Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Something of No Interest

Fantasy Flight games now does premium card sleeves in multiple Euro game sizes. They have been doing standard CCG sleeves for a while, but lately there has been a market for smaller sleeves - eurogame sized sleeves. Currently there are two producers: Mayday Games and Fantasy Flight. Both are producing 59x92MM sleeves. Mayday originally came out with their version of the penny sleeves in this size (penny = thin and cheap) which pleased the Dominion crowd to no end. I was among those that purchased 500 of them (actually, I purchased 1000) for Dominion. Then I traded Dominion and the other 500 away. Why? I decided I didn't really need to own Dominion and I also decided that I didn't care for the super thin sleeves. I waited until Mayday offered a premium version of their sleeve (125% thicker) and bought a couple hundred. Since I saw some of the FF ones at the store, I grabbed some of them today to compare the two. So here is what I'm seeing:
  • Both about the same thickness - they feel about same.
  • The FF ones are larger. Not by a large amount, but very slightly wider and longer. Noticeably longer once you put a card in.
  • The FF ones are clearer. Having said that, once I put cards in both sleeves, I didn't notice the difference, nor did I notice one being easier to read than the other.
So, which should you pick? Based on the above, the Mayday Games sleeves. Slightly less long and wide means easier shuffling. But here is one more reason to buy the Mayday games sleeves. A pack of 50 from Mayday is $0.13 cheaper than the ones from Fantasy Flight. Not a big deal, but if you want to sleeve the 1000 cards for Dominion and its expansion you save $2-3 (yeah, another 50 sleeves!). Both are available from the producer as well as through Boards and Bits (which seems to have the best price).

5 comments:

Mike said...

I think you have become the gaming equivalent of the old lady that puts plastic over her furniture. When Amy and I visited you, we were not allowed to play Dominion because "it's not sleeved yet". Is the cost of the sleeves and the time that it takes to sleeve them worth the effort? You're a computer programmer. Shouldn't you be able to earn the price of a couple dominion games in the time it takes to sleeve 500 cards by consulting? Maybe, putting plastic over things is how people deal with the chaotic world we live in.

Things of No Interest said...

Yeah, but you are taking all the fun out of it Mike.

At the time, I didn't want to put wear on cards that would be sleeved in clear sleeves. Knowing the expansion was coming soon, I didn't want cards that were worn looking and cards that weren't.

And just because I have the capacity and/or disposable income ability to buy a new game doesn't mean I should treat my game as a disposable commodity.

Mike said...

There's fun in sleeving cards? I guess to the person with more OCD than me. I think the wear on Dominion cards is irrelevant. I never pay attention to other players' hands.

corrie said...

ok...i'll weigh in here.

i like my cards to be sleeved. helps to keep the value...just seems to be so much more clean. i don't know...i just like sleeves.

- justin

Mike said...

'helps to keep the value & seems to be so much more clean' - old lady with the plastic couches talking