I've done a lot of card sleeving over the years. Starting with nasty thin sleeves that didn't always fit nicely, progressing in recent years to fancy Gamegenic sleeves, even paying extra for their luxurious matte ones. Not every game I bought got sleeved, but expensive games or games likely to go out of print, any game for which it would be expensive or difficult to replace the cards was seriously considered for sleeving.
But more recently I have begun to resent the inconveniences that come with sleeving: doubling the height of draw piles; low friction making it easy for card piles to slip sideways scattering cards abroad; storage problems fitting the sleeved cards into a box designed for unsleeved; the optical glare, making it difficult to read cards (even those matte ones) in certain lights. And a growing guilt about bringing more plastic into the world.
Also – why do I want my games to last forever?
I'm 67; there are many more gaming years behind me than there are yet to come. How many more times are most games in my collection likely to get played? And why do they need to stay pristine in any case? I bought my copy of 1830 in the late 1980's. It's had a lot of play over the years, and is by now fairly well worn. But the game's shabby state doesn't really matter – no pieces are missing, it's perfectly playable. And the shabbiness is a sign that this game is much loved. It has a history with me, and I value it the more for that. If offered a swap for a brand new copy, I would say no.
So I have begun to unsleeve my games. There are a few exceptions. For example the Action cards in Arcs, which get a hammering many times more severe than the other cards in the game, are staying sleeved. But I'm rediscovering the tactile pleasure of using unsleeved cards, of low-glare text and low-rise draw piles, of the springy feel of good quality cards splayed in my hand. And in the gaming years left to me, I hope I will remember to prioritize play over preservation.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Thursday, May 07, 2026
Do I really want to win?
When I was younger – in my 30's or 40's say – I had a real heartfelt need to win, at least occasionally. Whereas nowadays – in my late 60's – I tell people that I no longer care whether I win or lose – it's the experience of playing that motivates me.
That's what I tell people.
But at my last HandyCon (which I visited just for the Sunday) I played 5 games and lost every single one of them, in most cases not just lost but lost very badly. And I must confess that by the end of the day I was feeling a bit gloomy. Just one little win would have lifted my spirits. So perhaps I do care.
There is a tacit agreement we make when we sit down to play a multi-player boardgame – that we will all try to win. It can really mess up the experience if one player decides to act randomly just for the hell of it. I had an unpleasant experience along these lines – a few decades ago now but it still sticks in my mind. 5 or 6 of us had sat down to play Civilization, two of whom had never played the game before. As you know, playing Civilization is a substantial commitment – you're looking at 9 or 10 hours to complete it. Anyway, one of our number, let's call him "D", pretty quickly decided he did not like this game, and decided to pass the time beating up on his neighbour "S" (the other newbie), even though he knew this would ruin not only his chances of a win, but S's chances also. Well, the atmosphere around the table rapidly became pretty sour. D's random disruption spoiled the day for all of us. And as for S, we never saw him again.
Of course you can want to win too much as well as too little. I think this often lies behind behaviours that we commonly label Analysis Paralysis (AP). You want to win so intensely that you are prepared to spend as much time as it takes to optimize your turn, regardless of the boredom and frustration this inflicts on the other players. I experienced this just the other day at my local club – the culprit's turns were taking longer then the other three of us combined. This sort of thing is just as much a violation of the social contract as not tryig to win at all, and in my experience it is more common. I will certainly go out of my way to avoid this opponent in future.
That's what I tell people.
But at my last HandyCon (which I visited just for the Sunday) I played 5 games and lost every single one of them, in most cases not just lost but lost very badly. And I must confess that by the end of the day I was feeling a bit gloomy. Just one little win would have lifted my spirits. So perhaps I do care.
There is a tacit agreement we make when we sit down to play a multi-player boardgame – that we will all try to win. It can really mess up the experience if one player decides to act randomly just for the hell of it. I had an unpleasant experience along these lines – a few decades ago now but it still sticks in my mind. 5 or 6 of us had sat down to play Civilization, two of whom had never played the game before. As you know, playing Civilization is a substantial commitment – you're looking at 9 or 10 hours to complete it. Anyway, one of our number, let's call him "D", pretty quickly decided he did not like this game, and decided to pass the time beating up on his neighbour "S" (the other newbie), even though he knew this would ruin not only his chances of a win, but S's chances also. Well, the atmosphere around the table rapidly became pretty sour. D's random disruption spoiled the day for all of us. And as for S, we never saw him again.
Of course you can want to win too much as well as too little. I think this often lies behind behaviours that we commonly label Analysis Paralysis (AP). You want to win so intensely that you are prepared to spend as much time as it takes to optimize your turn, regardless of the boredom and frustration this inflicts on the other players. I experienced this just the other day at my local club – the culprit's turns were taking longer then the other three of us combined. This sort of thing is just as much a violation of the social contract as not tryig to win at all, and in my experience it is more common. I will certainly go out of my way to avoid this opponent in future.
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