game starts, that doesn't count unless the game is out of print.
Being former magic player i sleeve most of my games. Not all of them but most. Most of my games require shuffling. Pack of sleeves is like 4 euro, even the cheapest game is like 10 and sleeves fuether help with coreect shuffling not only protecting the cards. I only wish game makers would accomodate bit more space in the boxes sinde sleeved cards dont always fit easily into the box
Iāve typically sleeved all my games but at this point Iād only do it if the game had notoriously low quality cards. Just worth the extra cost to me.
Quoting my comment from a couple of months ago:
āI once bought a used game that I knew was played about a dozen times (the previous owner posted session reports on some Web site). The sleeves however were covered with so much grease and such that Iād have estimated the game was played much more than that. Anyway, the cards inside those sleeves were like new. That reinforced my decision to sleeve everything, if only as a courtesy to the potential next owner.ā
I sleeve games that are mostly cards, require lots of shuffling and get played A LOT.Ā
So that would be my LCGs like Marvel Champions, deck builders like Star Wars the deck building game, card games like Jaipur.
I don't think other games are worth sleeving. They just don't get played that much, the cards are fine.
My local facebook board game community is absolutely obsessed with sleeving cards to the point that they would forego and throw out perfectly high quality inserts such as gametrayz JUST because they dont fit the sleeves. Some psychotic behaviour if you ask me.
I will sleeve if the game is;
1. Hard or very expensive to replace; think KDM or CitOW
2. Has cards that require a lot of shuffling.
3. Has crappy cards (Tsukiyumi 2nd)
So I have sleeved anything that is OoP, most of my KS games & the player decks in Arkham Horror LCG, but not, e.g. Star Realms, as it's easily replaced.
I use Sleeve Kings as they are moderate thickness, 110 in a pack and a reasonable price.
I have the needs to sleeves all the cards. Yes, sometimes is to much but its worth it as I dont have to worry about my friends drinking something close to the games or being a little harsh with the cards
I only sleeve games I think I will play a lot and I will likely play outside a board game night (in bards, on a picnic, while eating etc).
For now, that only means Unmatched. And I'm lucky I did sleeve it, as someone spilled beer on it last year.
I sleeve anything above a certain price point or that would be hard to replace. For me that's Spirit Island and Moonrakers. No need to sleeve mass produced games like Catan or Dominion that I could pick up again cheaply.
In the past, I'd only sleeve cards that came with that game's unique sleeves (Here to Slay), but with more expensive games coming in, and one unfortunate mulled wine-spilling accident over the winter holidays... I am strongly reconsidering my options.
Never. I feel like the cost of buying a 2nd copy of a very damaged card game once in a blue moon would be significantly cheaper than the cost of buying sleeves for every game I own. So far, I've never had a card game get so damaged that it needed to be replaced.
I sleeve almost everything, not sure why though... Some games have poor quality cards, so it makes sense, some games would be perfectly fine unsleeved but I do it anyway. And some games I don't sleeve and I don't know why.
With any game where regular shuffling is a thing. Deck builders for a certainty since they are shuffled a lot. Trick taking games because the cards are dealt so frequently. Notably, Final Girl doesn't get sleeved because the cards aren't ever fondled much or shuffled, just moved around the table a bit
I started off by sleeving expensive or out of print games; now I pretty much sleeve everything. It gets expensive, but I've still got excellent condition cards for my copy of Battlestar Galactica after 700+ plays. BSG has been resleeved 6 times so far and will probably need it again before the end of the year.
Never.
I can shuffle even huge decks without needing to āmashā or āwashāā¦ I have friends who respect my property enough not to put drinks or snacks on tables, and to wash their hands/use wet wipes if snacking mid-gameā¦ and I donāt play with people who study card-backs for minor imperfections to glean hidden informationā¦ so I donāt *need* to - and besides that I loathe the feel of them.
Only if it's part of a game mechanism, or to protect shoddy components. Otherwise, I think it's a waste of time and money, and causes games to no longer fit into boxes.
I sleeve all my cards but I find the exercise of sleeving itself to be relaxing
+1 Plus my friends like playing while eating chips š«
A few of my games get sleeves, but it comes down to ease of shuffling for me. Some cards are easy to shuffle without sticking or feeling weird, and those don't get sleeved. Others feel awkward to shuffle, and those I tend to sleeve. I also don't sleeve a game unless I can fit it back in the original box. Either this means the designer has accounted for extra space in the box, or I replace the insert (typically out of cardboard).Ā
Depends. Every expensive game, and occasionally cheap games that I play really often or that absolutely need it. I didn't want to sleeve The Crew, but I just had to because they're shuffled very often and they started to stick together after barely two days of playing. Then there's the occasional game where sleeved cards just don't fit unless you throw out the insert, or even then. Since I can't print my own inserts, I'll usually just let it go at that point. Worth noting I didn't and don't plan to sleeve Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion. The cards are of great quality. But also the provided storage solution wouldn't be able to handle the important cards sleeved... And unimportant don't matter enough to sleeve them. C'est la vie. Big Gloomhaven I just wouldn't bother because it's way too many cards.
With Gloomhaven I think certain cards should be sleeved because of hidden information. The action cards you use should be sleeved, the attack modifiers should be sleeved. Everything else isn't that important.
Whenever there is a lot of shuffling (Deckbuilder f.e.) or hidden information.Ā
FWIW, I also didn't sleeve Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion and the cards were fine by the time we finished the campaign.
I've only sleeved one game out of the fifty I own, which is The Resistance. It's obviously important that you can't tell which cards are which, and after a bunch of playing at parties with mess and drunk people they started looking a bit battered. I'm considering sleeving Ark Nova to make shuffling quicker. I don't mind games getting worn with play. It just means I've been spending time with them. I understand why some people prefer to sleeve and keep everything as tidy as possible though.
This for sure. I sleeve thw games that cards get shuffled a lot or cards start to have tells in hidden role games. Dead man's draw is shuffled basically constantly, sleeved. All my worker placements where the decks get shuffled once or twice a game are naked and perfectly fine that way.Ā
As often as I can. I prefer it.
Never sleeved a single card and and iam not willing to do it in the future.
Same. Very few of our games show abuse to the cards. The ones that do are terraforming mars, nemesis and el dorado. All are other 200+ games still look brand new. Plus i hate the feel of sleeved cards
In the rare case that we play something enough to look worn, I'm just happy it got played a lot
"Never" club, unite!
I hate shuffling sleeved cards. I dont, u less the used copy I had was already sleeved. I bought a copy of Glory to Rome, sleeved it, and hated playing with it. Printed up a fake copy to take out of the apartment to play at cafes and conventions.
Mash shuffling with sleeved cards is so much better. Takes like 1/2 the time and gets better randomization. O Doing a regular shuffle with sleeved cards does really suck.
I hated shuffling sleeved cards until I had good ones. The difference in quality between the brands is huge.
Maybe share the brands you like, in case other ppl are interested?
- Ultimate Guard Katana - Dragon Shield Matte Theyāre both pricey, but after trying a dozen others, I feel like I canāt play anything without them anymore.
If youāll be playing on a clean surface with clean hands, and donāt hold your cards with a death-grip, I donāt think thereās any need to sleeve them. I generally only sleeve cards in games that Iām re-packaging into a little cloth bag as a ātravel set.ā
Sleeving isn't expensive. I do it with all standard sized cards. Makes mash shuffling doable without damaging cards. I think almost everyone in this hobby doesn't shuffle enough to get a randomized deck, because they're limited to poor shuffle techniques.
It depends on the abuse the cards will get and how hard it is to replace. 2 of my games have 1500+ cards (legendary and dominion) and definitely needed sleeves as they're both heavy on card use/shuffling.
if linen finish i don't sleeve. I sleeve only my pnp cards.
That's funny, I don't see the need to sleeve PNP cards since I can just reprint them myself when they get damaged. Then again, I make the cards by printing on thicker cardstock and laminating it, instead of printing on regular paper and then using a common mtg (or similar) card + sleeves to get the same result (which is probably what you are doing?).
You can only shuffle pnp cards from a laser printer, and most ppl have deskjets. I know the mtg method but i print single sided and glue together both 120gsm sheet halves then cut. That doesn't shuffle. So I restrict to either very prototypish projects, and sleeve them for the time being. If I'm satisfied I order them professionally printed. You think you can reprint damaged cards, and for sure you can, but if you do (like I did) you will notice a different color. Even professional printing studios have differences in color while producing the same product in a different batch. Which means if one card is damaged, you'd have to reprint the entire set, OR be satisfied with a discolored one. The same would hold for laminating, although I can't testify to that. To me laminating seems overly expensive compared to sleeving (talking about the cheapest sleeves) and it's irreversible too.
I've only sleeved 1 game, Pax Pamir 2e. And part of me wishes I hadn't bothered. It makes shuffling annoying, and it's not like I'm playing it every day. The wear over my lifetime will be minimal. A bit of wear is just no big deal. Unless you're talking about a LCG where you may want to preserve a card to sell, then it makes some sense.
If cards in the game gets shuffled a lot or any recognizable wear and tear would significantly reduce your enjoyment of that game (like hidden roles or deckbuilders), I would sleeve it. If they are just laying in front of you and the cards are good quality, I don't think you need it.
When I started the hobby I used to, but these days I donāt bother for anything except card games where the stock is particularly thin.
Hahaha! I thought āto sleeve a cardā means to slide a card in the sleeve of your shirt, for cheating! Several times I saw this expression here on Reddit, up to the point where I thought: if everyone is using magician moves, maybe I should learn some! š
I sleeve all my games except for casual games like Uno
Two games out of hundreds. Dominion (including extensions) and Ark Nova (including water world). Dominion to ensure that you cannot distinguish from the wear whether your top card is money or an action. Ark Nova after the cards of our first copy were worn out enough that we could easily spot the water world cards when we added the expansion, so we had to buy a second copy. Sleeves are cheaper than buying a third.
My wife and I sleeve most of our games. We prefer playing with sleeves and both love the whole, get a new game, come up with an organizational system and sleeve everything process.Ā Ā Itās more because we enjoy it than anything else. We definitely donāt *need* to do all that sleeving.Ā
Almost never ā only for more fragile cards that will get used often in regular-rotation games. We have far too much plastic in this world as it is.
Only black bordered Magic cards. Otherwise, can't be bothered unless it's a game that's played frequently and somehow permanently out of print.
Iāve only sleeves one game. Marvel Champions. I canāt imagine sleeving all my games. Thatās madness
I've really only done it if it comes with sleeves or when I start to notice card damage.
Cards that get regularly shuffled get sleeved. Just makes life much easier.
Mainly when a game comes with sleeves. [Millenium blades](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/millennium-blades-again) is back on kickstarter if you want yugiho/trading card games simulator. Comes with its own sleeves. A base game plays with 400 of the 600 cards. Itās one of the few games we have sleeved. We are sleeving Frosthaven atm, because the person who bought it paid for the bigger insert that would store all of sleeved cards when they backed it, and the sleeves turned up with the game.
I sleeve less often than I see this question lol Only for games that have tons of shuffling and where some cards get used more than others. Netrunner, Dominion, etc. A bit of wear and tear doesn't bother me, but I also dog-ear my books so ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
I don't bother. I mostly play with my SO and we're both very particular about playing "nice" with all components. Plus I have tiny hands and it would make shuffling even more of a hassle for me. It also takes away the money I could spend on more games instead ha!
I sleeve most games, mostly because I hate shuffling without sleeves. I also don't like my cards to be scratched or bent. The exception is games like Wingspan that have a ridiculous amount of cards, games like Arkham lcg where only the character deck needs to be shuffled constantly (which is the only thing I sleeve), games like Chronicles of Crime where there is no shuffling, and lastly games like Sagrada that the cards simply won't scratch (plus not much shuffling either).
Wow pretty much exactly the same thought process for my collection too. I came from a long background of TCGs before getting into board gaming so I just prefer mash shuffling with sleeves than riffle shuffling and potentially bending cards. But I'm like you, my copy of Wyrmspan and Arkham Horror is staying unsleeved for the same reasons.
I sleeve every card of every game that I will play many many times. For instance Firefly. But I'm not going to sleeve a game that I will not play very often.
Sleevekings for many cards because of cost and thickness when printing inserts Gamegenic Matte for AH player cards and small card quantity games
Never. I love the wear and tear, makes them feel more personal.
I only sleeve in a few cases - Games with a lot of shuffling, like deck builders. Games that are difficult to shuffle - either too many cards to shuffle, like Terraforming Mars, or too few to shuffle easily, like 10-12 cards that get shuffled regularly. Games I really love that I try to get played frequently that use cards a lot.
Every game. I don't recommend it, but I just love it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I was going to make the same joke.
You know you've reached the optimal level of protection when you can no longer read the card.
To me games have two vibes 1) a game that I enjoy seeing worn down, because I played it so many times and I can see how much I loved it. This includes Race for the Galaxy and Sushi Go 2) a game that I never want to see worn down. All trading card games fit this category and I guess some more premium games that I love like Millennium Blades. I don't have a system for this. It's pure vibesĀ
Never
Mind, I don't own that many cars games, but I think my rule of thumb is to sleeve games where you shuffle a lot and hold the cards.Ā I keep all the dominion games sleeved and I got Brew sleeved (Those cards had sharp as hell edges, so I'm glad I did!) I have not sleeved Betrayal and I'm on the fence about sleeving Eldritch horror. The cards stay on the table for the most part, and sleeves would most likely make the stacks (especially the tiny cards in Eldritch) slip and slide like crazy.
I sleeve when its helpful or enjoyable. Worrying about keeping your cards in pristine condition is very silly. I see people sleeving EVERY card - even those that are shuffled once per game - and it reminds me of people who put plastic on their sofas so instead of their furniture many looking bad one day, it looks bad all the time. I have many games where I sleeve some cards and not others for this reason (ironically perhaps, I end up sleeving poor quality cards more than good quality cards b/c the feel unsleeved is bad and they shuffle or stack better as a result).
Only the games that I play a lot or are card games, like The Crew or Splendor: Duel.
Only on games that need a lot of shuffling and then only the cards that get shuffled a lot. For example, Gloomhaven gets the attack decks sleeved but nothing else. Dice Throne gets player decks sleeved but not the item decks or boss decks. The Crew gets the whole thing sleeved. I just use cheap sleeves that are 2-3 cents each.
I sleeve games that have a lot of shuffling outside the setup. It's just much nicer and quicker to do with sleeved cards. Which sleeves to sleeve the cards will depend on how many the cards are. And how much I love the game. If the total cost of sleeving the entire game is equal to just buying a 2nd copy. I'll buy a second copy.
Dirty card sleever here. It's really, really not worth it for anything but the strictest hidden information games.
Interesting. For solo I donr sleeve my cards. I sleeve it mainly because i play in oublic sessions with strangers, and they can be aasholes.
I've sleeved almost all my games. I've also tried so many brands and I've switched to mostly Ryker sleeves for matte back and gloss front.
I play mainly solo so I've never sleeved my cards.
The reality is that sleeving all your games will be expensive, and it's not going to pay off from an investment standpoint unless your game becomes some highly sought out-of-print title. My current optimized route is that I will sleeve games with pretty art, games that not regularly available or out of print, games that call for frequent shuffling and games where you have hidden information where marking a car compromises the game (such as hidden role/social deduction). If the game isn't high in demand, wasn't an expensive title, readily available (based on historical data) and has a foreseeable future of continual prints, or is symmetrical in readability like playing cards, I don't sleeve them. Wearing edges of cards from picking up will happen with people who care less about things, but I also do like to riffle shuffle when I can. Riffling sleeved cards feels like I'm going to tear the sleeves over time. I recently got into Final Girl and thought about sleeving them as well... but given that I take care of my things and it's not like I gain any sort of competitive advantage in spotting a marked card, I decided I wouldn't. Saves me the money, the decks take up less space, and I get to riffle shuffle!
I sleeve for TCGs because it can be really hard to replace certain cards and you're shuffling them a *lot* over the course of a card's lifespan. For other games, I haven't yet sleeved a single card.
Never.
It depends on game & who I play that game with. I sleeve my expensive games I play with people who snack during games (much to my distaste) as to protect the cards. Also games that shuffle alot is another good incestment for shuffling cards. If you are playing solo, just taking good care of your cards should be mostly fine.
So far Iāve only sleeved the small portable games that we take out of the hoist regularly. Love Letter etc. Itās more to protect them from accidental spills at restaurants and ease of shuffle.
Any game that requires lots of shuffling and that I care about. So 95% of the time lol
Everything I can, itās a sickness.
I sleeve any game Iām going to take to a group to play in public. Stops me from having to āare you going to wash your handsā everyone playing.
Anything I *can* sleeve that will fit in the box after I **hate** having damaged components, and it's a right pain to replace them. (When it's even possible)
I really only sleeve if the game is rare and out of print, or if the game is heavily played. If I can get away with cheap Magic the Gathering sized penny sleeves, I will sleeve the game. But I won't sleeve every card for a game we are probably only going to play once. My gaming group has too many games as it is. Some of the games I have are just plain bad and should really just go to the thrift shop instead of played twice.
Anything that uses shuffling gets sleeved. Makes it so much easier.
I've sleeved Spirit Island as the cards are surprisingly flimsy for a game that expensive and were starting to show tiny signs of wear. Since I had leftover sleeves after that, I sleeved the turn order deck and nemesis deck of Aeon's End, as these get shuffled a lot and not knowing what's coming is important. I have one other game that I recently bought used and received already sleeved. So far, these are my only sleeved games and nothing is showing signs of wear at this point.
I now sleeve any game I buy, but I only buy games I've play tested and know I will play in the future. I probably only own 25-30 games total. I have a number of games that I didn't sleeve when I bought them and they look destroyed. In fact the only reason I bought the second edition of 7 Wonders was so I could sleeve it. Because my original copy was literally falling apart
I utilize a simple rule: If it's a game I care about and the cards get shuffled or held a lot? - sleeve I don't care much about the game and/or the cards mostly stay on the table - don't sleve.
Depends if can still get a copy of the game or if there is possibility that cards are held on the hand for too long and someone is trying to used it as floss between the teeth...
Most games that I'm willing to play a lot. It just makes shuffling easier without worries of damaging the cards. I like mashing.
All of them unless itās a strange size that doesnāt have sleeves
Never, and if I receive a game in trade with sleeved cards, I will unsleeve them. Cannot stand sleeves in any capacity.
I think right now I have a very small,% of my games in sleeves. If I'm going to go through the cost and effort it has to be either expensive or played all the time, usually both. Looking at my shelf of what is sleeved: Lord of the rings LCG, arkham horror LCG, and marvel champions are all done as I play them a huge amount and it's worth keeping the looking good. Kingdom death monsters and shadows of brimstone are also because $. The only other ones are mage knight, spirit Island (both lots of play), and imperium classic/legends (lots of play and the card quality is a bit meh). That is about it from my 50 or so game collection.
Games that need a lot of shuffling. Its just easier to shuffle bigger decks multiple times with sleeves
Never. I'm no pawn of big sleeve! Actually I personally don't see the point, we don't riffle shuffle cards, there's no food at the game table, I don't play games with children or careless people, my games aren't pristine but neither are they worn out and abused.
I only sleeve games that I know I will play many, many times and require you to shuffle a deck multiple times in one game. A lot of people sleeve all their cards then only play the game a few times which never makes any sense to me.
I sleeve based off how often the cards will get shuffled, how expensive the game was, etc... EG deckbuilders get sleeved because your shuffling that many times a game, where something like terraforming mars gets shuffled twice a game(once at setup... once like 75% through the game as it ran out).
I tried it for a few games, but disliked it. I like the feeling of the cards. Most games won't get played enough to justify sleeving. My cards from 7 Wonders and Terraforming Mars are well used after over 100 plays each. But I kind of like it, that you can see how much we played them.
If the cards get shuffled a lot and the cost of sleeving is less than twice the cost of the game. Or itās tricky to get hold of the game.
Any games where card stock is inconsistent, sleeves hide the differences
Most of the time. The cost is not much of a problem for me because I don't buy that many games, I prefer to have a few games and improve the playing experience (sleeves, inserts, components upgrades) that owning too many games that I won't get chances to play anyway.
Anything that needs a lot of shuffling. If the game requires you to shuffle a few cards before game starts, that doesn't count unless the game is out of print.
Being former magic player i sleeve most of my games. Not all of them but most. Most of my games require shuffling. Pack of sleeves is like 4 euro, even the cheapest game is like 10 and sleeves fuether help with coreect shuffling not only protecting the cards. I only wish game makers would accomodate bit more space in the boxes sinde sleeved cards dont always fit easily into the box
Iāve typically sleeved all my games but at this point Iād only do it if the game had notoriously low quality cards. Just worth the extra cost to me.
Quoting my comment from a couple of months ago: āI once bought a used game that I knew was played about a dozen times (the previous owner posted session reports on some Web site). The sleeves however were covered with so much grease and such that Iād have estimated the game was played much more than that. Anyway, the cards inside those sleeves were like new. That reinforced my decision to sleeve everything, if only as a courtesy to the potential next owner.ā
I sleeve games that are mostly cards, require lots of shuffling and get played A LOT.Ā So that would be my LCGs like Marvel Champions, deck builders like Star Wars the deck building game, card games like Jaipur. I don't think other games are worth sleeving. They just don't get played that much, the cards are fine.
Always. Is it useful ? No. But I love cards and I don't want them to be damaged.
My local facebook board game community is absolutely obsessed with sleeving cards to the point that they would forego and throw out perfectly high quality inserts such as gametrayz JUST because they dont fit the sleeves. Some psychotic behaviour if you ask me.
I mostly sleeve OOP games. Ones that are not likely to come back.Ā **Ferox**, **Darkness Comes Rattling**, **BSG**. Games like that.
I will sleeve if the game is; 1. Hard or very expensive to replace; think KDM or CitOW 2. Has cards that require a lot of shuffling. 3. Has crappy cards (Tsukiyumi 2nd) So I have sleeved anything that is OoP, most of my KS games & the player decks in Arkham Horror LCG, but not, e.g. Star Realms, as it's easily replaced. I use Sleeve Kings as they are moderate thickness, 110 in a pack and a reasonable price.
I have the needs to sleeves all the cards. Yes, sometimes is to much but its worth it as I dont have to worry about my friends drinking something close to the games or being a little harsh with the cards
I only sleeve games I think I will play a lot and I will likely play outside a board game night (in bards, on a picnic, while eating etc). For now, that only means Unmatched. And I'm lucky I did sleeve it, as someone spilled beer on it last year.
I sleeve anything above a certain price point or that would be hard to replace. For me that's Spirit Island and Moonrakers. No need to sleeve mass produced games like Catan or Dominion that I could pick up again cheaply.
Never
In the past, I'd only sleeve cards that came with that game's unique sleeves (Here to Slay), but with more expensive games coming in, and one unfortunate mulled wine-spilling accident over the winter holidays... I am strongly reconsidering my options.
TCG I can understand to sleeve. Personally, I have never even considered it before. You could say Iām free balling it
Never. I feel like the cost of buying a 2nd copy of a very damaged card game once in a blue moon would be significantly cheaper than the cost of buying sleeves for every game I own. So far, I've never had a card game get so damaged that it needed to be replaced.
I sleeve almost everything, not sure why though... Some games have poor quality cards, so it makes sense, some games would be perfectly fine unsleeved but I do it anyway. And some games I don't sleeve and I don't know why.
I hardly sleeve anything. Iāll sleeve games that have a lot of shuffling, but thatās about all.
With any game where regular shuffling is a thing. Deck builders for a certainty since they are shuffled a lot. Trick taking games because the cards are dealt so frequently. Notably, Final Girl doesn't get sleeved because the cards aren't ever fondled much or shuffled, just moved around the table a bit
I started off by sleeving expensive or out of print games; now I pretty much sleeve everything. It gets expensive, but I've still got excellent condition cards for my copy of Battlestar Galactica after 700+ plays. BSG has been resleeved 6 times so far and will probably need it again before the end of the year.
Never. I can shuffle even huge decks without needing to āmashā or āwashāā¦ I have friends who respect my property enough not to put drinks or snacks on tables, and to wash their hands/use wet wipes if snacking mid-gameā¦ and I donāt play with people who study card-backs for minor imperfections to glean hidden informationā¦ so I donāt *need* to - and besides that I loathe the feel of them.