> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://golisto-1.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What CIB, Loose and Sealed Really Mean on a Game Listing - URL: https://golisto-1.ghost.io/what-cib-loose-and-sealed-really-mean-on-a-game-listing/ - Published: 2026-07-02T18:47:56.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-19T14:39:24.000Z - Author: Jonas Krogh - Tags: Glossary, #jesper, PlayStation, Retro Gaming, Collecting Set two copies of Rayman for the original PlayStation side by side. The early North American printing lives in a tall cardboard long box, roughly the proportions of a VHS tape. The [PAL copy](https://golisto-web-env-test-golisto-694126fa.vercel.app/goods/R29vZDozNTM0Ng==/Rayman-%28PS1%2C-PAL%29?ref=golisto.ghost.io) sits in a standard CD jewel case. Both sellers can honestly describe theirs as “complete” – and they'd be promising you entirely different stacks of cardboard and paper. That's the trouble with collector shorthand. CIB, loose, sealed, NIB – the words sound precise, but what they actually cover shifts with platform, region and era. Here's how to read them like someone who's been burned once already. ## The five words, and what they're supposed to promise - **Loose** – the disc or cartridge only. No box, no manual, no apologies. For older games this is the default state of the hobby; decades of childhood bedrooms saw to that. - **CIB (Complete In Box)** – game, original box or case, manual, plus whatever paper shipped inside. The strict reading counts every insert; the casual reading is “box and manual, probably”. - **Complete** – usually a synonym for CIB, but softer and slipperier. It's the word doing the most unsupervised work in listings. - **Sealed** – still in the factory shrink-wrap, never opened. It says nothing about shelf wear, sun fading or crushed corners underneath the plastic. - **NIB (New In Box)** – mostly a hardware term. Sometimes it means sealed; sometimes it means opened once, contents never used. Those are very different things, and sellers rarely say which. And notice what none of these words address: condition. A CIB copy can have a water-stained manual and a cracked case and still be CIB. Contents and condition are separate questions, and a trustworthy listing answers both. ## Why a “complete” Rayman means two different boxes When the PlayStation launched in North America in 1995, Sony shipped games in cardboard long boxes – Ridge Racer, Battle Arena Toshinden and Rayman among them. Within about a year the region switched to standard jewel cases, and the long box quietly died. That split changes what “complete” means. For an early NTSC-U title it's the cardboard shell, the inner disc tray, the manual and usually a registration card. For the PAL version of the same game it's a jewel case with its front booklet and back inlay – the cardboard never existed. Japanese copies add another wrinkle: many shipped with a spine card, the *obi*, which most original owners binned within a week and which purists absolutely count. Multi-disc PAL releases like Final Fantasy VII shipped in fat multi-disc cases, so a complete copy means every disc in its slot plus the booklet. The pattern holds across the whole hobby: **complete is defined by what the factory packed for that region and that printing**, not by what the word suggests. ## The manual died, and “complete” changed with it Fast-forward a generation and the goalposts move again. PS2 games in DVD keep cases still had manuals; across the PS3 era printed manuals thinned out and then largely vanished. That means a late PS3 or a PS5 disc release with nothing inside the case but the disc can be genuinely, factory-accurate complete. A missing manual isn't automatically a red flag anymore – you have to know whether one ever existed. Special editions push the other way. [Demon's Souls on PS3](https://golisto-web-env-test-golisto-694126fa.vercel.app/goods/R29vZDo0NjU0OQ==/Demon%E2%80%99s-Souls-PlayStation-3-%2F-PS3-Spil?ref=golisto.ghost.io) had a North American Deluxe Edition from Atlus that bundled an art-and-strategy book – complete for that printing includes the extras, not just the case. And hardware stretches the word furthest of all: for a console like the [Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition PS3 in Gun Metal Grey (model CECHH01MG)](https://golisto-web-env-test-golisto-694126fa.vercel.app/goods/R29vZDo0NjM2NQ==/PlayStation-3-Metal-Gear-Solid-4-Limited-Edition-Gun-Metal-Grey-%28CECHH01MG-USA-2008%29?ref=golisto.ghost.io), CIB properly means the outer box, the inner cardboard, every cable, the matching controller and the paperwork. A console dropped bare into a tatty box is boxed, not complete. ## Listing phrases that deserve a follow-up message None of this means sellers are lying – most are using the words loosely, not maliciously. But some phrases should trigger a question before you commit: - “Complete”, photographed from the front only – ask to see the manual and the back inlay. - “CIB” on a launch-era NTSC-U PS1 game pictured in a jewel case – that's a later printing or a re-case, not the long box. - “Sealed” with no close-up of the seam – shrink-wrap machines are not rare. Ask why the seller believes it's factory wrap. - “New” without “sealed” – the classic NIB ambiguity. Opened or not? - “Complete, no manual” – that's a contradiction. The honest word is “boxed”. - A “boxed” console with no contents list – ask specifically about cables, controller and inner packaging. Treat the four-letter codes as opening bids, not guarantees. A good seller itemises – disc, case, manual, inserts, reg card – and one photo of everything laid out flat is worth more than any acronym. And if you've ever received a jewel-case copy sold as a long box, you already know why the follow-up question is never rude.