What a difference it would make...

What a difference it would make if the design of, for instance, all US Games Systems Inc. Tarot cardboard boxes were folded the same way as the boxes of Lo Scarabeo decks!

I get so frustrated at the difficulty of closing most Tarot deck cardboard boxes without catching and potentially slightly damaging either a card or the LWB that gets caught in the fold-in flap at the base of the box. And after a few uses, these boxes seem to get more and more difficult to close without damaging the contents.

Using a different deck each day for writing a daily blog has really brought home to me the unnecessary difficulty and damage caused by this poor design of most cardboard Tarot boxes. If Lo Scarabeo can get their boxes so right, why can't all the other Tarot deck publishers do the same?

The J.C Flornoy restoration of the Jean Noblet Tarot I've just used has incorporated a top flap that turns further back than usual, so one more easily stack the LWB in behind, and more easily remove it, which is a part solution.

But Lo Scarabeo have got it absolutely right, with different types of folding for the top and bottom of their cardboard boxes. The cards and LWB remain undamaged, and the box remains in better condition too.

I wrote a thread about this a couple of years ago, and still nothing has changed. Does anyone else here think something should be done about this? Too late for all the decks I already have, but why not change the box design for the better for all future Tarot decks?

*Z*

I didn't realize how much of a difference boxes made to people in general 0__o

then again, all my tarot boxes live in drawer or in my closet at my parents', sadly empty. my relationship with boxes is take cards out, put in bag, ignore box thereafter. i only keep em because i am a packrat and in case i ever want to sell/trade to someone who cares...

dunno, keeping decks in boxes feels unnatural to me personally; almost as if they'd never properly left the store...

I always put the LWB to the inside of the box so that the card edges are next top where the flap goes. A tiny squeeze of the box lets me slide the flap right in. Never have had a problem with damaged cards or LWB. I have a tiny problem with US Games boxes holding onto one card after the deck is removed. Just have to check the box every time. Otherwise, I'll agree that LoS boxes work pretty well.

Perhaps I should explain that my most loved deck of Tarot cards are removed from their cardboard box, which sits empty, and those cards live in my 'best' velvet Tarot bag.

I have a number of other decks though, and they remain in their boxes, and about half of those boxes of cards are also kept in individual Tarot bags. I use one of these decks every day, in a sort of rotation which involves about half of them.

It is interesting that the design of the cardboard Tarot boxes is not so much of an issue for others these days.

*Z*

Even worse is those sets where you get one large box with a scooped out place for cards and book. Utterly useless they are.
I wish all decks would come in that box with a lid like a chest that Bohemian Gothic has. But yeah, the LoS boxes are decent at least.
I got about half my decks in boxes and half in bags depending on how they came or any arbitrary reason really. I find it frustrating to look for a deck in a bag, unless it is really old and lived in that bag for 10+ years.

wait, there are people who keep their decks in the boxes?

When I get a new deck, it comes straight out of the box and gets wrapped in a bandanna- I have a basket full of bandanna wrapped decks. The only decks I keep in their boxes are the Quantums (or is it Quanta? I have both editions) and the Xultun, which came in sturdy, suitable for display boxes with lids, no tops with flaps (IIRC, the Aquarian Tarot comes in a lidded box as well). The rest of my boxes get tossed into a drawer.

Actually, it's probably a good thing most Tarot decks come in cheap flap-top boxes. I just don't have the space to have a lot of decks in nice boxes sitting around on my shelves, and I don't like the idea of my decks being stuck in drawers waiting to be taken out. They're sort of on display in their bandannas on top of my computer desk hutch, waiting their turns.

lol yeah that with the bandana sounds nifty, but wait until you get up to about 100 decks.
or 1000 as some here have. That is a lot of bandanas!

Yes yes yes - the Lo Scarabeo boxes are wonderful. So much better for the cards too - no snagging the edges on escaped flaps of cardboard.This has been pointed out to USG at times. The effect has been - negligible.

As for Llewellyn's MASSIVE smooshable boxes with cards flailing around in the vacant space inside....

I too find the US Games boxes annoying, although removing the LWBs (which I rarely refer to anyhow) makes them a little easier to use. The LoS boxes are an improvement, but still require some care in tucking the flap back in not to crunch a card. Again, removing the LWB helps. A third option, which I like much better, is a front-opening tuck box, like the box for the Rosetta tarot. It takes a bit more cardboard, but uses the same thin stock as a standard tuck box so unlike the BoGo box ought to be close in cost.

jema, I don't think I'll ever have more than a couple dozen decks. Right now, I have seventeen decks wrapped in bandannas, and I can identify each one by the bandanna it's wrapped in. This situation my change when the bandanna my Hermetic Tarot is wrapped in gets some wear on it, though. Both it and my Archeon Tarot are wrapped in black bandannas- the Hermetic in a new one, the Archeon in a battered old one that I found in the street. (I tried to give the Archeon a new bandanna, but it refused. It likes the lived-in look.)