To sleeve or not to sleeve

[KBellon]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anybody had any experience with sleeving their Carc tiles?
And if yes, which sleeves you prefer.

I would like to use my spiel tiles, Darmstadt, Plague tiles etc. in game, but I would hate it if they would take any damage.
I don't think they will wear off as I only play each specific expansion a few times a year.

But anyways, do you think it's necessary or helpful to sleeve your tiles?

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5331.0

[Allograft]

On the positive side, sleeves protect tiles from shuffling, spilled drinks, and greasy fingers.

On the negative side, the tiles don't fit together as easily and your family will tease you.

Also, sleeves do not protect against being chewed by dogs.

I like Swan - 

[Drodo]

I ordered 3200 sleeves. Not delivered yet but they're coming. I'm using them on the whole collection. Should be enough for every single Carcassonne game I own.

[Meepledrone]

Here you are a topic covering sleeving techniques for non-square tiles, just in case you are interested...

http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=4941.0

As you can see, you can find some hard-core sleevers around. 

[Willem]

Normally, all my tiles/expansions are for playing, and as I can't be bothered to sleeve everything, sleeving for me means to take those tiles out of the running for playing.
In the beginning, I only sleeved my spiel tiles and russian promos. I've got some home-made copies of the first Russian set, which I use to play with, and the others... Ah well..

But I recently saw some expansions shoot up in prices and have been thinking about sleeving more. For some expansions I do have extra copies, so if mine become damaged, I can replace, but some I don't. But I haven't done it yet, as I want to keep playing with them, and still don't feel much for sleeving a whole set.
For the base game for example I find it pointless to sleeve; I've got over 20 (old art) base games, so why would I go through the trouble of sleeving 1 set (that is already showing signs of wear) when I like to see them being used, and I got them to play, not to look at (got other tiles for that hahahaha)

So yeah, tricky question that I'm not sure about myself, but for now I am still very selective with sleeving

[KBellon]

Thanks for the answers!

I would only sleeve the expensive expansions as well. Just in case for example The Plague gets damaged.
No idea how much it would cost in the future to buy it again.

The reason is because I did buy everything to play it and not to sit around in a closet and to look at it from time to time. It does bother me that the sleeved tiles would leave some space between the tiles.

On the other hand, I am thinking to maybe print some of the most expensive expansions and use them for playing as well. I think I might go with that, something to do this summer

Anyways, I already have some rules concerning carcassonne safety -> no drinks on the table (we got a little extra table ready for that) and no potato chips or snacks while playing :p

[KBellon]

Another question, do you actually see any damage to your tiles?

I got my basegame in 2009 and the tiles still look exactly the same as some of my newest tiles.
I can imagine maybe after 20 years some changes are visible.
However, would not mind it in the base game, you can just buy another. And most mini expansions will not be included in every game, making them wear off a lot slower I would think.

[Willem]

Yes, I can definitely see some wear on my standard play game.
Picture for comparison:


So those are a few random tiles from the base game I usually play with (BB5 game), next to one of the unpunched games I have.
You can see some wear on the tile, and I can tell by the corners/sides of the tiles as well.

These are not too bad, but I have seen a really worn out game that has seen many many plays at the board game cafe in Oxford a few years back.
It also depends a bit on how you play. We always use a bag, which leads to more wear on the tiles than a tile tower for example

[Allograft]

For the base game for example I find it pointless to sleeve

I sleeve the base game so that things fit together nicely. Do you find that sleeved and unsleeved work well during actual gameplay together? - 

[Willem]

I haven't played with any sleeved tile so far, so also haven't tried to mixed sleeved and non-sleeved.
The one thing with that is that you then can tell if you're getting a sleeved tile, and with that can predict more what tile (or at least from which expansion) you're getting, so I would expect to play with all sleeved or all non-sleeved in a game

[KBellon]

It also depends a bit on how you play. We always use a bag, which leads to more wear on the tiles than a tile tower for example

Yeah thats why I only use 2 towers to stack the tiles. And before playing we dont really slide them over each other onto the table, we just randomly place expansion tiles in between little stacks of the base game on the table and then place the stacks into the tower. All to avoid rubbing the tiles.

[Allograft]

Indeed, the bag can definitely wear the tiles. Jelly beans are polished by basically putting a whole bunch in a large front loading clothes dryer. They are spun, like shaking the bag, and the friction of the jellybeans against one another wears down edges and makes them all smooth. Great for candy. Not so good for Darmstadt. - 

[Dkmvs]

We use a bag and I’ve got it all sleeved. And I wouldn’t like to play without it. I’d definetaly recommend sleeving. Swan sleeves btw.

[Meepledrone]

I haven't sleeved my tiles yet... I shuffle them by making small stacks combining base game tiles and other expansions tiles and then mix the stacks and place them in a tower dispenser...

[Allograft]

We use a bag and I’ve got it all sleeved. And I wouldn’t like to play without it. I’d definetaly recommend sleeving. Swan sleeves btw.

Merit! for basically doing what I do -