As one of the two major categories of board games, although card do not have as early a development history as dice, its status in modern board games cannot be underestimated. According to legend, the earliest card game came from China. During the late Qin Dynasty in around 200 BC, the general Han Xin invented a card game in order to alleviate the homesickness of his soldiers. Because the card surface is only the size of a leaf, it is called "leaf play", also called "leaf card". Its gameplay algorithm is similar to Mahjong. And now many people's first impression of board games is various types of cards. They can be divided into various types, including utility cards, class cards, battle cards, and more.
In modern board games, cards are even more common. Especially in Brettspiel, there will be many types of board games that are mainly driven by cards. In addition, there are some games with card building elements, called Deck Building Game (DBG). It means that there is a public library. Usually, players have their own initial cards at the beginning, and then obtain cards from the public library through exploration, purchase, etc., to trigger events or strengthen themselves. There are two common types of deck building games. One is TCG. Each card expansion pack is random, and each player forms his own set of cards by collecting. Then play against each other with their own decks, but if you want to get strong cards, you need to unpack multiple times. The other is LCG. Each card expansion pack is fixed, so the cards are equal to everyone. For this type of card game, as long as you buy it, you can get all its cards.
With the integration of the world's diversification, card board games are no longer simply done with cards like "poker cards" and "leaf cards", but also add dice, plastic tokens and other content. At the same time, cards also began to merge with electronic games, such as the earliest electronic card game "Dungeon and Dragon". But with the endless emergence of various RPG video games, card games are more designed as board games. And now more cards are no longer just a game tool, but a kind of collectible.
Since well-designed and high-quality cards can greatly enhance the customer's gaming experience, some designs of modern board game cards are constantly developing towards the refinement of patterns and repeatability of use. In order to meet the needs of customers, the types of cards that Eastar can make are also differentiated in terms of material, size, and craftsmanship. Generally, in order to ensure the thickness and hardness of the card material, as well as increase the service life, most of the card will use 350gsm C2S. If you want a thinner card, you can choose 300gsm or 280gsm thick paper. From the type of material, it can be divided into C2S, black core paper, blue core paper, and grey core paper and other types. Among them, German black core paper is considered to be the highest quality material, also the most expensive. If you have very high requirements for card quality, it will be the most suitable choice. In addition to the material of the card, the size of the card is also optional, of which there are three standard used: 63x88mm (international size), 63.5x88.9mm (American poker size), 57x87mm (domestic size). Choosing these three regular size cards can better shorten the production cycle, and of course Eastar can customize the size you need. In addition, the rounded corners of the card can also be made according to the needs. The most commonly used is the R3 corner, which is an arc with each corner forming a quarter of the radius of 3mm. Similarly, the corners of R4 and R5 will also be used.
In addition to the material and size of the custom card, if you want to make a complete card, good mechanical equipment and craftsmanship are indispensable. First of all, in order to ensure that the corners of each card are flat and the size is accurate, Eastar has introduced a new card die-cutting machine. It can produce cards through two paths, which greatly improves the card production efficiency. And the fixed bleeding line also ensures the integrity of the final card pattern. The second is printing. The effect of printing is to finally achieve the degree of design drawing. In card printing, color correction is a key preparatory work before printing. Especially for many dark and gradient cards, such as the cards in Nemesis, Assassin. For large block colors, Eastar will use PMS Colors (Pantone Matching System) for color matching between print runs and extensions. The last and most important is a series of processes after printing, including powder pressing, oiling and embossing. These processes are to ensure that the pattern of the board game cards is fixed and increase its service life. After all, for board game cards, they need to be used repeatedly in the game, causing friction of the cards. The polishing of the card is also divided into two types: bright oil and matte oil, which will be arranged according to different situations.
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