Author Topic: Quality of Südsee (Read 3206 times)

Christianmocking · « **on:** July 10, 2017, 09:34:49 AM »

I bought this game from HIG, but the quality of this box is really poor. Especially when compared with Amazone. Check it out and let me know if you have the same issue. Thanks!

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=3465.0

oosie · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2017, 06:25:23 AM »

Both my copies are from 999 Games. They look fine to me:

Maybe a HiG specific issue?

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Decar · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2017, 06:38:43 AM »

Your South Seas looks like it has a similar printing issue seen in my Z-man edition recently (see other thread).
I wonder if it's simply down to ink/printer used for the production run.

Are your South Seas tilers rougher to touch, than other HiG tiles?

Christianmocking · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2017, 09:53:26 AM »

I wrote Cundco, this is what they said:
"this is very funny because the lines you are referring to as a indicator for low quality in reality is exactly the opposite. On these you can see that the print is on high quality linen paper. Which is the exact opposite of the carton colored prints you get by purchasing chines quality.".

Seems a good thing after all. Nevertheless the non-linnen tiles are more coulourfull....

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dirk2112 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2017, 10:22:11 AM »

You can see mine below. The lines are pronounced in the light blue. It almost looks like South Seas was paintbrushed.
I have the 2013 ZMan version

I don't know about tile quality, but South Seas is the better game.

Decar · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2017, 12:06:51 PM »

I didn't realize you were concerned about the linen finish.

The linen finish is a brilliant misnomer about quality of card production.

During the production of paper, linen fabric used to be added to make the resulting material stronger. Consequently, the price was so much higher, it's not actually feasible to use the method any more.

Modern games with linen finish use an embossing technique to shape the card to give the effect of a 'linen-finish', but the resulting paper is only as strong as its density.

There are some benefits of a linen-finish though, especially for Carcassonne. Firstly, a smooth surface is much easier to damage, or flake printed-ink from. The embossing does offer some protection to scuffing (a crumple-zone of sorts). Another benefit comes from stacking the tiles. All the games I've played with smooth tiles are significantly harder to stack, the tiles are much more susceptible to fall down if they are knocked the table is bumped. The linen-finish seems to provide a higher level of friction to stop the tiles moving about so freely; probably because both sides of the tiles are embossed.

Also, don't forget that in 2015 Hans im Glueck decided to change the production methods of tiles. It's more than likely South Sea was printed using the old technique, and obviously Amazonas will be using the latest. I reported on this issue here.

Hproctor1478 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 16, 2017, 08:23:11 AM »

My South Seas also has the linen finish. I just got my copy of Amazonas yesterday and the finish is flat. I agree the Amazonas has a sharper image with more vibrant color, but the South Seas on mine seems to have a higher quality tile. I love them both, but the flat tiles the more you use them it seems like the edges of the color really start to flake off. The linen like ones seem to be more durable.

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