Board game storage

Plan the box before you order anything

Every game box is the same puzzle. A board and rulebook on top, and underneath, some mix of cards, tokens, player pieces, dice and tiles. The plastic or cardboard tray that came with it rarely survives the first expansion. The way to fix it is to sort components by kind, then give each kind a container that matches it.

Cards want a tray that holds them on edge with a thumb cut, so they lift out to the table as a deck. Small pieces want scooped compartments so they slide to your fingers. Everything else wants a compartment sized to the space that is left.

Cards: trays keyed to the card

A card tray is generated for one of five card sizes, sleeved or unsleeved, holding about 50, 100, 150 or 200 cards. It holds the deck on edge in a single row with one millimeter of play each side for bare cards and three for sleeved. The walls are 60 percent of the card height, so the top of the deck stands proud and your fingers can reach it.

If you are unsure of the size, the card size guide has the five sizes in millimeters and inches, what sleeves add, and how to choose for odd sizes like the narrow 57 mm cards. Several card types in one tray? Add a card divider set: ten rigid dividers with offset tabs that show every label.

Small pieces: scooped token trays

A token tray comes in three footprints, 120 x 120, 160 x 160 and 200 x 160 mm, with 4, 6, 8 or 12 compartments and a 30 or 45 mm height. Every floor is scooped. Use one compartment per player color, or one per kind of resource. Twelve compartments on the small footprint are about 25 mm square, which suits coins and small tokens.

Two of the same footprint stack square, so a tray per player stacked in the corner of the box keeps setup to handing them out.

Everything else: a custom insert

When the box has odd components, or you want the whole floor organized, a custom box insert is generated from the inside length, width and height you enter and the compartment grid you choose. It drops in with 1.5 mm of total clearance and has a finger cut on every compartment.

The trick is to combine. Decide where the card trays go, measure the space left, and order the insert for that space. The box measuring guide has a worked example and a table of compartment sizes.

A worked layout

A square box, 288 x 288 mm inside and 68 mm deep, with a 5 mm board and a 3 mm rulebook. Four players, about 160 sleeved standard cards, wooden pieces in four colors, and a pile of cardboard tokens.

• Height available: 68 minus 8 for the board and rulebook, minus 2 headroom, so 58 mm.
• Cards: two sleeved standard trays at 100 cards each. Each is about 75 mm wide and 50 mm long, 56 mm tall, so they fit under the 58 mm limit. Side by side they take a footprint about 100 by 75 mm in one corner.
• Player pieces: a small token tray, 120 x 120 mm, 4 compartments, 45 mm tall.
• Tokens: a custom insert in the remaining strip, 4 across, 1 down.

Tray heights are the thing to check. A tarot tray is about 75 mm tall and will not fit a shallow box. The card size guide lists the heights.

Sleeves and expansions

Sleeving makes a deck about a third thicker and two millimeters bigger each way. If you buy an expansion, the card count goes up and the box usually does not get bigger. Plan for where the game will end up: sleeved trays at the capacity you will need after the expansion, and an insert that leaves a compartment empty for now.

What we will not do

No game names on the parts, no artwork, no character shapes. Everything is plain, matte and in your chosen color. We are not affiliated with any publisher, and we do not need to know which game it is. If a component is a specific shape that does not suit a grid, email us the measurements and we will tell you honestly whether a custom job is worth it.

Ordering

Card trays start at $22, token trays at $24, divider sets at $16 and custom inserts at from $29. Trays and dividers ship within 4 business days; the custom insert within 7. Free shipping over $75.