Replacement Universal Game Cases

Being a relatively new adopter to the Atari Jaguar scene, having found a bargain console at Revival 2014 which was too good to miss, I decided to put all my other collections on hold and try and build my new Jaguar collection on a budget.

Yes it only cost me £20

Now, with budget Jaguar cartridge purchases the chance of getting a box in a good condition - if at all - is very slim. Unfortunately most Jag boxes haven't stood the test of time due to their cardboard construction and games in pristine condition demand a premium.

Having purchased a number of loose carts off eBay for a fraction of the price of their boxed equivalents, it was my intention to pick up some new/old stock boxes as well as the inserts to go with them. However, this is when I encountered my first problem - only a hand full of new/old stock boxes have been found (16 in total of which 3 are Jaguar CD Games). So as a new Jaguar convert what was I to do? I could have picked up the few boxes I needed (which on average would have cost me around £5 per game) and leave the remaining loose carts loose on the shelf...or find an alternative.

Having trawled the internet I did find several companies in the USA which offer a plastic alternative to the cardboard boxes, but once shipping costs were considered it started to become expensive again, costing around £7 per game.

Now I had found what I wanted, I just needed to find a UK supplier...and it didn't take long.
Having found the same Universal Game Cases our friends across the pond were offering for a fraction of the cost at www.gameseek.co.uk, I made my purchase.

So now I had my cases, I needed my covers/sleeves and thankfully this is covered. A number of covers have already been designed by members of a group known as The Cover Project (www.thecoverproject.net/) These covers are already sized to suit the Universal Game Cases so only require printing and trimming.

There were however a number of games where no sleeves had been designed as yet, but thankfully The Cover Project also provide a nice simple template which can be used with Paint Shop Pro or Paint.
Not being a great artist, I decided I would have a go and see what I could produce and with a couple of hours work I had my 2 missing covers designed and ready to print:

The Universal Game Cases suit a multitude of consoles with some trimming required for the unusual shape of the Jaguar cartridge, but a quick Google search showed me what to trim and where.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the result, I know I probably will offend the Atari purists, but like I said my intention is to build up my collection up on a budget and display it in the best way possible. On average the cost of the cases/printing and gloss paper is around £3 to £4 per case.

I would be interested in what you guys think of these cases.