Got the new printing about six months ago and the cards feel way thinner than my older copy. They're bending super easily during shuffling and some of them already have visible creases. Is this just me noticing it more or has the manufacturing actually gotten worse?
Hard to blame the manufacturing alone without ruling out storage and humidity - I keep mine in a card box with silica packs and they stay flat, but if they're just loose in the game box with the insert pressing down, any stock will start curling and creasing. That said, if you're comparing side-by-side and the newer cards genuinely feel thinner when you riffle them, that's worth documenting with photos and reaching out to the publisher about, since they sometimes swap suppliers and don't always announce it.
You're not alone with this one. A lot of people have complained about the newer printings feeling flimsy compared to earlier versions. Board game manufacturers do sometimes cut corners on card stock to reduce costs, and Splendor has had multiple reprints over the years with varying quality. The thinner cards are definitely real, and honestly it's frustrating when you're paying the same price for a product that feels cheaper.
The creasing issue is particularly annoying because it damages the cards pretty quickly during normal play. You might want to try being gentler with shuffling - maybe do more of a riffle shuffle with a smaller portion of the deck at a time rather than one big shuffle, or look into getting some card sleeves if you don't already use them. Sleeves would protect them and probably make shuffling easier too. If the cards are legitimately damaged after just six months of casual play, that's worth contacting the publisher about since it suggests a real manufacturing defect rather than just wear and tear.
The thinner stock is real - it's been a consistent complaint across different board game forums since that printing run. One thing worth checking though: if you're storing them upright in the box without any support, thinner cards will naturally bow and crease faster just from gravity and humidity shifts. Try keeping them flat or using card dividers to minimize that pressure. That said, if they're creasing even during normal shuffling, that's genuinely poor quality control on the manufacturer's part, and it might be worth reaching out to customer service with photos. Some companies will replace damaged stock if you contact them directly.
I've noticed the same thing with my copy. The card stock definitely feels different, and honestly I'm pretty careful with my games so I don't think it's just how I'm handling them. What might help though is looking at when exactly your printing came out - there's sometimes a gap between when a game ships to different regions, and suppliers might use different manufacturers for different batches. So a "new printing from six months ago" could actually be sourced from whoever was cheapest that quarter.
One thing that might buy you some time: sleeve them. It sounds annoying, but card sleeves will take most of the stress off the base stock, especially during shuffling. That's probably your best bet if you want to keep playing without worrying about them falling apart. You could also reach out to the publisher directly with photos - some of them do care about quality complaints and might send replacements if the batch was genuinely subpar, though no guarantees there.
Don't shuffle them aggressively or store them standing upright in the box without support - that's asking for creases regardless of quality. But yeah, the manufacturing complaints about recent printings sound legit based on what people are reporting across forums. If you want to protect them, sleeves are genuinely your best bet here, and honestly they're cheap enough that it might be worth just doing it rather than gambling on whether your deck stays mint.
This sounds like a real problem and not just perception. I grabbed a copy from a few years back and compared it side-by-side with a friend's recent one, and the difference is pretty noticeable - the newer cards do feel thinner and more flexible. When I shuffle mine now, I'm way more conscious of not bending them compared to before.
That said, storage might be making it worse for you. Are you keeping them in the original box, or do you have them in sleeves? The way cards are stored really does matter, especially with thinner stock. Humidity and temperature swings can warp them faster too. If you're shuffling them regularly without sleeves and storing them in a regular game box, that's gonna show wear pretty quickly on flimsy cardboard. Worth checking if the creases appeared during play or if they were already there when you opened it. If they came that way from the factory, that's a different complaint than degradation from use.
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