Just the cards: a wall for the kids
This one started with my son. He doesn't care what his cards are worth. He just likes looking at them, which means binders coming off the shelf and cards spread across the floor. So I asked a simple question: what if the wall could show the cards and nothing else?
Just the cards
Every display can now run in collection mode: your cards, no prices, no charts, no ups and downs. Here's what it shows.
On a TV, monitor, or tablet:
- Binder pages. Your cards nine to a page, two pages side by side, the way they sit in a real binder. Empty pockets show where a binder isn't full yet.
- One card at a time. Big picture, name, set, card number, its printing (holo, reverse holo, first edition) or grade, and how many copies you have.
- Set progress. Every number in a set, with the ones you own lit up, a count like "38 of 60", and the next few numbers to look for. Fair warning: seeing the gaps makes you want to fill them.
- A card wall. Your whole collection dimmed in the background, with your newest card out front.
- Collection facts. How many cards, binders, and sets you have, your biggest sets, how many holos and slabs, and which card you have the most copies of.
On the LED board it shows each card on its own, a row of three now and then, and set progress, sized to fit the panel. The ticker along the bottom scrolls card names instead of prices.
Pick it for each display
This is set per display, so the TV in the kids' room can show just the cards while the board in your office keeps showing prices. On the Account tab, under Walls and screens, each display now has a Shows choice: Prices or Just the cards. With Just the cards you can also pick which binders it shows, so a kid's display can show only their binder. Changes reach the display within a minute.
Want to see it first? On the Wall tab, turn on Just the cards under the collection value. The preview, Share images, and Screen mode all switch over, without changing any of your displays.
Japanese cards, priced in dollars
A few Japanese printings come with prices in yen, and once you had one, your collection value could show up in yen too. Every price is now converted to dollars at the day's exchange rate, so your totals add up in one currency. The original yen price still shows under the dollar amount on the card.
Smaller things that add up
- Remove several cards at once. Select cards in your collection and the bar at the bottom now has Remove, with one Undo for all of them.
- Adding a card you already have adds to its quantity instead of creating a second row, whether you search for it or scan it.
- Scanned cards get their picture, set, and number. Some scanned cards were coming in without them. Those are fixed, including ones already in your collection.
- Pictures load much faster on TVs and screens. Card pictures are now prepared once and sent at about a seventh of their old size, and the next page's pictures load while the current one is showing.
Apple TV
A new Apple TV beta build is on its way through TestFlight. It shows collection mode, loads pictures much faster and keeps them between launches, and the Collection value chart now runs to the edges of the screen instead of sitting inside a border.
That's all for today. If you have a young collector at home, set a screen to Just the cards and let me know what they think with the Feedback link at the top of the page.