History
In 1995, the Ultra Pro company released the first card sleeves designed specifically for collectible card games, which they called deck protectors. Deck protectors were a tougher and more uniform version of traditional card sleeves, made of polypropylene, and specifically designed to snugly fit traditional cards. The first deck protectors were clear, but soon after, deck protectors were offered with opaque black backs, which would obscure the actual back of the card, allowing worn cards to be used without "marking" the deck. Other colors soon followed, and now a wide variety of deck protectors are available in many colors, and even with images on the back.
Today, players can get card sleeves specifically designed for other trading card games like Yu-Gi-Oh!. With the popularity of card games in other countries, other companies such as Players' Choice, Dragon Shield, and Armor Shield have started making their own sleeves.
With the increasing popularity of board games such as Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Dominion, Mayday Games launched card sleeves specifically for board games in 2008. These card sleeves are now offered in six sizes and two thicknesses for over 500 board games. In 2009 Fantasy Flight Games also entered the board-game card sleeve market with a line of premium thickness sleeves of its own.
Read more about this topic: Card Sleeve
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