Gamegenic Essentials Line Showcase Part 1

In 2019, the Asmodee Group launched a new studio, Gamegenic (Gamegen!c) to produce tabletop gaming accessories. Their deck boxes, card sleeves, playmats, and card binders are mainly aimed at collectible card games (CCGs), but can also be used for roleplaying games, board games or wargaming products that also have a large amount of card, dice, and token components. Launching this month is the Gamegenic Essentials Line and in this first article, we're going to look at the new Deck Boxes, Card Binders, and Pocket Pages. In our next article, we'll look at the new sleeves and playmats from the Essentials Line.

You can buy all your game sleeves and accessories from our Tabletop Sponsor, Firestorm Games.

Gamegenic Deck Boxes

Gamegenic split their Deck Boxes into 2 types, Premium and Casual. The Premium products have better protection with quality materials inside and out. The Casual products are designed to be more cost-effective, but still offering great protection for your gaming items.

Gamegenic Premium Deck Boxes

Gamegenic has 5 Premium deck boxes available, and they scale up in size. All of the Premium deck boxes are made with the same materials, a nexofyber surface and a microfiber inner lining. This gives all the deck boxes a robust and durable outer surface and a soft inner protective lining. All 5 of the boxes are hard wearing and took a few knocks and drops during our testing without spilling their contents everywhere or showing signs of wear. The Premium Deck Boxes all have removable lids, which can be changed with lids of matching box types to create color combinations to suit your own style. All of the lids are held in place with magnets, which are very secure when both points of contact on the lids are connected. We roughed around the boxes in backpacks as well as dropping and the lids remained secure throughout. The deck boxes are optimized for Gamegenic sleeves, which we'll discuss later in the article.

Sidekick 100+ / Squire 100+

The Sidekick and Squire deck boxes have the same features but are differentiated by how they hold the cards. The Sidekick holds 100 double-sleeved cards in landscape (sideways) and the Squire holds 100 double-sleeved cards in portrait (upright). Both have removable lids, which can be used underneath the boxes to hold them at an angle for easy drawing during play.

Watchtower 100+ / Stronghold 200+

The Stronghold and the Watchtower are deck boxes with an additional accessory drawer. The Watchtower 100+ holds 100 double-sleeved cards in a separate cardholder that fits inside the box. This removable cardholder can also be used as a card stack holder to keep your deck together on the tabletop. The Stronghold 200+ holds 200 double-sleeved cards in its 2 card drawers. On both deck boxes. the cardholders and accessory drawers are kept in with separate magnetized covers and the Stronghold covers can be used to angle the deck box to a tilt that suits your needs.

Dungeon 1100+

The Dungeon 1100+ can be used to store a huge amount of double-sleeved cards, but it is optimized to carry Gamegenic deck boxes. There are 2 storage rows, in which 5 Squires or 5 Sidekicks fit very snugly. It can also carry 2 Watchtowers per row, with some space for additional boxes or individual cards. It can also be used to carry playmats and Gamegenic Casual Deck Boxes, but the fit isn't as snug as it is with the Premium Boxes.

Gamegenic Casual Deck Boxes

Gamegenic has 6 Casual Deck Boxes available in different sizes. Where the Premium Products are made from premium materials, the casual products are designed to get the job done at a budget price. They might not have the same visual impact as the premium range, but the price for the casual products is outstanding and offers the same level of protection. So if you have a large collection to protect or carry, or just want a cost-effective way to protect your less valuable cards or games, then these are perfect. We like the self-customization options or being able to stick labels on the plastic or write on the available strip.

Deck Holder 80+ / Deck Holder 100+ / Side Holder 80+

The Deck Holders and Side Holders are soft plastic storage cardholders. The plastic will protect the contents from spills and scrapes, but there is some give in the box itself, so if it's not full, they won't protect against trauma. All 3 deck boxes also come with a Flex Divider to split up 2 decks, or a deck from a sideboard. The Flex Dividers have a tab that can be labeled. Flex Dividers can also be purchased separately in packs of 10.

Double Deck Holder 160+ / Triple Deck Holder 240+

The Double and Triple deck holders are made from the same material as the Deck and Side holders, but because they have 2 or 3 card holders inside, they feel slightly more durable than the single deck boxes. Both the double and triple have single lids, with removable cardholders inside to keep decks separate. They also have individual white strips on the lid so you can mark the contents of each deck holder.

Fortress 320+ 

The Fortress 320+ is one of our favorite products of the Essentials Line. The Fortress is made of solid plastic, that can take a real beating. Inside it has 3 dividers, 2 of which are removable to separate your decks between 2, 3 or 4 sections. Fortresses also stack on top of other Fortresses. Great protection, incredible price.

Gamegenic Binders and Pocket Pages

Casual Album 8-Pocket / 18-Pocket / 24-Pocket

Gamegenic offers 3 sizes of Casual Album. The names of each refer to the number of card pockets per page. The 8-Pocket has 4 card pockets on each side, so 8 Pockets total, the 18-Pocket has 9 per page and the 24-Pocket has 12. They scale up in physical size and storage, with the 8-Pocket holding 160 cards, 18-Pocket holds 360 cards and the 24-Pocket holds 480 cards. They come in a variety of colors, with 9 available for the 8-Pocket and 18-Pocket are available in 9 colors, and the 24-Pocket is available in 5. 

The album covers are a soft plastic, which will protect against spills and scratches, but they are flexible, so they won't protect against bends if not kept flat in a bag. The card pockets are all side-loading, which does keep the cards in securely regardless of the rotation of the binder.

18-Pocket Pages / 24-Pocket Pages / Ultrasonic 9-Pocket Pages

For gamers who don't want a fixed page binder, Gamegenic offers 2 binders. The Prime Ring-Binder holds the 18-Pocket and Ultrasonic 9-Pocket Pages and the Prime Playset Ring-Binder holds the 24 Pocket-Pages.

The Pocket Pages, available separately, have holes in the pages designed to fit in most ring-binders. The 18 and 24-Pocket Pages feature side-loading pockets, with a fabric backing to separate the front and back to separate the cards stored either side of the page. The Ultrasonic 9-Pocket Pages are available in side and top-loading, depending on your preference. Cards stored in the Ultrasonic pages go into the same pocket if you want them displayed front and back, which does give some wear on the back of the cards if you are taking them in and out a lot.

In our next article, we'll look at the new sleeves and playmats from the Gamegenic Essentials Line.

What do you think of the products from the Gamegenic Essentials Line? Which is your preferred deck box? Are you a side or a top loader? Let us know in the comments below.

All of the Gamegenic products used to produce this article were provided by Asmodee UK.