What Size Card Sleeves for Pokémon Cards?
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By: Oliver Copeland
- Published:
- Last Updated: December 2, 2023
So you’ve decided to purchase some sleeves for your cards, great! Let me guess, you searched Amazon but don’t know what size to choose. No problem, we’re going to cover sleeve size in-depth, and everything else!
Pokémon cards are the standard trading card size of 2.5 x 3.5 inches or 6.3 x 8.9 centimeters, and 35pt. This means that any sleeve size of 2.5” X 3.5” or larger, will fit.
Why sleeve your cards?
Sleeves protect a trading card from various dangers such as light scratches, scuffs, edge wear, corner damage, whitening, and more. Condition is the most important factor when it comes to value, so preserving a mint card is critical.
It is so important to sleeve the cards that you care about. It is the most basic and efficient way to care for your cards. If you keep your cards in a binder, on display, or anywhere else, they should first be sleeved!
If you one day choose to sell some cards, having them sleeved is the ideal first impression you want to make upon the buyer. If the buyer sees that you have not sleeved your cards, they might back out of the deal before it is even started. Unsleeved cards are indicative of poor collecting practice, and an uneducated collector.
How big is a Pokémon card?
What size card sleeves for Pokémon cards?
The size of a Pokémon card is 2.5” X 3.5”, which means that any sleeve of that size or greater, will fit a Pokémon card.
But which size is best?
Standard
It comes down to personal preference. A standard-size card sleeve is 2.5/8 “ X 3.5/8”. This will leave a small margin of space on either side and above the card. This is also the size of sleeves that come in Elite Trainer Boxes.
Check the price on Amazon.
Slim
If you want a snug fit on your card or a perfect fit, there are 2.5” X 3.5” sleeves. These are a tight fit over your cards, but not tight enough to bend them. If you want to find these, they are often referred to as ‘perfect fit’, ‘slim fit’, or ‘pro fit’ sleeves. These are great for sleeving a card before inserting it into a binder, screw-down, or magnetic holder.
Check the price on Amazon.
Double-sleeving
Some collectors like to double-sleeve their cards.
Sleeving your card before inserting it into a top loader, card saver, or binder, is not double sleeving and would be considered standard practice. Click here to learn the differences between a top loader and a card saver.
Double-sleeving is using two sleeves on one card. In this case, you’ll want to begin with a 2.5” X 3.5” sleeve and insert that into a 2.⅝” X 3.⅝” sleeve.
Jumbo card sleeves
We have a whole article on properly storing your jumbo cards, click here!
There are sleeves available for oversized cards, and they are 5.4″ x 7.5”. There are also top loaders for jumbo cards! These are 5” X 7” or larger if you can find them.
Top loaders
Top loaders are basically rigid sleeves that are 3” X 4”. It is common to sleeve a card, and then insert it into a top loader. If you insert a raw card into a top loader, it will slide around and possibly cause scuffs. For this reason, all cards inserted into top loaders must be sleeved.
Here are the top loaders that we recommend.
Final thoughts
There are many sleeve sizes because there are many different-sized trading cards. Thankfully, Pokémon cards are the standard trading card size, so most sleeves will fit! But there is more to it. Some collectors prefer perfect-fit sleeves. Some like to double-sleeve, and some like custom sleeves! Whatever your preference is, make sure you sleeve no card behind.
