Who are The Game Doctors (TGD)?

The Game Doctors were founded in 2015 by Marc and Falko, two friends from Berlin. Their passion for board games had led them to a second hobby: designing game inserts. After initial experiments with fretsaws, cutter knives, pins and glue, the step to laser cutting was quickly taken. After two successful Kickstarter campaigns, The Game Doctors opened their own online shop in 2018 and for two years helped many players to enjoy a more pleasant gaming experience with their organization systems. In 2020 The Game Doctors was taken over by Feldherr to continue and further expand the product line.

Our design principles

Our designs follow these principles:

• To reduce set-up and tear-down time we always endeavor to logically group game components.
• For protection all components get their own compartments with as little wiggle room as possible. We do not leave any space ununsed, so everything stays in its place when carried and shaken around.
• We always try to incorporate expansions into a base game‘s box. However, if this means sacrificing meaningful design elements which support gameplay, we will not do it. In this case we would rather design an insert for the expansion box.
• To also help organizing gameplay, most of our inserts‘ trays can be removed separately and arranged on the table freely.
• We always leave enough space for card sleeves.

What's up with card sleeves?

Card sleeves are a plastic protection for playing cards to avoid wear and tear. Some players love to put them on all their cards, others don't like sleeves at all. As sleeves increase a card's size, we have to consider them in our designs.

We regularly mention "standard sleeves" and "premium sleeves". That's because there are basically two material thicknesses. 40-60 microns are called "standard" (mostly sold in packs of 100) and 90-120 microns are "premium" (mostly sold in packs of 50).

As a rule of thumb a standard sleeve increases a card's thickness by 50% and a premium sleeve doubles it.

We always plan enough space for a card deck to be in premium sleeves. Exceptions are clearly indicated on the product pages.

Does it fit in my game?

On each product page we give the total outer dimensions of the assembled product. Before buying, please measure your game box and check if our product will fit. We try to have our compatibility details accurate, but it is always possible to run into size variations in different editions or batches. We also give the maximum space available for cards in sleeves (width x height). Please also check that your sleeves are not too big (depending on manufacturer sleeves for the same card can be of varying size).

Material

We make our products from 3mm thick MDF sheets. MDF is an acronym for Medium Density Fiber. MDF is a stiff, uniform and straight wood product made from glue and fine wood fibers. That‘s why it‘s brilliantly suited for laser cutting and produces a better end result than e.g. plywood, which is often used by our competitors. MDF is smoother, firmer, less brittle and does not splinter.

Scope of delivery

We ship our products as construction kits in the form of one or more laser-processed sheets of wood. The sheets come in a ziplock bag which is packed in a flat cardboard box together with the assembly instructions. Wood glue not included.

Assembly

After you receive one of our products you pop all components out of the provided sheets and glue them together with wood glue (not included).

Each of our products comes with instructions in German and English. While page 1 provides basic information and is the same for all products, page 2 describes the specific product‘s assembly. For inserts there is also a page 3 which shows how to sort the game into the various trays and how to fit everything into the game box. A unique feature of our products is our special numbering system for assembly.

Example: You have several parts of group "A". Look for the pair of parts marked "A1" and glue them together, so that the markings touch each other. Repeat with "A2" and so on. Just follow the numbers and the insert will practically assemble itself! All these markings are positioned to be covered up during assembly and will afterwards be invisible.

Commitment

• We sell quality products. We aim to enrich our customers' gaming experience. Should you have any reason for complaint, we are here for you. Do not hesitate to contact us. We take care of every request and will honestly go after your concern.