Fuck a Card Sleeve

Maybe I'm crazy but I actually find it easier to shuffle sleeve cards. You just separate the deck into two halves and then push the two halves together. It's simple and takes just a second or two. It requires no skill unlike standard shuffling.

I consider sleeves to be good for a couple of games, but I've scaled my use of them way back. Barnes has my enormous brick of sleeved Dominion, which was the logical conclusion to that madness. I had some other stuff sleeved, but I never did like the feel of sleeved cards much. That said, I've maintained their use for three of my games:

- Cosmic Encounter, a game where I am on my second set of cards.
- Mage Knight, which has some terrible card stock
- BSG skill cards, though the little sleeves for that were from a game I received in a trade that had those. (Who sleeves Dungeonquest?)
- Role cards in Citadels

But if you have no interest in trading a game and usability isn't much affected, I just can't do it. It gets expensive quickly.

I remembered another reason. The cards I got in the mini expansion for Firefly are a different size (fractionally) than the rest, so they were impossible to shuffle. I penny sleeved all the cards. You never hold them in hand, it was just so I could more easily shuffle the stock piles.

charlest wrote: Maybe I'm crazy but I actually find it easier to shuffle sleeve cards. You just separate the deck into two halves and then push the two halves together. It's simple and takes just a second or two. It requires no skill unlike standard shuffling.

I find that the sleeves tend to cling to each other and resist the effort to push the two halves together. Also, cheap sleeves can start to come apart at the seams during shuffling, and eventually even the higher quality sleeves may succumb to wear and tear. Real shuffling, where the cards briskly come together, is difficult to execute with card sleeves on.

San Il Defanso wrote: - BSG skill cards, though the little sleeves for that were from a game I received in a trade that had those. (Who sleeves Dungeonquest?)

That reminds me... I need to buy little sleeves for my BSG. One of my players who has longish fingernails accidentally damaged two of my green skill cards the last time we played, so those cards are now marked. I don't know how he did it offhand, but somehow there is a slight split between the front and back of the card now, just in the corner of each of these two cards. Maybe he was subconsciously prying at them while holding his hand of cards.

Shellhead wrote:

charlest wrote: Maybe I'm crazy but I actually find it easier to shuffle sleeve cards. You just separate the deck into two halves and then push the two halves together. It's simple and takes just a second or two. It requires no skill unlike standard shuffling.

I find that the sleeves tend to cling to each other and resist the effort to push the two halves together. Also, cheap sleeves can start to come apart at the seams during shuffling, and eventually even the higher quality sleeves may succumb to wear and tear. Real shuffling, where the cards briskly come together, is difficult to execute with card sleeves on.

I think it depends on the sleeves really. Penny sleeves seem to get more grime/stick to them than higher quality sleeves. My copies of BSG and Chaos in the Old World have seen over 20 plays each and don't have any issues with sticking together or anything.

Also, I've never had a sleeve split except for Mayday ones. I think how you shuffle them matters as you need to push together from the sides, not from the top or the corners will catch and could split.

Absolutely right about the briskness of a normal shuffle not being here. I can't shuffle worth shit so it doesn't matter to me but there is a nice satisfaction in watching someone skilled at rifle through the cards and have them fly together with a crisp shuffle.

I've only sleeved one game, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and it was absolutely the right choice.

--Nicks and scratches show up pretty easily on the cards, and marked cards would destroy the game.
--The sleeved cards make zero noise as they slide around the table, a definite plus.
--I don't have to worry about spilled drinks, since there's always a lot of beer around when we play this one.

Shellhead wrote:

Erik Twice wrote: I really don't understand the vitriol card sleeving gets.

I have some issues against card sleeves, despite owning a lot of card sleeves and using them extensively for certain purposes:

1. they make it difficult to shuffle cards.
2. sleeves make the card decks significantly higher and therefore more prone to toppling.
3. glossy sleeves can make even a moderate deck prone to falling over.
4. they make the cards take up more than twice as much room, which can lead to a storage issue with some game boxes.

1. Why does anyone care what someone else does with their possessions?
2. The Fort has become so devoid of content and commentary of late, and the games coming out are so pedestrian and boring of late, that we all, literally, have almost nothing left to talk about besides negative stereotypes regarding sleeves and Kickstarter projects.
3. It's a fucked up deal that I am more excited about playing a couple of games that I made than anything on the market right now.

SuperflyTNT wrote: The Fort has become so devoid of content and commentary of late, and the games coming out are so pedestrian and boring of late, that we all, literally, have almost nothing left to talk about besides negative stereotypes regarding sleeves and Kickstarter projects.

I don't understand the group think around here that current releases are all boring and pedestrian. It's almost like you guys are itching for a collective conscious to validate your curmudgeonry.

The last three games I reviewed - Fire in the Lake, Tragedy Looper, and Sons of Anarchy - are all excellent. EXCELLENT.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf came out this year - probably the best social deduction game ever created. M&M has an expansion coming out. The new Claustrophobia expansion looks excellent. Shadows of Brimstone looks to be a modern day Warhammer Quest with some modern day design sensibilities. I had a blast playing Sheriff of Nottingham. Spartacus has a new expansion coming out. Thunder Alley rocks. Mushroom Eaters print run should be out by end of year. X-Wing has had a mound of new releases, including HUGE SHIPS. The Battle at Kemble's Cascade could be stellar. Betrayal at House on the Hill was finally reprinted after being hard to find for the last year. Voyage of the Beagle is out soon. Cyclades TITANS Motherfucker. 2014 is goddamn killing it. Fuck your negativity (not directed at you Pete).

There ya go! That's the spirit!

Try this on:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/443527920/s...ge-aeons-2nd-edition