Dimensions: 141.0mm × 129.0mm × 17.0mm
Black Bordered Jewel Case
A rarely used variant of the full size jewel case was a version with a black plastic border around the case front. This case was more common in Japan but there were a few releases in the PAL region that used it.
Physical Characteristics
The black bordered PS1 jewel case measures approximately 142mm × 125mm × 10mm and features a hinged design with a clear front cover and black back tray. The front insert typically displayed the game’s cover art, while the back showed screenshots, game information, and barcode. The front leaf of the case had a black plastic boarder around the edges and formed the top and bottom. It additionally had a PlayStation logo embossed on both top and bottom. The black plastic also contained the hinge. The rear leaf of the case was completely clear plastic and featured a variation in hinge design compared to the standard full jewel case.
Interior Design
The case interior includes a black plastic tray designed to securely hold a single CD. The tray features a central spindle hub with retaining clips that grip the disc’s center hole. Note that the black trays for this version did not have the PlayStation logo embossed along the spine ridge as seen with the standard full Jewel cases.
Durability Issues
These cases were slightly more durable than the all clear plastic full standard cases. The black plastic is slightly less brittle and allowed for a higher degree of flexibility. The hinge also had a design that was less likely to fail, where the holder was a more simple straight pin. These cases are more commonly broken on the back, where the use of brittle clear plastic across the entire design led to weakness there.
History
These cases are rarer to find as there were fewer releases over the PlayStation lifetime. Additionally, because the internal dimensions were identical to the standard PAL jewel case, there are a lot of instances where games have been swapped into or out of this case. This makes tracking which games really had releases with this case sometimes tricky.