Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Really? All you need are some yard-sale-style circle stickers, tape, or even the cactus produced stickers mentioned earlier. You just stick it to the outside-front of the sleeve and you're good to go with little cost and no ruining of sleeves. It's certainly no more of a hardship or a financial burden than cactus requiring sleeves at tournaments in the first place...

You'll note that Cactus did not require sleeves previously, even when TexP cards were obviously bent differently in decks.  It was only mandated when the new cards (from a new manufacturer) were different sizes, and it was impossible not to see the difference.  When there was an option, it was not required.

Further, stickers and tape can be problematic for the reasons mentioned above (it can ruin the sleeves) and also because it makes the cards thicker (thus tougher to stack/shuffle) while leaving options to 'mark' cards with slight offset stickers.

And if we really like MJB's idea we can just include the sticker sheets as a resource for tournament hosts and the costs of printing the sheets can be added to the tournament costs. That way the stickers can be applied at the tournament before deck check-in and no one is even really inconvenienced.

There should not be more costs added to tournaments where it can be avoided.  And they still would be inconvenienced by being required to buy another product (again, sleeves were only required once it was impossible to play without them) and ruin sleeves.

Quote from: Drrek on June 20, 2015, 03:44:01 AM

Quote from: Soundman2 on June 20, 2015, 12:08:16 AM

Quote from: Lamborghini_diablo on June 19, 2015, 10:15:15 PM

I feel that honestly, it's too late into the game to make any changes to correct this. You can't reprint 2,000+ cards, you can't force your opponent to mark their cards, the most you could really do is just do something to identify your own cards.

You don't have to reprint all 2,000+. Just the ones that are used the most often

That's still pretty unfeasible at this point.

Agreed.  That would make us have to make a distinction of what older cards are "usable" and what cards are not.  It would require us to make the largest single set ever made, which also means no new cards.  It would have us reprint existing versions of cards instead of giving them updates and a facelift.  It would also make existing copies unusable (or the project is meaningless if old copies still get used), which we don't want regardless.  Reprinting the existing cards is not an option.

As far as marking sleeves, I don't believe that Cactus should be mandating such a thing, as that more or less ruins sleeves in the long run, particularly when you switch decks.  People who play with someone who needs the visual reminders could certainly adjust how they present their cards to be inclusive, but I'm not sure that Cactus has a way to force it feasibly across the board.

There is another option: Other card games have had to deal with similar issues: You Errata old card to add the "Brigade" Icon (it would be assumed). No need to reprint them, BUT if the Elders should choose to reprint an older card that is relevant to the current set being printed, it would then be reprinted with the Brigade Icon. Basically, cards printed forward would have the symbol and old cards would assume the symbol.If a player plays the old card without the symbol or the new card with the symbol, they would function the same way. Most players are used to this type of fix in tcgs due to the impossible task of having to reprint cards every time development make the game "better."

There would need to be a section added in the REG (as there would be anyway to deal with the icons) that essential said: Older cards were not printed with a Brigade Icon, but now assumed to have them. You can look up older cards on the official "Complete List" at Cactus Game to see what the icon would have been if it were printed in a modern set; the color behind the cross/dragon/skull/bible should be helpful visual clues to that official list.

I really like the idea of doing something specific per brigade (even if it is simply written on the card), I have an old Gold King of Tyrus and a new Orange King of Tyrus where the gold inking was really dark and the orange was lighter, they just about look to be the same brigade. I would guess if a person had any pigment handicaps it would be very frustrating. I think it's a strong positive if a cards brigade was clear even if it was printed in black and white (because printers can make errors in pigments).