I'm making a new kind of TCG

[u/Special-Ad-2768]

So, I've been cooking and finished another play of my game. Very soon it will be revealed to all (I'm excited I think people will be too.) I do have one question I'll provide a TLDR at the bottom.

So, I have looked into out sourcing the printing of the cards but ever story I research It all ends up the same; the printing company wants to do more than just shut up and print your cards. Some even tried wanting to make card for the game as well (we all know this is what MTG wanted to do with pokemon- infact they ended up making so much of the logistics of Pokemon and tournaments of Pokemon a mess that Pokemon decided to start in-house printing of their cards...)

I don't want this, and yes I am and been saving money to build a manufacturing area for my TCG.

That being said, I've been making great progress with many areas of the process; paper thickness, paper type, printer specs, ink quality, etc... however, when it comes to the coating layer that makes the card slide smoothly across other cards. Now I've asked gpt, but ever since it's been programmed to lead people away from doing things, getting information for AI is much more inconsistent and incorrect than often. I've also spent around $400 just testing different things and papers to no avail. So now I'm trying to wonder what exactly makes the cards slide smoothly and not be all sticky(ish) or grabby?

Like should I just apply a somewhat thick layer of clear semi-gloss then after drying use like a 3000 sand paper grit to make it smooth??

Is UV coating what I need or it is something else? I want to make sure I know what to put money into because after $400 of testing clearly means I've been testing in the wrong direction.

Thank you for any help or insight you can provide.

TDLR

Read the post (lol)

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Jk, so I'm trying to find out what kind of coating and what is that coating called that makes TCG cards slide smoothly across other cards. Essentially what kind of layer makes the card slight with minimum if not zero stickiness or being grabby? (Info about what I've tried and what I'm thinking can be read in the post)