am I the only one?

[Abrac]

I don't like it either. It makes the cards look cheap and cheesy. I won't buy a deck if I know it's heavily coated like that. It does make the cards stronger I guess, but a good card stock doesn't need that much coating anyway. I don't know, but I'm wagering it improves the manufacturer's bottom line somehow.

fools_fool

 

[Sophie]

I don't believe it makes the cards stronger. It gets tatty. I have just acquired cards that are 35 years old & had been used. The cardstock is unlaminated & has lovely satin finish. The cards are in perfect state. I doubt this ghastly smelly new lamination that US Games are using now is going to last that long. But it could be good for kids who like glue-sniffing, as it seems to have the same effect. A form of luxury transgression.

 

[lark]

It seemed to happen when they switched from having their cards printed in Belguim to having them printed in China.

 

[Apollonia]

So this must be why my Goddess Tarot smelled so bad. I tried airing it out, and then I tried keeping it in the incense jar, but after a year I finally just gave it away. It was a gross, chemical smell that made me feel I was probably giving myself either a lung or liver ailment every time I tried to read with it. I sure hope the factory has a good air exchange system.

 

[Annabelle]

You know, I hadn't even noticed this yet. Well, except for the Goddess tarot - I was disappointed at how sticky and smelly that deck was. But as for other newer US Games decks, I haven't noticed any unusual stickiness or odors. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention? Or maybe I have decks by so many different publishers that I wasn't paying attention to the fact that my "sticky" decks happened to be US Games decks.

In any event, I've come to expect better quality than that from US Games. Now all of you have me curious . . . I'm going to have to go home and check all my decks from them to see if they are sticky or not....