Pokémon card sleeves and loaders: sizes and what “pt” means

Written by Koshin (web engineer and app engineer) · published 2026-10-16

A buying guide / October 2026

There are many ways to protect Pokémon cards: sleeves, loaders, deck boxes, binders. This guide lists what to check before you buy, so that what you order actually fits.

One thing first: this is not a hands-on comparison. I could not find an official size table from the manufacturers, so the numbers are the “commonly stated” ones from shop pages and explainer articles. I separate what I could confirm from what I could not, and I do not recommend a specific product.

The short version: three things to check

Check	How
Card size	Pokémon cards are “standard size”, commonly stated as about 63 × 88mm. Sleeves made for “small size” cards (about 59 × 86mm, for example Yu-Gi-Oh!) may not fit.
Sleeve size	Choose sleeves labeled for standard-size cards. Outer size is often listed as around 66 × 91mm. Read the product page’s “compatible size.”
Loader “pt”	A thickness grade. A bigger number takes a thicker card. 35pt is the usual rule of thumb for an ordinary card.

Sizes: standard and small

Standard: Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and others. Commonly about 63 × 88mm.
Small: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Duel Masters, Weiß Schwarz and others. Commonly about 59 × 86mm.

A standard card does not fit in a sleeve made for small cards. A small card in a standard sleeve is loose. Look for “for Pokémon cards” or “standard size” in the product name first.

Several explainer articles agreed on these numbers, but I could not confirm them on an official Pokémon Card Game page.

Sleeves: choose by use

For play: use the same sleeve for every card in the deck. Differences in back pattern or color can show which cards are which (tournament rules differ, so check the rules of the event you enter).
For storage: sleeves protect the surface. Some people double-sleeve valuable cards (inner sleeve plus outer sleeve).
Count: bags of about 100 are common. A deck is 60 cards, so one bag is enough.

Loaders: what “35pt” means

“pt” is a unit of card thickness. 1pt is one thousandth of an inch (about 0.0254mm), so 35pt is about 0.89mm: roughly the thickness of one ordinary card.

35pt magnetic loaders: some shop pages list an outer size of 73 × 110 × 8mm, an inner size of 64 × 90mm and a compatible thickness of about 1mm.
With the sleeve on: some loaders take a sleeved card, some do not. If you want to load a sleeved card, check that the product says so.
Thicker cards: loaders of 55pt, 75pt, 100pt and more also exist, used for thick cards or sleeved cards.

The sizes above come from shop pages, not from a manufacturer’s official figures. They differ by product.

Other items: deck boxes, binders, box protectors

Deck boxes: check how many sleeved cards it holds.
Binders: check pockets per page (9-pocket and so on) and whether sleeved cards fit.
Booster box protectors: check the box dimensions so it matches the sealed box you own.

Buying checklist

Decide what it is for (a deck you play, cards you store, a sealed box).
Confirm standard size or small size.
Read the product page’s compatible size and count.
For loaders, check the pt and whether sleeved cards fit.
Scan the reviews for “did not fit.”

What I could not confirm

The card size on an official Pokémon Card Game page
Official inner-size tables for sleeves and loaders from manufacturers (I only saw shop-page figures)
Whether a given product takes a sleeved card (I did not test)
Quality or durability of any product (this is not a hands-on comparison)

Checked on October 16, 2026. Products change; check the product page before you buy.

Sources

Torecamap: Pokémon card sleeve sizes (explainer, in Japanese)
Torecamap: trading card sizes (explainer, in Japanese)
35pt loader sizes: several shop pages (not the manufacturer’s official figures)

This is the English version of the original Japanese article.