Tuck boxes - USG vs LoS

[Rhinemaiden]

Is it just me? Are the US Games tuck boxes almost too small for the deck? When I put a deck back in its box it's a tussle between cards and flaps to keep the cards from being bent.

LoS boxes seem a bit bigger than the decks, a little more wiggle room, no problem putting those decks back in their boxes.

Anyone else care to comment about tuck boxes or boxes in general? Likes, dislikes?

BTW, I prefer to keep my cards in their boxes, except for the two decks I use daily - Postcard Lenormand and International Icon. The daily decks are kept in plastic zip bags.

 

[AJ]

No, you are right, most US Games boxes seem to be designed for the deck less any extra cards included.
Lo Scarabeo have been complimented many times here for their common sense boxes into which you can slide the deck without the bottom flap holding up a few cards.

US Games does have some box champions occasionally, one that comes to mind is Kris Waldherr's Lovers Path Tarot, gorgeous presentation.
Another wonderful presentation box is Llewllyn's The Shakespeare Oracle (which is really a tarot). Llewellyn gets a lot of slagging for the unsupported empty spaces in their standard boxed sets which create crushed corners and bent sides.

And I've passed up a ton of trade/sales here because the decks no longer have their boxes.

 

[gregory]

US Games boxes are AWFUL; the LWBs NEVER fit without really careful smooshing between cards. LoS ones are very good indeed - not least -as AJ says - because of their bottoms, with no flaps. And their ones for sets, with the magnetic closures, are the best boxes there ARE, IMHO. Fournier tuck boxes are a bit small, too.

Llewellyn big boxes are awful, though it is nice that they have stopped including the bags that fell apart the minute you put the cards in them - I never saw the point of those. Those big boxes ALWAYS get damaged in the mail. You'd think - the number they must have had to replace (there are threads) that they would get the idea - I even took it up with a member of their staff and directed her to a thread- but they wouldn't listen ! I agree that they have put out some individual good ones. Schiffer have made many that fall open and hurl cards all over the room - and designed with no spare space AT ALL, so that you cannot even add a bag to stop them doing that.

 

[Morwenna]

I think I have an idea for the too-large Llewellyn boxes (especially since the box in the Llewellyn Tarot itself is printed fancy and not plain white): put the deck inside a bag of your choice, even a heavy knitted one, then put the whole thing into the box! So everything can go on the shelf and stand upright, and inside would be your prettily-covered deck.

Or you can make a lot of notes about the deck and keep the papers inside the box with the deck.

Waste not, want not.

 

[Bhavana]

AJ, wow, I love your new avatar!!

I don't see much difference between the different publisher's tuck boxes - however, I prefer the deck to fit more snugly. I keep the cards in the tuck boxes if the deck comes with one, and if not, i use tarot bags or plastic index card boxes. I don't have many bags, though. Just what I have picked up at different stores, none them official tarot bags.

 

[gregory]

I think I have an idea for the too-large Llewellyn boxes (especially since the box in the Llewellyn Tarot itself is printed fancy and not plain white): put the deck inside a bag of your choice, even a heavy knitted one, then put the whole thing into the box! So everything can go on the shelf and stand upright, and inside would be your prettily-covered deck.

Or you can make a lot of notes about the deck and keep the papers inside the box with the deck.

Waste not, want not.

That assumes the box survived in the mail. I have even had them discounted in STORES where they had got damaged in transit...

 

[jackdaw*]

LS are the best boxes, certainly. Worse: a toss-up between those useless Llewellyn ones and the awful Magic Realist ones that are a tight tight squeeze even without extra cards or LWB, and STILL crease the g.d. cards.

 

[Morwenna]

I always felt the USG boxes fit awfully tightly, but not sideways, thickwise. It's a wrench to get the LWB back in, or to get the cards in without crumpling the LWB. (Yes, I save them; compulsive--nah... ) I don't know if they're different lately; I seldom buy decks now.

 

[alesia]

When I started with the tarot ten years ago, my first decks were all made by US Games. I developed a very particular method of putting them back in their boxes because the darn things were just so fiddly.

My first Lo Scarabeo deck included, much like the prize at the bottom of a box of Cracker Jacks, the revelation of how a tuck box ought to work. I still follow my standard tarot putting-away protocol, but without the mumbled cussing.

 

[Laura Borealis]

AJ, wow, I love your new avatar!!

Seconded! It's lovely.

If I have a tight-fitting box, I just don't put the LWB in. Though that is probably how I lost a couple LWBs...