Cards appearance issue in Pathfinder Adventure Card Game


Customer Service


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A few months ago I purchased (on Amazon) a copy of Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.
After having enjoyed the first Adventure deck (included with the Base set), I also bought (again on Amazon) the second and third adventure deck to go ahead in the next scenarios of the story.
Big surprise, when I opened Skinsaw Murders and started shuffling the new cards with the Base set, I realized the new cards are different!
The back of the cards is noticeably darker than in the base set, see photo of shuffled cards, the new cards are clearly recognizable among the lighter ones of the base set: photo 1.

On top of this, also the size of the cards is slightly different, so they stand out a bit when together, see photo: photo 2.

Even though it's a collaborative game, the fact that the new cards are clearly recognizable gives away a lot of unintended information during the game (quite easy to guess where the villain and henchmen are!), so the game is completely spoiled!
I also checked the third deck (Hook Mountain Massacre), and it shows the same darker backs of the second, see photo (the new deck, on the right, is still in its package): photo 3.

Now I guess that the problem is with the Base set, so any following Adventure deck will be different than the Base cards.
Whatever the problem is, we cannot play with different cards!

Is anybody encountering the same issue?
Who can help here?

Grand Lodge

Rise of the Runelords had 2 different printings with 2 different printers. Likely you got copies from both printings.


Thanks Andrew, I figured something like that.
I purchased the Base box and adventure expansions from Amazon, I could not know about the different prints, and there is no way to know which copy is which.
IMHO, it's not acceptable for a card game to have two different copies in circulation, with no means to differentiate between them when purchasing.

What should I do now? It's impossible to play without bias.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

You can determine which copy is which by looking at the box: The first printing says "Printed in China" and the Adventure Deck box opens on the top. The second printing says "Printed in the USA" and the Adventure Deck box opens on the side.

I recommend getting in touch with Amazon to see if they're willing to take back the product and give you a refund since it is the wrong printing (I recommend returning the first printing cards myself, as the 2nd printing has updated wording and matches cards from future sets and the class decks plus will be significantly easier to obtain). If Amazon doesn't tell you which printing a particular adventure deck is, consider picking up the rest from paizo.com where you are guaranteed to get the 2nd printing.

Another alternative is to simply sleeve the cards with opaque-back sleeves for the single-sided cards. This will likely run you at least another $100 though, perhaps more depending on where you live. They do greatly increase the longevity of the cards, however, and make them more resilient to accidents such as spilled drinks.

If Amazon is unwilling to work with you, a third option is to wait until Monday for Customer Service to be back in the office and see if they're willing/able to do anything to assist you. I know they generally prefer that you try to work things out with the merchant first before stepping in, but CS has some pretty awesome people so if things don't work out I wouldn't be surprised if they can come up with something :)

Customer Service Representative

Hello Paesibassi,

As the others have mentioned it sounds like you have Adventure Decks from a different printing than your Base Set. Since you purchased them through Amazon your will want to contact them to see if they will exchange them for you.

There are a few ways to check which printing something belongs to. As Skizzers above mentioned, the small print on the back of the box should say either "Printed in China" or "Printed in USA". The US (second) printing side loads, while the Chinese (first) printing loads from the top. Lastly, the shelf hangar on the US printing is quite a bit larger than it is on the Chinese printing. It sounds like your Base Set is the second printing so if you look at the Burnt Offerings box that was in it you should be able to see the difference in the size of its shelf hangar versus the ones on the two Adventure Decks.

There are a few reasons why a retailer may still have some of the first printings in stock. One is that retailers don't usually cycle products by date when stocking them like they would with perishable items like milk. So some retailers may still have decks from their original orders. Our stock of new decks is entirely second printing and we have not sent first printings into circulation since the second printing. Non-mint copies from us can be either though, so when purchasing a non-mint copy it doesn't hurt to email us to let us know which printing you need.


Hello,

Thank you for your replies!

I contacted Amazon.de asking for a return of the two boxes, although I am not sure if they will accept to refund me. I purchased them a few months ago already, but shuffled the cards only recently, after having finished the Burnt Offerings; for this reason, I didn't realized until now about the difference (honestly, didn't expect any!).
Of course the box has been opened and the cards are outside packaging...

I also checked the item description on their website, and the print version is not mentioned anywhere. Even now that I know what to look for (little print in the back saying "China" or "USA"), the product images don't show that information. Even worse, the shelf hangar looks like it's the longer version (as in second print): http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1601255624
All in all, no way to tell which is which.

This is an serious issue, though. I didn't know nor read about this in any product description, and many people like me will buy from other retailers - and not even talking about small or obscure ones.
Cards from different prints are not playable together.
I understand it is mainly an issue with retailers stock, but I would at least try to make this clearly known to people, so they don't get into the same issue.

I will let you know what Amazon replies to my inquiry.

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