Mini-review of JCD piecepack from Blue Panther

[Ben Finney <ben+yahoogroups@...>]

Howdy all,

Today I received my order from Blue Panther of two JCD piecepack sets
<URL:http://www.bluepantherllc.com/JCDPiecepack.htm>. I ordered one
each of Set 1 (original piecepack suits) and Set 3 (four seasons
suits). Both were in birch plywood.


Pros:

* Steve from Blue Panther was very polite and helpful, even patient
  with some (still-unidentified) intermittent problem with email
  transport between us.

* Despite that, the order arrived promptly: less than 2 weeks from USA
  to Australia by standard post, including manufacture time I assume.

* The pieces are *gorgeous*. JCD's designs are crisp and distinctive,
  and the laser etching makes them spring out clearly from the warm
  wood.

* The size is right. From close-up shots taken by other fans, I
  overestimated the size of the pieces; they're smaller and thinner
  than I expected. Which, once I played with them, was a good thing:
  they're very well sized for game pieces. Yet they still have enough
  weight to not feel flimsy.

* The pawns have a distinctive "front" (the suit symbol against a dark
  background), while having the symbol again on the reverse side so a
  pawn's suit can be identified from all sides.

* The rounded corners of the tiles are very friendly to handle, I'm
  glad I chose this shape rather than the square-corner shape of the
  oak sets.

* The wooden box is generously sized: getting the pieces back in after
  a game is less "play the packing game" and more "toss everything in
  freely". Yet since the pieces aren't chunky, the box is still a
  small manageable size.

* The box lid is personalised with the name of the buyer. (I presume
  one can request a different personalisation if buying for someone
  else.)

* The box body, tiles, and coins are coated with some kind of finish
  that appears water resistant, giving confidence that they'll stand
  up to environmental hazards of play.


Cons:

* The box lid, pawns, and dice are (AFAICT) *not* coated like the
  rest, leaving them unprotected from stains or liquid.

* The wood surface on the box and tiles feels rough, and catches on
  the fabric of our tablecloth; it may even shed splinters in time.

* The laser etching caused mild discolouration in some areas adjacent
  to the graphic. I find this somewhat unattractive, but acceptable
  given the alternative of ink bleeding into the wood from some
  printing process.

* Dings and varnish blobs on a few of the tiles backs, rendering them
  easily distinguishable to players.

* Registration problems on the coins and dice. The tiles are well
  aligned on both sides; the coin backs are also fine, but the faces
  (number sides) of the coins and faces of the dice have erratic
  registration. This could be a problem for the coins, if games
  require identical number faces to be indistinguishable.

* Some of the die faces (the 2s on Set 1's dice; the 2s and 5s on Set
  3's dice) had graphics significantly smaller than the other faces on
  the same die. This inconsistency is irritating.

* The box lid fits snugly, like a puzzle piece, but not securely. It
  would need to be secured by a strap or the like if it were to be
  transported anywhere. (This isn't a flaw, more a design issue; it
  works fine for what it is.)


Overall, I'm pleased with this purchase: I have two solid, attractive
piecepacks for my game nights. If I could get some resolution on the
manufacturing issues, I would be very happy, and would then find it
necessary to buy some more sets as as a gift for friends :-)

-- 
 &#92;       "It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do |
  `&#92;       is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument |
_o__)                     will play itself."  -- Johann Sebastian Bach |
Ben Finney