How to Print Your Cards

• For best results, use the highest print quality setting available on your printer (often called Best, High Quality, or Photo Quality).
• If your printer offers a borderless printing option, keep it disabled unless specifically required. Borderless printing may slightly enlarge the artwork and affect card alignment.
• Request printing at 100% scale with no automatic resizing. Ask the print shop not to apply automatic image enhancements, color corrections, or scaling unless specifically desired.
• Colors may vary depending on your printer, paper type, monitor calibration, and ink or toner used. Home printers typically produce slightly different colors than professional print shops. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the files.
• The card files are prepared in a CMYK color profile, the standard color profile for professional printing. Some printer drivers convert CMYK to RGB internally before processing — this is normal and does not significantly affect the printed result.
• The editable PDF forms use an RGB color profile. This is intentional: the software used to create them requires RGB to ensure all fillable text fields align consistently across every card. Both home inkjet and laser printers handle RGB files without issues, converting them automatically when printing. If you take form files to a print shop, inform the technician that those specific files are in RGB so they can manage the conversion.
• For the most accurate colors, print a single test page before printing the entire set.

At Home

• The safe range for most home printers is 160–200 gsm. Going above that without checking your model's specifications may cause paper jams.
• Use matte paper if you want the cards to avoid reflecting light and look more professional. Glossy photo paper gives more vivid colors but is more slippery and harder to cut cleanly.
• Avoid textured recycled paper: cut edges will be irregular and color will print with less fidelity.

At a Print Shop

• Request 300–350 gsm coated matte cover stock. This is the standard for card games.
• If you request a gloss finish, keep in mind that black may appear deeper but light colors lose detail under light. Matte is the safer choice for cards with text or fine detail.

• Before printing the entire file, print a single test sheet to verify your printer's duplex orientation. Different printers flip paper differently (long edge vs short edge). A quick test print can prevent misaligned fronts and backs.
• If your printer does not support automatic double-sided printing, print all fronts first, then reinsert the pages according to your printer's paper feed direction.
• A 1–2 mm misalignment is normal on home printers. The cut marks are designed with a safety margin that absorbs this tolerance.
• Manual feed: Use the manual feed tray or bypass tray (if your printer has one) instead of the lower cassette tray. Wait 2 minutes for the ink to dry completely. This keeps the paper straighter and reduces the margin of error for double-sided printing.

Flip Orientation (Crucial)

• If your printer has automatic duplexing, select "Flip on long edge" if you are printing in portrait orientation.
• If you are flipping the paper manually, make sure to rotate the pages on the correct axis according to your printer's mechanism so the back does not print upside down. It is recommended to run a test first with just two pages on plain paper.

Page Centering

Make sure the "Center Page" option is enabled in the settings of your PDF reader (such as Adobe Acrobat). This ensures that the axis of symmetry is identical on the front and back of every card.

Understanding the Cut Marks

Your PDF includes two sets of specialized alignment marks on the corners of each card. Choose your preferred finish before making the first cut.

Tools & Setup

To achieve sharp, retail-quality edges, you will need:

• A self-healing cutting mat.
• A sharp X-Acto knife, hobby knife, or box cutter (safer and cleaner than scissors).
• A metal or wooden ruler (avoid plastic rulers — the blade can shave the edges and ruin the straight line).

Using the Cut Marks

Each sheet includes specialized alignment marks for your preferred finish. Take your time — precision here makes all the difference.

• Straight borders: Line up your ruler with the outermost crop marks and cut from end to end to get perfectly rectangular cards.
• Rounded borders: Trim slightly inside the inner corner guides for a smoother, rounded look.
• Pro finishing (optional): Use a corner punch tool (available at craft stores) for perfectly uniform rounded corners, and use card sleeves or lamination for maximum durability during gameplay.

Executing the Cut

When cutting multiple cards from a single sheet, do not cut the paper from edge to edge on your first pass. If you slice all the way through, you will cut off the alignment marks for the remaining cards.

• Pressure: Do not try to cut through heavy cardstock (>200 gsm) in a single pass. Applying too much pressure can cause the ruler to slip or the paper to tear. Use multiple light passes instead.

Place your ruler along the cut marks, start your cut inside the paper's edge (just where the card border begins), and stop before the opposite edge. Leave the outer margins intact as a "frame" until the very last cut.

A customer gave me this idea and I took it into consideration. I still think that the fewer cuts, the higher the chance of error. However, with the right tools, that doesn't have to be the case. I have created a PDF overlay for those of you who want to print with additional cut guides.

I have made them in Cyan and White. Cyan is the industry standard for cut marks — print shops use it precisely because it doesn't interfere visually with the content and virtually disappears on most white papers.

One thing to keep in mind: pure cyan in CMYK is 100C 0M 0Y 0K. However, when overlaid on another PDF, some home printers may reproduce it with a slightly greenish tint depending on the printer's color profile. For that reason I adjusted it to 85C 10M 0Y 0K for a cleaner result on inkjet printers.

You can find the guides I created here.

The tool, once again, is PDF24. Simply select the PDF you want to add the new layer to and the PDF that will be overlaid. Under position, select "Foreground" so it overlays correctly, and make sure the continuous option is checked — this applies the overlay to all pages, not just the first one.

These files have been designed to print correctly on both home and professional printers. However, final results may vary depending on the printer model, paper type, ink or toner, and print settings used. Please keep the following in mind:

Color Management

• In Adobe Acrobat Reader: File → Print → Advanced → uncheck "Let printer determine colors."
• The cards have been designed avoiding pure solid black backgrounds (100% K) which consume a lot of ink and can bleed on thin paper. If your printer has an economy mode, do not activate it — it reduces ink density and colors lose consistency.

If Text Appears Difficult to Read or Colors Seem Darker Than Expected

• Disable any toner-saving, eco, or draft printing modes.
• Select the highest available print quality setting.
• Ensure the correct paper type is selected in the printer settings.
• Print a single test page before printing the entire set.

Color reproduction will always vary slightly between printers, papers, inks, toners, and monitor displays. Minor differences in color appearance are normal and do not indicate an issue with the files.

• If the cards appear too large or too small, verify that scaling is set to 100% and that Fit to Page, Shrink to Fit, or similar options are disabled.
• If front and back artwork do not align correctly, check printer scaling settings and perform a test print before printing the full set.
• If colors appear dull, verify that the correct paper type is selected in the printer settings.
• If black areas appear gray or washed out, increase print quality settings or use fresh ink/toner cartridges.

Laser Printers: Fixing Dark Backgrounds & Low Text Contrast Laser Only

Laser printers use heat to fuse toner, which can over-saturate dark tones, "crush" textured backgrounds (like parchment effects), and make dark gray text hard to read. If this happens, adjust these settings in your printer properties:

• Change Print Mode to "Graphics" or "Photos": Avoid "Standard" or "Business Documents". The photo setting applies a finer dither pattern, keeping parchment details soft and small text sharp.
• Disable "Toner Save" Mode: This mode creates a grid of missing dots to save toner, which ruins the definition of fine text and makes text over colored backgrounds illegible.
• Brightness Adjustments: If your printer driver allows color adjustments, increase the Brightness by +5% or +10%. This lightens the background texture without washing out the text.

Inkjet Printers: Bleeding & Drying

• Quality Setting: Set print quality to High or Photo.
• Drying Time: Heavy ink loads on cardstock require time to cure. Let the pages dry for 5 to 10 minutes before flipping them over or attempting to cut them, to prevent smudging.