AH Fans,

I have recently taken the plunge and purchased sleeves for the base game and all currently-owned Expansions (CotDP, DH, KiY, KH [no comments, Dam ], and LatT) and even one, not yet purchased (IH). I know, from having read the threads on this issue, that there are those who are not keen on the idea of sleeving ("hello, ColtsFan!") and those who have erected monumental structures out of sleeved cards (Looking at you, again, Dam :cool: )

I'm curious to find out from those who have sleeved their cards, how do you keep them standing, and not topple over as soon as they're set upon the table? Again, they're beautiful, easy to shuffle, and will remain intact for years to come...but there's that issue of having a pile, vice a stack, of Common Items.

[Posted previously at BGG]

Thanks,

The Professor

The Professor said:

Professor,

my decks proudly stand erected in the place where I put them. The only one that seems to lack in discipline - sometimes - is the Spell deck. In those cases, I gently cut it in half, keeping the half to draw from in front of me, and the other one (in the) back(yard) ::laughing:: For all "big" decks, I create discard piles. It's easier to handle, even if it requires a little more table space

Julia,

My girlfriend and I have 'sleeved' 800+ cards, and we've placed the 'sleeved' cards back in the FFG bags, in hopes of compressing them a bit. I'm just curious what you did to compressing them so they don't tip...or do the stacks simply obey you...?

The Professor

"compress" not "compressing"

The Professor said:

Hmmm.. not so sure I got the point then. I thought you were talking of decks while playing. In this case, you won't have 800 cards stacked together. The highest deck should be the 124-cards spell deck, which I usually keep in two stacks of 62 cards each (and I draw always from stack A and discard them into a spell-discard pile). Other decks are smaller, and up to 100 cards yes, they stack. Just be gentle when you draw cards. Otherwise create 2 stacks for each deck, and keep on drawing from stack A of every item's type. And use discard piles.

If you intended how I keep them after the game session is over - in case apologies, I didn't get properly your question - I put them back in the boxes. Big box expansions are great to store the small cards even when sleeved

Julia,

I'm sorry, I should have been a bit more clear...even the small stacks of Common Items and Unique Items seem to be on the verge of toppling over. I'll let you know how my 'compression' experiment works...

The Professor

The Professor said:

Ok! Sorry for not getting the point, Professor!

Build trays to hold them.

Brine said:

Brilliant! What material are they made of?

Julia said:

Foamboard.

Brine said:

Thx!

Brine,

That's impressive ~ now my only question is..did you buy it or build it? The reason I ask...there's not a single individual on this Forum more inept at building things (you should have seen my pinewood derby car from scouts ~ it started out red, but after all of the graphite for the wheels got all over everything...it was jet black). Anyway, if you did build it, do you have the specs, and could I, an absolute novice have any hope in building it?

The Professor

I don't have any specs, since I just measured what I needed and cut the pieces.

They are pretty simple to build. All you have to do is measure the sleeved cards and add a tiny bit of space for wiggle room. Then cut out a base long enough for however many slots you want, with the correct number of 3/16" spacers added (the thickness of the foamboard). Then just cut out the pieces and glue them together.

Brine,

You have a great deal of faith in others...thank you!

The Professor

Wow. I was going to suggest using little ice cream tubs to stand the cards up in (I bought mine at Aldi - cheap UK supermarket store), but looking at those awesome foamboard builds make me feel totally inadequate. I am definitely going to try and do something like that!

You can buy blackjack discard holders, which support large piles of sleeved cards like the Mythos cards etc. Available online at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com etc.

Shub,

I agree ~ I could do that, but if you get a chance, type Arkham Horror Card Holders into a google search and let me tell you, you'll be amazed by the creative genius of some of our brethren out there. One guy, by the name of William (his BGG name is Meeples Schmeeples or some such name) ~ his stuf is absolutely beautiful, especially the greenish-platform which holds Mythos Cards and Other World Cards on either side of a raised platform for the GOO card. Impressive!

The Professor said:

I agree the homemade ones you mention are a LOT better e.g.

This could be made to hold sleeved cards. The blackjack holders are simply convenient to buy & use, solve the toppling pile issue but I'd much prefer one of the more creative solutions as above if they were available to me.

I have a close friend who happens to have all of the skills I do not possess ~ this guy has worked on pieces at Mount Vernon, numerous Science Museums around the country, and two Presidential Libraries. Yeah...this guy's good. So, I passed along some of the pictures to him, asking him if he would be willing to make a few "commissioned" pieces. We'll see...

Those foam holders are exactly what I'm looking for.. Except I want something durable that is also collapsable. I'm worried about just going with a slotted configuration as it could snap. I'd also like the game to fit inside the two wooden cases someone earlier suggested on this forum (seriously, woot!), but I don't think it will if I both sleeve and make foam inserts. Unless, of course, the foam inserts assist in keeping the game in place in the cases!

Thoughts suddenly come to mind.. Okay, foam board it is.

To all who may have a similar question . . . "how do you keep your recently sleeved cards from sliding all over the table?"

My girlfriend, actually came-up with the answer...after sleeving the cards, place them back into the original bag which held the empty sleeves for a day or two. While you can only place 35 (in stead of the original 50) into the bag, the period of time you leave them in the bag will decrease the air inside each of the individual sleeves, thus reducing the 'slippage' factor.

Now, my Other World stack (which numbers nearly 200 doesn't topple at all, and the nearly 100 Spell deck is perfectly flat, as well!