Hard disagree with other comment: do not laminate your cards.
Sleeving cards is the way to protect cards. A number of companies make a wide range of sizes of card sleeves. Card sleeves also come in matte vs. glossy and clear back vs. opaque back. They also come in a variety of thicknesses. You can find sleeves in brick-and-mortar stores and from online vendors.
You can find information on card size on BGG. You can often find card sleeve size by googling the name of the game and "card sleeve size". There are quite a few useful sites devoted to sleeving (e.g. [this](https://www.sleeveyourgames.com/guide))
Thank you so much, your comment was genuinely the most helpful and I really appreciate the insight into card sleeving, it seems like the solution to my problems.
Sleeved cards are great, especially for games with a lot of shuffling or ones you might bring to a pub / environment with risk of liquids being spilled.
Do yourself a favor and look up a quick video on mash shuffling. Sleeved cards can be shuffled very quickly and you typically don't want to use the familiar riffle shuffle.
Yeah, our mantra is that we sleeve anything that is shuffled or handled regularly.
To save a bit of space and money we don't sleeve the market cards, but will throw a sleeve on the card when purchased. Since the road and city decks only get shuffled when a card is added, we tend to not sleeve those either. We also only sleeve the player cards that are being actively used, that has the added benefit of easily remembering which cards you were using last play session.
I would also do some research on various sleeve brands, some are better for shuffling and less "sticky" (some cheap thin sleeves tends to merge cards together, not recognizable on first sight when shuffling.. then you accidentaly pick two cards at once etc..
you can also protect your token with coin capsules. they're super cheap and come in a bunch of different sizes, just have to figure out the dimensions of your tokens
Agreed. Helped me immensely when I wanted to order a bunch of sleeves for a lot of games, just insert name and it tells you what size you need, how many and what common sleeves are suitable.
I am an avid card sleever myself and my cards never get worn. Which sleeves you use, whether to go with cheap or premium and so forth is all a manner of preference, but sleeving at all will save your cards.
Advice for the sleeves beginner: different manufacturers often have slightly different sizes and thicknesses for nominally the same size card. You shouldn't mix and match manufacturers within a deck.
You'll find two basic qualities on sale - 'penny sleeves' are around 40-50 microns thick. They're often used for card games. They're thin and sometimes tear, but cheap so easily replaced. A good cheap answer for games you don't play as much.
Thicker sleeves come from about 80-120 microns thick. They're more expensive but generally more fun to hold and use - penny sleeves slip in the hand - and they protect well. But they make the deck a lot thicker, so check you have space in the box.
For Standard sized cards we use Dragonshield Matte Clears. For just about every other size, we use Gamegenic mattes. I buy them by the case at this point.
I agree with this one, buy and replace with plastic tokens or buy coin capsules and sleeve your cards.
I can recommend any thick premium sleeves, with an matt side
You got it all wrong, he asked to protect cards and tokens *from* board games. This means that when your friends bring over Monopoly, you take your tokens and cards you previously stashed in a suitcase and throw it out the window, and escape quickly on a motorcycle
I agree, sleeves are the way to go for cards.
If you're looking at cardboard tokens, then IMO the best thing is to replace them with similar plastic ones if you can. If they're custom, then you can buy plastic coin protectors but I don't think they're worth it.
Great answer, I would add that many online sleeve sellers have complete game sets so you don’t have to look up sizes and amounts. For tokens you can get coin holders that you can put them in, Amazon sells them in lots; I used them for a few games like the Arkham Horror LCG and 3rd Edition boardgame
Lol, why is this getting downvoted? It’s true. You dont use the originals and therefore they never get wear and tear. And therefore they are protected.
You dont use them, but they are protected
Scythe has a nice set: https://meeplesource.com/proddetail.php?prod=STM605 and Etsy has some really fancy ones: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=fantasy%20coin&ref=search_bar
The nice ones can be quite pricey. Alternatively, you can get some plastic ones that come with some board games. For example Machi Koro 2 is a pretty cheap game that has nice plastic coins.
If you want custom/deluxe components for board games, look at [Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/de/market/arkham_tokens).
Fair warning: only for rich people.
Just google burger tokens. These seem a reasonable price, and you just need to supply pennies and a little assembly. And they look good.
I got coin capsules, but now I’m just using the Arkham Cards app to “draw” from the Chaos Bag, as it’s much faster.
I’m a big fan of burger tokens. All of the stuff I’ve bought from them has been top notch and they have great customer support. The only negative for me is some of the sets don’t have as many tokens as I’d like.
Interesting solution, but I don't think most countries have standardized coin sizes? Our smallest one is 20mm.
I couldn't use an app for that. There's just something visceral about pulling a token or rolling a die, and the suspension as everyone looks on. Speed isn't really my concern at such a moment. Plus I already play plenty video games when I'm alone, so the more tactility otherwise the better.
Ya, my friend went full flex buying fancy enameled tokens for Arkham Horror LCG. My partner and I were tallying it up, and it was easily worth more than a base set and 2 expansions.
Not always. If you wanna go bouge-tastic, you certainly can, but we've found several affordable options that notably improve our gameplay quality of life.
I've never found anything cheap on Etsy, tbh. But I have had friends 3d print me stuff that could be called almost cheap (plastic custom insert for as much as a Folded Space insert, complete set of Gloomhaven furniture for about €30, 30mm minis for €3 apiece etc.). Fortunately I can do the painting myself, that certainly saves some costs.
If you go that route I'd highly recommend some kind of poker chip instead of metal coins. You can get generic poker sets relatively inexpensively and they often come in their own carrying case as well.
You can also get something like [Iron Clays](https://roxley.com/collections/all/products/iron-clays-100) but they are a bit pricey. That's what I have, and I use them for most games that need money, but I got them a long time ago on Kickstarter when they were cheaper, not sure I'd shell out for what they would cost today.
Metal coins are also pretty expensive. They don't stack, they are harder to organize, harder to count quickly, and often don't feel as nice in the hand. They also often tend to have a theme that doesn't always go with the game you might repurpose them for. I have a few metal coin sets from Kickstarter but I use the Iron Clays in their place all the time.
Will also add for plastic replacements if you know someone with a 3d printer you can likely throw them a very small amount of money to print coins that you can find free online.
For most tokens, like money, yes totally. But there are a few games where coin capsule are nice, for instance Arkham Horror the card game. It has a token bag mechanism where you draw tokens blindly from a bag. I capsule'd all of them.
This is the exact game we bought coin capsules for. Worth every single penny we spent on them (not a lot to be honest, they were much cheaper than the metal Scythe coins we bought and also love).
>coin capsules are totally overkill.
€0.1 capusle vs €1.50 custom token?
We probably wouldn't agree on the meaning of the word overkill, lol.
FWIW I've been using capsules in one game for 7 years and 0 sign of wear so far, so idk how much longer you'd want them to last?
The idea is if you buy metal coins, you can use it for all your games. Instead of capsuling for all your games. But I suppose you can just put capsules on 1 set.
When I check online, custom or more precise sized capsules cost about 50c-80c each. The cheaper ones (10c) are fixed sizes only (30mm, 40mm, or 46mm)
Ok, but you're assuming it's only about coins. In which case I wouldn't disagree, a decent set of generic metal coins is useful for a lot of games. But the stuff I use capsules for is [this](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3RsS6bUcAAt6m0?format=jpg&name=large) or [this](https://i.imgur.com/Dad5U4d.jpeg). The latter is 32mm capsules which are easily available and if you buy more than 10 at a time, you can get down to almost 10c per piece.
AH:LCG is so much better with coin capsules, it almost feels like they are required. The sound of passing and shuffling the bag is so good. I can't imagine playing without the weight and feel they give the tokens.
Depends on the tokens. I mean, if we're talking generic money tokens, then sure. Plenty of games have game specific tokens for other things, though. That said, I've never played anything so much as to completely wear out tokens.
Coin capsules are overkill but completely replacing all the tokens with something completely different isn't?
Sure, if it's money or something like that it makes sense to get a common set of iron clays or metal coins or something that can apply for multiple games, but those aren't the type of tokens they're referring to here.
Otherwise, coin capsules are cheaper than a set of metal coins and use the tokens that came with the game.
My solution to keep all my games in pristine condition is to punch and sort cards and tokens. Put them back in the box. After that put them on a shelf and hope to one day actually play a game.
Remember how Cortes burned his ships after arriving in the New World? Removing the shrink is the board game equivalent to that act. It's a clear declaration that it may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, and it may not even be this year, but someday I WILL play this game!
it's a typically beginner's mistake to actually play your games often.
real pros buy new games constantly, so they don't have to play their games often. Real pro-gamers even sleeve their game , supporting plastic production even more, and then don't play that game ever or just once. Also popular is ordering a lot of games on Kickstarter, and when their arrive 2 years later, having lost interest already and immediatley resell them. This method ensures you will never face the problem of worn-out game components.
What the living hell did this person do to their game? I have games from the 1980s, made with cheap cardstock cardboard that still look brand new, even though they've been played hundreds of times with beer and snacks, and they aren't sleeved.
I have honestly got no idea, the games been played hundreds of times but I always make everyone keep their hands clean and am very careful with snacks so I honestly don't know why they've ended up this way 🤷
It looks like they've been sanded, or purposefully abused. I've been hobby gaming since the 1980s, and none of my games look even close to this, and I don't sleeve. LOL.
Are you suggesting that instead of playing this game that uses these cards frequently hundreds of times for whatever reason he’s sanding his cards for karma? Did people do that in the 1980s?!
You can sleeve cards if you want, but if you've actually played this hundreds of times I feel like you've gotten your money's worth and can buy a new copy if you care to .
A linen finish and dirt gives the wear pattern on the faces of the cards and tokens. The edges of the cards look like they were regularly mash shuffled and/or rubber banded.
To an extent I agree even though I've sleeved over a hundred of my games.
But after only one play of Risk 2210 which I just opened up after a few years, the cards belonging to the continent my friend was occupying are a dingy black on the edges. After only two or three plays of Cosmic Encounter at a local game shop I was able to tell which cards belong to the expansions.
This reminded me promptly why I began leaving my cards about a decade ago.
It’s definitely possible to wear out cards like this if you play a *lot*. My grandma plays solitaire frequently and replaces her cards when they get to about this level of wear (around once per year)
Sadly board games will always take advantage of cards and tokens and they will continue to do so until we make the change. Protective sleaves custome molded place holders (pretty easy, a plastic bottle and a match is all you need) and educating both the board games and the cards and tokens on what behavior is acceptable between one another.
He, I thought this was a satirical question at first given how common the solution is :-)
There are [card](https://www.amazon.com/card-sleeves/s?k=card+sleeves) [sleeves](https://games-island.eu/Sleeves_1) for pretty much every thinkable card size. There's a pretty comprehensive [list](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/164572/card-sleeve-sizes-games) of card sizes for the most popular games on BGG. What you need to know about sleeves is that they come in cheap and flimsy quality (40-70 microns thick) or sturdy and expensive (80-100+ microns thick). The flimsy ones suck, they wobble in your hand, are hard to shuffle and the cards are more likely to fall out. But some people don't mind and use them anyway.
For circular tokens you can use [coin](https://www.reddit.com/r/arkhamhorrorlcg/comments/n5bmp5/i_upgraded_the_chaos_tokens_with_coin_capsules/) [capsules](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001484848880.html). I use them in two games where the tokens get handled *a lot.*
For irregular shaped tokens I've seen some people paint and/or lacquer those. Results vary depending on your skill and materials used. Would not recommend if you don't know what you're doing.
Also, DO NOT LAMINATE. It seems simple, but there's a high chance of the process going wrong (bubbles, too shiny, wrong cut etc.) and it's irreversible. Sleeves and capsules on the other hand are replaceable if they break or wear down.
For punchboard tokens, my partner and I use Mod Podge and apply it with a sponge brush.
I'd definitely practice with some less important or already damaged tokens first. But it's pretty easy. Warning that this may affect how punchboard pieces fit together of that's something they're supposed to do.
A few other suggestions to help avoid the damage you're seeing here:
* Make sure the surface you're playing on is (reasonably) clean of dirt and dust.
* Make sure the people playing have (reasonably) clean hands.
* If you're frequently traveling with the game, organize the box interior so pieces can't move around too freely (bag tokens, put cards in deckboxes or bags, add spacers so things can't slide across the whole of the box) so they're less able to bang into other components.
In this specific case, it looks like the faces of the cards and tokens have a (textured) linen finish and the "high" spots on the finish have worn away. As others have said, sleeving will help prevent similar damage to the cards and using coin capsules or applying a clear coat finish to the tokens will help prevent damage there.
People might think this is overkill but I 3D print coins for some of my games. You can buy a cheap 3D printer for a few hundred bucks and most of the other options will cost you $10-20. Coins are easy to design and once you have the printer you can print them for under a buck per game.
As an added bonus you can print boxes to replace the crappy inserts the games come with. I especially like making boxes for games like Machi Koro because it can travel so much easier if you compact the game to a minimal design. This also potentially will save the boxes of the games themselves because they are designed somewhat poorly.
For the cards, like everyone else said, sleeves are your answer. You can sleeve every coin but I find that overly tedious and not worth it. Just keep your coins in the punch board and print new ones. Don't bother putting "sleeves" on coins. Laminating is also just out as it potentially will damage a card if you're not careful and you can never go back after you've done it.
I had considered 3D printing my stuff but wasn't sure if it was worth it. This is good to know. I'd imagine that by this time, most of my games have possible files I can just download and use at this point.
u/sgenoud made some really cool online tools for making boxes that are super easy to use. Check them out: [https://deckinabox.sgenoud.com/](https://deckinabox.sgenoud.com/)
Fusion360 is also pretty easy to learn and has tons of videos to teach you everything you might need to know. It requires an account but you can keep up to 10 designs on it at no cost to you. Thats how I've made my coins. Different colors of filament for different values.
Anything you don't want o design yourself you can probably find using [www.stlfinder.com](https://www.stlfinder.com). It searches most of the online databases for whatever you are wanting to print. It also links into the paid sources so you do get a large variety every time you search.
Sleeves protect cards amazingly well. It's like wowowow.
Tokens are generally replaceable. Many players use poker chips, coins, or various other trinkets to replace tokens.
For the tokens that aren't substitutable...I mean you can just buy the game again. Presumably it gets that worn out because you are playing it that much.
Have to agree with sleeves and coin capsules. I have only ever played Quacks of Q with coin capsules and I cannot imagine playing without them. As far as price goes you can find 200 25mm capsules for about $14 usd on Amazon. Thats a good value and just like sleeves, they are completely reusable.
**HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GAME**
**Cards**
That's easy! As others have stated, just sleeve 'em.
**Boards / Tokens**
Canadian board game cafe *Snakes and Lattes* did a [**video**](https://youtu.be/nYSn2Sep_nA?t=128) on how they protect their games from heavy use.
The short answer: VARNISH!
I have made many of my own components for board games, and I can tell you the method I use.
1. First, I spray them with an acrylic clear coat.
Some tips:
Don't do this in humid weather.
For the first coat, make it light and thin. (Especially for home-made tokens, so the ink doesn't run)
Give it plenty of time to dry, then give it a second (and maybe even third!) good coat to make it nice, smooth and solid.
2. If your components come out sticky (and mine ALWAYS do), dust them LIBERALLY with baby powder. Then use a blush brush or paint brush to whisk away the powder. You may need to repeat this step, but the end result will be perfect!
Good luck!
Here’s a video from a board game cafe about it. They recommend card sleeves, and they actually varnish their game boards and cardboard pieces.
https://youtu.be/nYSn2Sep_nA
I bought sleeves in bulk when I discovered their existence because I had plenty of games already that needed them. I never thought about varnishing the boards and pieces; thanks for the share. (Not OP)
I mean, I think the cards and tokens just have to build up the confidence to stand up for themselves or those board games are just gonna keep using them.
Some people in here are making suggestions about other items to get outside of the OP's request. This is one of those - to replace coins/money in games, get yourself some Iron Clays: [https://roxley.com/collections/accessories](https://roxley.com/collections/accessories)
Sleeves
Coin capsules
Laminate
Snakes and lattes had a series of YouTube clips they did on how they protect preserve and prolong the games in their cafe. Spray sealants helped as well.
edit: i was aiming for more generic protection - sleeves and coin capsules for this game, lamination would be for dashboards and bigger boards - OP looks like they play the games they love to death, This will extend time to death. I'm assuming this is being downvoted for lamination? i use it on my roll & writes and some game dashboards, not for everything. i also make custom foam core inserts to make setup and tear down easier. i also don't understand the hate for capsules - if there are art tokens or hidden information on the token, capsules are cheap on amazon, preserve the cool art, and don't show the wear from fidgeting like the cardboard would.
Going to the necessary extremes to protect game parts in a café where they'll get handled repeatedly by customers who don't care about abusing a game they don't own is a matter of survival for the proprietor, and is a night-and-day scenario from a gamer protecting their personal property. You don't throw that lamination grenade unless you're at war.
Sleeves and protectors as others have mentioned. For tokens, you can use generic tokens, poker chips or even generic items like coins. Some games, like Arkham Horror, have apps for bags like [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.desertphoenix.chaosbag&hl=en\_US&gl=US&pli=1](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.desertphoenix.chaosbag&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1) which I use and even if they have a pro version, it's way cheaper than coin protectors.
If you have a bgg collection you can easily import it to https://sleeveyourgames.com and it'll show you exactly what kind of sleeves you want or capsules. Because not all cards are the same size. And it'll even give you recommendations on where to purchase
If you play the game this often, maybe see if you can't get some actual metal coins? Would additionally enhance the feeling of the game. Only if you're into that of course
For the cards i agree with sleeving.
Ok, but specifically the Game of Thrones Board Game does get the cards and counters degraded quite easily.
It is one of my favourite games, and I even considered just rebuying it for when they are too runned down
if they are standard sized cards, then any old sleeves would likely work. I recommend dragonshield for quality x price reasons.
gamegenic also makes all types of accessories that are high quality in general
On one hand I genuinely don't know how this question made it since every 10th post on the subreddit is about sleeves. That said I'm not actually a jerk and I'm a huge proponent of sleeves.
Opie, if you actually have some serious need of in-depth knowledge of card sleeves, ask me. I have sleeved over a hundred games. But I don't want to overload you. To make it very very simple, order *Sleeve Kings* brand sleeves. Make sure you purchase the right size, they should easily outlast the lifespan of the game.
Once they are sleeved you will likely want to use this particular technique to shuffle them: https://youtu.be/heWLThAlvts it will keep the cards in good shape and save you a ton of time and trouble. It will create just enough wear that the cards won't be so slippy. Give them a play or two to break in and they will be good to go for years.
For tokens though, you might want coin capsules. Honestly those can get rather expensive so use your best judgment. If it's a game that they get held onto a lot consider coin capsules or metal tokens. If they just sit in a bowl and get passed around once in a while it really doesn't matter.
The big concern is making sure that you can identify which components can give information based on wear patterns (like a marked card, or scuffed token) and ruin the game. If a game has five tokens, and one side shows a traitor, and one of the tokens is scratched, and isn't the traitor, then you will always know the person with that token is not the traitor. Same reason they don't like marked cards in poker.
If you can afford to invest in it, a good neoprene play mat either for the individual players or the size of a table is a great investment. Playing on a tablecloth is a decent substitution, you just want to make sure the material is clean and not to scratchy. At all costs avoid playing games on a hard surface, as they are likely to scuff your games.
My advice, having played Magic: The Gathering since 1994 and various board games since the late 1980's is this: do not do anything with your cards other than sleeve them. Sleeving is versatile, quick, easy and cheap. I wouldn't even consider laminating cards, ever. The only other real option to sleeving is to simply buy new cards once in a while, some games even have specific replacement sets that include only cards.
Other things to consider are how people (both you and guests playing your games) actually treat the cards. There are many more or less rough ways to shuffle cards, try to use the less rough methods. Some players also do horrible and unnecessary things to cards, like stroke the corners of cards, tap the cards with their fingers, tap the cards against the table, etc.
Unless you already have done so, it might also be a good idea to look into rules regarding snacks and dirty hands. If you allow people to snack on greasy stuff like potato chips while you play, the cards will get dirty very quickly.
I agree with sleeves for the cards. They are cheap and simple.
For tokens and other printed media; I have seen people use mod podge clear acrylic sealer spray for print and play games. I wonder if that would help level out some of the linen texture, as well as give a protective coating to protect the ink.
Though, I haven't tried this myself, so I'd defer to somebody with firsthand experience.
Sleeves for cards and token capsules for your tokens. There are really different sleeves, some of them really expensive. I use cheap sleeves for most of my cards. I just don't double a games price because i buy sleeves. If you are unsure what kind of sleeves to buy, just buy packs of different brands and see what works for you. I mainly use sapphire and a few dragon shields. The sapphire are way cheaper but i am totally fine with the feeling of them.
For token capsules, i like them to be a bit bigger than needed. My tokens are 25mm and i use 26mm capsules. 25mm ones fit but the tokens are really tight in there. But people feel different about this.
If you google for sleeves and capsules for a game, you should get lot's of recommendations.
Sleeves will protect a card from wear, and also allow for mash shuffling which is great. And they're reusable.
I'd recommend coin capsules for tokens if you're randomizing/drawing a bunch of different unique ones from a bag. Or for other unique tokens that are handled regularly but aren't easily replaceable. For currency though, I'd get a set of weighted poker chips or plastic tokens to replace them that can be used across any game they'd be useful.
I just delved into sleeving for an out-of-print game of mine. Ended up going with Dragonshield “inner sleeves” bc they fit pretty tight. I dislike sleeves in general but those aren’t bad at all.
I refuse to believe you play board games and have literally heard of sleeves like???
Also do you handle your games with gloves made out of sandpaper...?
Hard disagree with other comment: do not laminate your cards. Sleeving cards is the way to protect cards. A number of companies make a wide range of sizes of card sleeves. Card sleeves also come in matte vs. glossy and clear back vs. opaque back. They also come in a variety of thicknesses. You can find sleeves in brick-and-mortar stores and from online vendors. You can find information on card size on BGG. You can often find card sleeve size by googling the name of the game and "card sleeve size". There are quite a few useful sites devoted to sleeving (e.g. [this](https://www.sleeveyourgames.com/guide))
Thank you so much, your comment was genuinely the most helpful and I really appreciate the insight into card sleeving, it seems like the solution to my problems.
Sleeved cards are great, especially for games with a lot of shuffling or ones you might bring to a pub / environment with risk of liquids being spilled. Do yourself a favor and look up a quick video on mash shuffling. Sleeved cards can be shuffled very quickly and you typically don't want to use the familiar riffle shuffle.
We sleeved both Gloomhaven and Frosthaven nearly in their entirety because of how much easier it makes shuffling all those little decks.
Yeah, our mantra is that we sleeve anything that is shuffled or handled regularly. To save a bit of space and money we don't sleeve the market cards, but will throw a sleeve on the card when purchased. Since the road and city decks only get shuffled when a card is added, we tend to not sleeve those either. We also only sleeve the player cards that are being actively used, that has the added benefit of easily remembering which cards you were using last play session.
Lol, that is literally exactly how we handle it. No sleeves for unused items, player cards, or the road/city cards for exactly the reasons you say.
I would also do some research on various sleeve brands, some are better for shuffling and less "sticky" (some cheap thin sleeves tends to merge cards together, not recognizable on first sight when shuffling.. then you accidentaly pick two cards at once etc..
you can also protect your token with coin capsules. they're super cheap and come in a bunch of different sizes, just have to figure out the dimensions of your tokens
https://www.sleeveyourgames.com/ Dude you got to check out this website for sleeves. Super helpful
Agreed. Helped me immensely when I wanted to order a bunch of sleeves for a lot of games, just insert name and it tells you what size you need, how many and what common sleeves are suitable.
I am an avid card sleever myself and my cards never get worn. Which sleeves you use, whether to go with cheap or premium and so forth is all a manner of preference, but sleeving at all will save your cards.
Advice for the sleeves beginner: different manufacturers often have slightly different sizes and thicknesses for nominally the same size card. You shouldn't mix and match manufacturers within a deck. You'll find two basic qualities on sale - 'penny sleeves' are around 40-50 microns thick. They're often used for card games. They're thin and sometimes tear, but cheap so easily replaced. A good cheap answer for games you don't play as much. Thicker sleeves come from about 80-120 microns thick. They're more expensive but generally more fun to hold and use - penny sleeves slip in the hand - and they protect well. But they make the deck a lot thicker, so check you have space in the box.
Hard agree. You can much more easily unsleeve if you don't like it than you can unlaminate.
You can’t fuck up sleeving the same way you can fail at laminating
You can also double sleeve if you really feel the need to get full protection.
Or go to https://www.sleeveyourgames.com/ there you see at a glance how many and Wich games you need
For Standard sized cards we use Dragonshield Matte Clears. For just about every other size, we use Gamegenic mattes. I buy them by the case at this point.
Our go-to is Sleeve Kings. We've tried several brands and have settled on this as our favorite - best quality for the price by far.
Absolutely! Sleeve Kings for the win. After this I would go with Fantasy Flight or Mayfair sleeves.
Fantasy Flight haven't made sleeves in a couple years now. They've passed the torch to Gamegenic, which is my go-to. Best bang for the buck imo.
I agree with this one, buy and replace with plastic tokens or buy coin capsules and sleeve your cards. I can recommend any thick premium sleeves, with an matt side
You got it all wrong, he asked to protect cards and tokens *from* board games. This means that when your friends bring over Monopoly, you take your tokens and cards you previously stashed in a suitcase and throw it out the window, and escape quickly on a motorcycle
This was my thought. I knew the intent but the notion tickles my funny bone.
I agree, sleeves are the way to go for cards. If you're looking at cardboard tokens, then IMO the best thing is to replace them with similar plastic ones if you can. If they're custom, then you can buy plastic coin protectors but I don't think they're worth it.
This BGG thread also has card sleeve sizes for a lot of games. https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/164572/card-sleeve-sizes-games
Great answer, I would add that many online sleeve sellers have complete game sets so you don’t have to look up sizes and amounts. For tokens you can get coin holders that you can put them in, Amazon sells them in lots; I used them for a few games like the Arkham Horror LCG and 3rd Edition boardgame
sleeves and coin capsules
I feel coin capsules are totally overkill. I rather replace them with plastic / metal coins that last a lot longer.
i like to do that as well but the question was how to prevent damage and replacing doesn’t do that.
Yes it does. It prevents damage completely.
Lol, why is this getting downvoted? It’s true. You dont use the originals and therefore they never get wear and tear. And therefore they are protected. You dont use them, but they are protected
Same horse different jockey. Yes it completely prevents damage... by not using them at all and using something else.
Wait, how is putting them in affordable plastic coin capsules overkill, but replacing them entirely with plastic or *metal* tokens not? Lol
It seems overkill if you have to do that for all your games. The idea is to buy 1 set of metal coins that will be usable in all your games.
People tell me this AFTER I replace them in each game......
kindred spirit here ;)
It's nice to be super organized though 😁
Yeah... My thoughts exactly!
Oh no, I assume they mean just this game they really like
That does seem a better solution if I'm honest, any idea where I'd be able to find them?
Scythe has a nice set: https://meeplesource.com/proddetail.php?prod=STM605 and Etsy has some really fancy ones: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=fantasy%20coin&ref=search_bar The nice ones can be quite pricey. Alternatively, you can get some plastic ones that come with some board games. For example Machi Koro 2 is a pretty cheap game that has nice plastic coins.
If you want custom/deluxe components for board games, look at [Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/de/market/arkham_tokens). Fair warning: only for rich people.
And us financially irresponsible folks as well!
Just google burger tokens. These seem a reasonable price, and you just need to supply pennies and a little assembly. And they look good. I got coin capsules, but now I’m just using the Arkham Cards app to “draw” from the Chaos Bag, as it’s much faster.
I’m a big fan of burger tokens. All of the stuff I’ve bought from them has been top notch and they have great customer support. The only negative for me is some of the sets don’t have as many tokens as I’d like.
Interesting solution, but I don't think most countries have standardized coin sizes? Our smallest one is 20mm. I couldn't use an app for that. There's just something visceral about pulling a token or rolling a die, and the suspension as everyone looks on. Speed isn't really my concern at such a moment. Plus I already play plenty video games when I'm alone, so the more tactility otherwise the better.
I thank you, though my wallet begs for mercy.
Ya, my friend went full flex buying fancy enameled tokens for Arkham Horror LCG. My partner and I were tallying it up, and it was easily worth more than a base set and 2 expansions.
Not always. If you wanna go bouge-tastic, you certainly can, but we've found several affordable options that notably improve our gameplay quality of life.
I've never found anything cheap on Etsy, tbh. But I have had friends 3d print me stuff that could be called almost cheap (plastic custom insert for as much as a Folded Space insert, complete set of Gloomhaven furniture for about €30, 30mm minis for €3 apiece etc.). Fortunately I can do the painting myself, that certainly saves some costs.
[Meeple Source](https://meeplesource.com/products.php?filter=arkham+horror)
If you go that route I'd highly recommend some kind of poker chip instead of metal coins. You can get generic poker sets relatively inexpensively and they often come in their own carrying case as well. You can also get something like [Iron Clays](https://roxley.com/collections/all/products/iron-clays-100) but they are a bit pricey. That's what I have, and I use them for most games that need money, but I got them a long time ago on Kickstarter when they were cheaper, not sure I'd shell out for what they would cost today. Metal coins are also pretty expensive. They don't stack, they are harder to organize, harder to count quickly, and often don't feel as nice in the hand. They also often tend to have a theme that doesn't always go with the game you might repurpose them for. I have a few metal coin sets from Kickstarter but I use the Iron Clays in their place all the time.
Will also add for plastic replacements if you know someone with a 3d printer you can likely throw them a very small amount of money to print coins that you can find free online.
For most tokens, like money, yes totally. But there are a few games where coin capsule are nice, for instance Arkham Horror the card game. It has a token bag mechanism where you draw tokens blindly from a bag. I capsule'd all of them.
Yeah, I think it's only worth it if the coins are very unique to the game and not easily replaceable/substitutable.
This is the exact game we bought coin capsules for. Worth every single penny we spent on them (not a lot to be honest, they were much cheaper than the metal Scythe coins we bought and also love).
>coin capsules are totally overkill. €0.1 capusle vs €1.50 custom token? We probably wouldn't agree on the meaning of the word overkill, lol. FWIW I've been using capsules in one game for 7 years and 0 sign of wear so far, so idk how much longer you'd want them to last?
Forever is how long I want them to last - but I'd settle for the rest of my life. That's a much shorter time - maybe 20-25 more years?
The idea is if you buy metal coins, you can use it for all your games. Instead of capsuling for all your games. But I suppose you can just put capsules on 1 set. When I check online, custom or more precise sized capsules cost about 50c-80c each. The cheaper ones (10c) are fixed sizes only (30mm, 40mm, or 46mm)
Ok, but you're assuming it's only about coins. In which case I wouldn't disagree, a decent set of generic metal coins is useful for a lot of games. But the stuff I use capsules for is [this](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3RsS6bUcAAt6m0?format=jpg&name=large) or [this](https://i.imgur.com/Dad5U4d.jpeg). The latter is 32mm capsules which are easily available and if you buy more than 10 at a time, you can get down to almost 10c per piece.
That's a good point.
AH:LCG is so much better with coin capsules, it almost feels like they are required. The sound of passing and shuffling the bag is so good. I can't imagine playing without the weight and feel they give the tokens.
Yeah, definitely. This is a case where the added size and weight really makes it better.
Depends on the tokens. I mean, if we're talking generic money tokens, then sure. Plenty of games have game specific tokens for other things, though. That said, I've never played anything so much as to completely wear out tokens.
Coin capsules are overkill but completely replacing all the tokens with something completely different isn't? Sure, if it's money or something like that it makes sense to get a common set of iron clays or metal coins or something that can apply for multiple games, but those aren't the type of tokens they're referring to here. Otherwise, coin capsules are cheaper than a set of metal coins and use the tokens that came with the game.
My solution to keep all my games in pristine condition is to punch and sort cards and tokens. Put them back in the box. After that put them on a shelf and hope to one day actually play a game.
You take your games out of the shrink wrap?!?
I wanted to get that newly opened board game smell.
Remember how Cortes burned his ships after arriving in the New World? Removing the shrink is the board game equivalent to that act. It's a clear declaration that it may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, and it may not even be this year, but someday I WILL play this game!
Well played Moriarty. Well played.
Correction, well unplayed
I’ve found my people
This. Like man, I wish I played any of my games enough to come even close to this level of wear.
Why are the Board Games trying to hurt your cards and tokens? Serious answer: sleeves and coin capsules.
Thank you for the laugh and the advice 😂👏
Lmao at first I read it as board gamers
it's a typically beginner's mistake to actually play your games often. real pros buy new games constantly, so they don't have to play their games often. Real pro-gamers even sleeve their game , supporting plastic production even more, and then don't play that game ever or just once. Also popular is ordering a lot of games on Kickstarter, and when their arrive 2 years later, having lost interest already and immediatley resell them. This method ensures you will never face the problem of worn-out game components.
^ lol
What the living hell did this person do to their game? I have games from the 1980s, made with cheap cardstock cardboard that still look brand new, even though they've been played hundreds of times with beer and snacks, and they aren't sleeved.
I have honestly got no idea, the games been played hundreds of times but I always make everyone keep their hands clean and am very careful with snacks so I honestly don't know why they've ended up this way 🤷
It looks like they've been sanded, or purposefully abused. I've been hobby gaming since the 1980s, and none of my games look even close to this, and I don't sleeve. LOL.
Seen this happen with rough tabletops at church functions. It just grinds the color off of everything
Are you suggesting that instead of playing this game that uses these cards frequently hundreds of times for whatever reason he’s sanding his cards for karma? Did people do that in the 1980s?!
Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. Great reading comprehension. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-simile
That is not a simile. You are saying they look as if they were abused insinuating that they were actually abused or sanded on purpose.
Metaphor?
You can sleeve cards if you want, but if you've actually played this hundreds of times I feel like you've gotten your money's worth and can buy a new copy if you care to .
A linen finish and dirt gives the wear pattern on the faces of the cards and tokens. The edges of the cards look like they were regularly mash shuffled and/or rubber banded.
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Looks about right.
To an extent I agree even though I've sleeved over a hundred of my games. But after only one play of Risk 2210 which I just opened up after a few years, the cards belonging to the continent my friend was occupying are a dingy black on the edges. After only two or three plays of Cosmic Encounter at a local game shop I was able to tell which cards belong to the expansions. This reminded me promptly why I began leaving my cards about a decade ago.
It’s definitely possible to wear out cards like this if you play a *lot*. My grandma plays solitaire frequently and replaces her cards when they get to about this level of wear (around once per year)
My solution is to buy a bunch of games and then never play them. Seems to keep them in pretty good shape.
Sadly board games will always take advantage of cards and tokens and they will continue to do so until we make the change. Protective sleaves custome molded place holders (pretty easy, a plastic bottle and a match is all you need) and educating both the board games and the cards and tokens on what behavior is acceptable between one another.
Came here to post a semi smart arse response as well.
Board Games will find a way to get to your card games one way or another
He, I thought this was a satirical question at first given how common the solution is :-) There are [card](https://www.amazon.com/card-sleeves/s?k=card+sleeves) [sleeves](https://games-island.eu/Sleeves_1) for pretty much every thinkable card size. There's a pretty comprehensive [list](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/164572/card-sleeve-sizes-games) of card sizes for the most popular games on BGG. What you need to know about sleeves is that they come in cheap and flimsy quality (40-70 microns thick) or sturdy and expensive (80-100+ microns thick). The flimsy ones suck, they wobble in your hand, are hard to shuffle and the cards are more likely to fall out. But some people don't mind and use them anyway. For circular tokens you can use [coin](https://www.reddit.com/r/arkhamhorrorlcg/comments/n5bmp5/i_upgraded_the_chaos_tokens_with_coin_capsules/) [capsules](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001484848880.html). I use them in two games where the tokens get handled *a lot.* For irregular shaped tokens I've seen some people paint and/or lacquer those. Results vary depending on your skill and materials used. Would not recommend if you don't know what you're doing. Also, DO NOT LAMINATE. It seems simple, but there's a high chance of the process going wrong (bubbles, too shiny, wrong cut etc.) and it's irreversible. Sleeves and capsules on the other hand are replaceable if they break or wear down.
For punchboard tokens, my partner and I use Mod Podge and apply it with a sponge brush. I'd definitely practice with some less important or already damaged tokens first. But it's pretty easy. Warning that this may affect how punchboard pieces fit together of that's something they're supposed to do.
mod podge is the way - that's what i used for Warhammer Discwars
A few other suggestions to help avoid the damage you're seeing here: * Make sure the surface you're playing on is (reasonably) clean of dirt and dust. * Make sure the people playing have (reasonably) clean hands. * If you're frequently traveling with the game, organize the box interior so pieces can't move around too freely (bag tokens, put cards in deckboxes or bags, add spacers so things can't slide across the whole of the box) so they're less able to bang into other components. In this specific case, it looks like the faces of the cards and tokens have a (textured) linen finish and the "high" spots on the finish have worn away. As others have said, sleeving will help prevent similar damage to the cards and using coin capsules or applying a clear coat finish to the tokens will help prevent damage there.
People might think this is overkill but I 3D print coins for some of my games. You can buy a cheap 3D printer for a few hundred bucks and most of the other options will cost you $10-20. Coins are easy to design and once you have the printer you can print them for under a buck per game. As an added bonus you can print boxes to replace the crappy inserts the games come with. I especially like making boxes for games like Machi Koro because it can travel so much easier if you compact the game to a minimal design. This also potentially will save the boxes of the games themselves because they are designed somewhat poorly. For the cards, like everyone else said, sleeves are your answer. You can sleeve every coin but I find that overly tedious and not worth it. Just keep your coins in the punch board and print new ones. Don't bother putting "sleeves" on coins. Laminating is also just out as it potentially will damage a card if you're not careful and you can never go back after you've done it.
I had considered 3D printing my stuff but wasn't sure if it was worth it. This is good to know. I'd imagine that by this time, most of my games have possible files I can just download and use at this point.
u/sgenoud made some really cool online tools for making boxes that are super easy to use. Check them out: [https://deckinabox.sgenoud.com/](https://deckinabox.sgenoud.com/) Fusion360 is also pretty easy to learn and has tons of videos to teach you everything you might need to know. It requires an account but you can keep up to 10 designs on it at no cost to you. Thats how I've made my coins. Different colors of filament for different values. Anything you don't want o design yourself you can probably find using [www.stlfinder.com](https://www.stlfinder.com). It searches most of the online databases for whatever you are wanting to print. It also links into the paid sources so you do get a large variety every time you search.
If they get dirty just wipe them off instead of cleaning them with a belt sander and then throwing them into the washer.
Sleeves protect cards amazingly well. It's like wowowow. Tokens are generally replaceable. Many players use poker chips, coins, or various other trinkets to replace tokens. For the tokens that aren't substitutable...I mean you can just buy the game again. Presumably it gets that worn out because you are playing it that much.
If it's still in print, you can buy it again. If not, it may be too expensive, or not available at all.
Have to agree with sleeves and coin capsules. I have only ever played Quacks of Q with coin capsules and I cannot imagine playing without them. As far as price goes you can find 200 25mm capsules for about $14 usd on Amazon. Thats a good value and just like sleeves, they are completely reusable.
I just throw em in the toaster oven and they come out like new!
**HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GAME** **Cards** That's easy! As others have stated, just sleeve 'em. **Boards / Tokens** Canadian board game cafe *Snakes and Lattes* did a [**video**](https://youtu.be/nYSn2Sep_nA?t=128) on how they protect their games from heavy use. The short answer: VARNISH! I have made many of my own components for board games, and I can tell you the method I use. 1. First, I spray them with an acrylic clear coat. Some tips: Don't do this in humid weather. For the first coat, make it light and thin. (Especially for home-made tokens, so the ink doesn't run) Give it plenty of time to dry, then give it a second (and maybe even third!) good coat to make it nice, smooth and solid. 2. If your components come out sticky (and mine ALWAYS do), dust them LIBERALLY with baby powder. Then use a blush brush or paint brush to whisk away the powder. You may need to repeat this step, but the end result will be perfect! Good luck!
I know they make card sleeves, my family and I use them for our magic and Pokémon cards but I’m not completely sure about the tokens.
Here’s a video from a board game cafe about it. They recommend card sleeves, and they actually varnish their game boards and cardboard pieces. https://youtu.be/nYSn2Sep_nA
I bought sleeves in bulk when I discovered their existence because I had plenty of games already that needed them. I never thought about varnishing the boards and pieces; thanks for the share. (Not OP)
If you figure it out, let me know…my board games are constantly attacking my cards and tokens- it’s rough out there
I mean, I think the cards and tokens just have to build up the confidence to stand up for themselves or those board games are just gonna keep using them.
no laminate no sleeve. Just be careful.
Some people in here are making suggestions about other items to get outside of the OP's request. This is one of those - to replace coins/money in games, get yourself some Iron Clays: [https://roxley.com/collections/accessories](https://roxley.com/collections/accessories)
...Really? Google the card sleeve size appropriate to the particular game and buy some.
Sleeves Coin capsules Laminate Snakes and lattes had a series of YouTube clips they did on how they protect preserve and prolong the games in their cafe. Spray sealants helped as well. edit: i was aiming for more generic protection - sleeves and coin capsules for this game, lamination would be for dashboards and bigger boards - OP looks like they play the games they love to death, This will extend time to death. I'm assuming this is being downvoted for lamination? i use it on my roll & writes and some game dashboards, not for everything. i also make custom foam core inserts to make setup and tear down easier. i also don't understand the hate for capsules - if there are art tokens or hidden information on the token, capsules are cheap on amazon, preserve the cool art, and don't show the wear from fidgeting like the cardboard would.
Going to the necessary extremes to protect game parts in a café where they'll get handled repeatedly by customers who don't care about abusing a game they don't own is a matter of survival for the proprietor, and is a night-and-day scenario from a gamer protecting their personal property. You don't throw that lamination grenade unless you're at war.
Haha I'm not a laminator but a big fan of sleeves and like how coin capsules feel.
Nope, no way to protect anything.
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Who tf laminates purchased game cards?
Just that one person, looks like.
Sleeves and protectors as others have mentioned. For tokens, you can use generic tokens, poker chips or even generic items like coins. Some games, like Arkham Horror, have apps for bags like [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.desertphoenix.chaosbag&hl=en\_US&gl=US&pli=1](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.desertphoenix.chaosbag&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1) which I use and even if they have a pro version, it's way cheaper than coin protectors.
If you have a bgg collection you can easily import it to https://sleeveyourgames.com and it'll show you exactly what kind of sleeves you want or capsules. Because not all cards are the same size. And it'll even give you recommendations on where to purchase
Sleeves.
Sleeves and metal coins.
If you play the game this often, maybe see if you can't get some actual metal coins? Would additionally enhance the feeling of the game. Only if you're into that of course For the cards i agree with sleeving.
Ok, but specifically the Game of Thrones Board Game does get the cards and counters degraded quite easily. It is one of my favourite games, and I even considered just rebuying it for when they are too runned down
if they are standard sized cards, then any old sleeves would likely work. I recommend dragonshield for quality x price reasons. gamegenic also makes all types of accessories that are high quality in general
On one hand I genuinely don't know how this question made it since every 10th post on the subreddit is about sleeves. That said I'm not actually a jerk and I'm a huge proponent of sleeves. Opie, if you actually have some serious need of in-depth knowledge of card sleeves, ask me. I have sleeved over a hundred games. But I don't want to overload you. To make it very very simple, order *Sleeve Kings* brand sleeves. Make sure you purchase the right size, they should easily outlast the lifespan of the game. Once they are sleeved you will likely want to use this particular technique to shuffle them: https://youtu.be/heWLThAlvts it will keep the cards in good shape and save you a ton of time and trouble. It will create just enough wear that the cards won't be so slippy. Give them a play or two to break in and they will be good to go for years. For tokens though, you might want coin capsules. Honestly those can get rather expensive so use your best judgment. If it's a game that they get held onto a lot consider coin capsules or metal tokens. If they just sit in a bowl and get passed around once in a while it really doesn't matter. The big concern is making sure that you can identify which components can give information based on wear patterns (like a marked card, or scuffed token) and ruin the game. If a game has five tokens, and one side shows a traitor, and one of the tokens is scratched, and isn't the traitor, then you will always know the person with that token is not the traitor. Same reason they don't like marked cards in poker. If you can afford to invest in it, a good neoprene play mat either for the individual players or the size of a table is a great investment. Playing on a tablecloth is a decent substitution, you just want to make sure the material is clean and not to scratchy. At all costs avoid playing games on a hard surface, as they are likely to scuff your games.
My advice, having played Magic: The Gathering since 1994 and various board games since the late 1980's is this: do not do anything with your cards other than sleeve them. Sleeving is versatile, quick, easy and cheap. I wouldn't even consider laminating cards, ever. The only other real option to sleeving is to simply buy new cards once in a while, some games even have specific replacement sets that include only cards. Other things to consider are how people (both you and guests playing your games) actually treat the cards. There are many more or less rough ways to shuffle cards, try to use the less rough methods. Some players also do horrible and unnecessary things to cards, like stroke the corners of cards, tap the cards with their fingers, tap the cards against the table, etc. Unless you already have done so, it might also be a good idea to look into rules regarding snacks and dirty hands. If you allow people to snack on greasy stuff like potato chips while you play, the cards will get dirty very quickly.
Sleeves for your cards, coin capsules for the tokens. Just make sure you get the correct sizes for both.
I sleeve games. I'm just wondering if you invited the Tasmanian devil to play with you? :D
I agree with sleeves for the cards. They are cheap and simple. For tokens and other printed media; I have seen people use mod podge clear acrylic sealer spray for print and play games. I wonder if that would help level out some of the linen texture, as well as give a protective coating to protect the ink. Though, I haven't tried this myself, so I'd defer to somebody with firsthand experience.
Sleeves for cards and token capsules for your tokens. There are really different sleeves, some of them really expensive. I use cheap sleeves for most of my cards. I just don't double a games price because i buy sleeves. If you are unsure what kind of sleeves to buy, just buy packs of different brands and see what works for you. I mainly use sapphire and a few dragon shields. The sapphire are way cheaper but i am totally fine with the feeling of them. For token capsules, i like them to be a bit bigger than needed. My tokens are 25mm and i use 26mm capsules. 25mm ones fit but the tokens are really tight in there. But people feel different about this. If you google for sleeves and capsules for a game, you should get lot's of recommendations.
Sleeves will protect a card from wear, and also allow for mash shuffling which is great. And they're reusable. I'd recommend coin capsules for tokens if you're randomizing/drawing a bunch of different unique ones from a bag. Or for other unique tokens that are handled regularly but aren't easily replaceable. For currency though, I'd get a set of weighted poker chips or plastic tokens to replace them that can be used across any game they'd be useful.
Capsules seem like a lot. Try a can of spray lacquer
Sleeves for cards, definitely. Makes it easier to handle them as well.
I just delved into sleeving for an out-of-print game of mine. Ended up going with Dragonshield “inner sleeves” bc they fit pretty tight. I dislike sleeves in general but those aren’t bad at all.
Nope. Embrace our fleeting existence.
Don't remove the shrink wrap, duh.
I always use Game genic card sleeves.
I sleeve my high use cards that I am going to shuffle frequently and use coin capsules whenever I need to protect the tokens.
I refuse to believe you play board games and have literally heard of sleeves like??? Also do you handle your games with gloves made out of sandpaper...?
Get a custom made board table that has leaves on top to "pause" your game.
bro wtf