Lovely recommendations! Beyond these, things we use all the time are our laminator (great for score cards and roll and writes), fine-tip dry-erase markers (again great for roll and writes), collapsable dice trays, and tons of elastic bands!
cool idea with the photo storage box! i love to take small games with me on holidays in small boxes and this is great solution to store them flat and tiny. thank you!
The box falling 🤣🤣 5:56 . Not sure why it was so funny to me. Great list. We have 4 of those photo cases and we label them the same way. A bit overkill but definitely saves space as well.
great video! i still need to make the jump and get a label maker. i like using different sized baggies for different components (no point in using a big bag for just a few) and some games have so much stuff i gotta remember which stuff goes in what bag lol. i also love playmats. i use a giant sized neoprene mat for my computer setup, and eventually wanna get a table sized one for games. feels so much better than struggling to pick cards up right off the table
I also have little bowls like that! I have several children and those little bowls work well for tabletop purposes as well. A comment below mentions a table cover. I have a table cover that comes out for card games too and I love it. Just a long piece of fabric I got at a discount store that I fold twice so that it runs alongside itself to cover a center space. Helps with card games so much on slick or flat surfaces. Gosh. Baggies. Baggies are a necessity. I do need to sleeve more games. I go crazy when people shuffle cards in a way that wears them down. I haven't tried the deluxe type coins, but I do enjoy how the casino style chips feel in Splendor. The photo case is really cool. One thing I did not see was a container. I use a fish tackle box or divider used for tools (screws and bolts) as holders to stand decks of cards in. It makes the table far more neater and things take up a lot less space. The decks stay in their place and it makes it easy to flip a used or discarded card by just placing it behind the corresponding deck facing a different direction so you can shuffle when you get to the back. I think about Relic and Abomination with how useful the tackle box is with cubes, coins and cards. Games that have a lot of decks scattered all over that aren't necessarily in your hands or player space, Kind of like the resource and production cards in Catan. Used first aid kits also have strange sections that will just fit perfectly with certain games and allow you to scoop things easy.
Making the experience more lived in is such an underrated part of enjoying board games, so I think it's cool there are so many little ways to make things easier/homier
Dude, the labelmaker is such a great idea! Oftentimes my friends want to help me clean up but they don't know where to put what and I have a general idea hiw I want to sort it, so I do it alone because we don't want to mix things up. With labeled bags everyone could help and speed up the process. Also, the table mat... I made the mistake to buy 4 seperate mats but we never use them because they are either too big or too small. But with a table-sized mat that problem would be gone. I'm kind of irritated that I haven't come up with this idea myself. Very helpful tips, thank you!
Loved this video. Some of the points are overworked but probably that is just me, as someone new to boardgames would like the amount of detail. I would never manage with the case, though. The game box art is part of the gaming experience for me.
For games where players have hidden tokens behind their player boards, I use opaque bags. Typically, games provide cardboard screens to hide tokens, but when players move around the table, someone might accidentally see something they shouldn't. Using the opaque bags helps prevent this, as players can store their tokens inside and keep everything hidden, even while moving around the table. Last game I played with 6 bags (of different color, for personal touch) is Zoo Vadis.
OMG I have a label maker and how have I never thought about labeling the baggies! I no longer need to leave the one resource in the bag. Thanks for this video! Question, do you keep the boxes for all those small games?
Great video - I use small plastic containers with lids for resource holders where they fit into the box ... so they make it easy to bring them out when setting up the game and then can put them away easily to save time. Yep using mats as well cause I am like you "can we wipe the table down to not dirty the game etc ' .... also got the coins for some games lol ... coins I have are for Viticulture, Witcher and Hogwarts battle
It depends. There are some games that I know I will never sell so I throw those boxes but I do keep most of the original boxes. I try to nest the boxes into other boxes so that it takes up less space.
Do you recommend glossy or matte card sleeves? Ive been thinking about investing in some sleeves for a few games like wingspan and clank but im very indecisive about glossy vs matte since ive never bought sleeves before.
That's a great question and my opinion on that has actually changed over time. Initially I was only getting matte sleeves because they felt more deluxe and reduced the glare of overhead lighting. However, the matte sleeves can occasionally blur the text on cards and make the cards harder to read which ended up being enough for me to switch to glossy sleeves (plus matte is a little bit more expensive).
my personal favourites are mayday premium glossy sleeves. they dont obscure the text like matt sleeves but also dont have any glare. they always look really elegant on my cards
So pleased I found you! Great channel and love the good vibes. 💚 Those iron clays are going on the xmas list! And I wonder if they sell the Merchants Of The Dark Road coins separately? 🤔 They are so nice.
Of course! My glass token bowls have a diameter of 3.5 inches and a height a little shy of 1.5 inches. There's an amazon link in the description of the video if you're interested in buying something similar to what I bought. Thanks for watching :)
Been using a label maker for a couple of months now. Love it! I also put tiny labels on the board for minor rules that are easily forgotten. Table mats can be expensive. I bought a yard of felt. Works! But it also collects tiny hairs. 😢 mats for mahjong are cheaper than game table mats, but also smaller. Yes! Love metal coins! I bought a mix of silver and bronze pirate coins from Alibaba (500 for $80) and blinged out several games: Architects of the West Kingdom, Jamaica, etc. Anywhere nondescript coins are used. Silver for higher values, bronze for less. OMG!! Getting a photo case now!!
That was my number 7! I’ve really been loving them. My only hold up is that most of my boards that warp are the dual layer boards and those don’t fit on them.
I really do need to invest in a cool dice tower. I play King of Tokyo fairly frequently and I've always had this fantasy of playing that game with a dice tower that is king kong climbing the empire state building.
Great video! I have a question. When you put all those small card games into the photo case, do you still keep the original boxes that cards were in? Also, if you could put all the components of an expansion into a box of the original game, do you throw away the expansion’s box? I always have this problem of keeping empty boxes because either the artwork of the box is too beautiful, or in case I want to sell it later…
Ah yes I do still keep the original boxes for the most part. Some of the games that I have in the photo case I have gotten rid of the box because I don't think I'll ever sell them or if I ever wanted to take it out of the case they would probably be fine in a bag. I definitely understand you though, I can't get myself to get rid of the box for High Society even though I know I will never sell the game.
Not sure if I’m late to this idea but card sleeving Scout is so genius. My poor cards are visibly worn out from numerous plays 😅 Awesome video again 🫶🏽 Also video with Paul when? 👀🥹
I like the wear and tear on the cards, gives them character. Plus its a $10 game, if the cards are so worn I literally cant read them I can get another copy any time, and sleeves feel like sh*t
@@RawrBargleI used to feel the same way - until I went to buy a new copy of a favorite card game and it was no longer available. Then eventually it was reprinted and the new version was not as good as the original.
First, I absolutely love your videos! Thank you for posting some awesome content. Secondly, I am definitely a sucker for upgraded components, especially metal coins. I'm currently trying to find a good set up metal coins to go with River of Gold that won't require me to spend a lot of money also, hahaha. I also love playmats and token holders as well! One thing I would add that makes organizing and setup and teardown easier, and also acts as token holders, is GameGenics Token Silos! They come in little cases with their own removable token holders, so you just remove what you need and place it on the table. I absolutely love them and use them to organize so many games. Also, for games that have loose cards, I absolutely love are the clear plastic playing card holder boxes. They are relatively inexpensive and will usually hold a single poker sized card deck, 52 cards or less, and snap close to hold the cards securely. They are great for keeping cards in place!
Card sleeves are so annoying and unnecessary, and you say it’s not big deal if someone is damaging your property but it is a big deal, say hey please treat my game with respect, and any decent human being should listen, if they don’t then don’t invite them to board game night, and like how is a flimsy ass sleeve gonna stop a chronic card bender from doing it anyway
I have found sleeves to be very useful in some (not all cases). You may be surprised with how some quality sleeves can increase the stiffness of the card. Another, and perhaps the main reason I really enjoy sleeves is because they preserve cards pretty well so if I decide to sell or give away a game the cards are basically in new condition when I give them the game. Like I said in the video I’m not as big on them as I used to be. But I do find them useful in a lot of cases.
Lovely recommendations! Beyond these, things we use all the time are our laminator (great for score cards and roll and writes), fine-tip dry-erase markers (again great for roll and writes), collapsable dice trays, and tons of elastic bands!
Your passion for board gaming is infectious; so just subscribed. Some clever ideas to help us all with our hobby.
cool idea with the photo storage box! i love to take small games with me on holidays in small boxes and this is great solution to store them flat and tiny. thank you!
I love my label maker for games, and also got a good deal on a laminator for some things I print out from BGG
The box falling 🤣🤣 5:56 . Not sure why it was so funny to me. Great list. We have 4 of those photo cases and we label them the same way. A bit overkill but definitely saves space as well.
great video! i still need to make the jump and get a label maker. i like using different sized baggies for different components (no point in using a big bag for just a few) and some games have so much stuff i gotta remember which stuff goes in what bag lol.
i also love playmats. i use a giant sized neoprene mat for my computer setup, and eventually wanna get a table sized one for games. feels so much better than struggling to pick cards up right off the table
I also have little bowls like that! I have several children and those little bowls work well for tabletop purposes as well. A comment below mentions a table cover. I have a table cover that comes out for card games too and I love it. Just a long piece of fabric I got at a discount store that I fold twice so that it runs alongside itself to cover a center space. Helps with card games so much on slick or flat surfaces. Gosh. Baggies. Baggies are a necessity. I do need to sleeve more games. I go crazy when people shuffle cards in a way that wears them down. I haven't tried the deluxe type coins, but I do enjoy how the casino style chips feel in Splendor. The photo case is really cool.
One thing I did not see was a container. I use a fish tackle box or divider used for tools (screws and bolts) as holders to stand decks of cards in. It makes the table far more neater and things take up a lot less space. The decks stay in their place and it makes it easy to flip a used or discarded card by just placing it behind the corresponding deck facing a different direction so you can shuffle when you get to the back. I think about Relic and Abomination with how useful the tackle box is with cubes, coins and cards. Games that have a lot of decks scattered all over that aren't necessarily in your hands or player space, Kind of like the resource and production cards in Catan. Used first aid kits also have strange sections that will just fit perfectly with certain games and allow you to scoop things easy.
Making the experience more lived in is such an underrated part of enjoying board games, so I think it's cool there are so many little ways to make things easier/homier
Box inserts, sleeves, resource bowls, card holders, and any plastic/metal/wood upgraded components
Dude, the labelmaker is such a great idea! Oftentimes my friends want to help me clean up but they don't know where to put what and I have a general idea hiw I want to sort it, so I do it alone because we don't want to mix things up. With labeled bags everyone could help and speed up the process.
Also, the table mat... I made the mistake to buy 4 seperate mats but we never use them because they are either too big or too small. But with a table-sized mat that problem would be gone. I'm kind of irritated that I haven't come up with this idea myself.
Very helpful tips, thank you!
I love coloured silicon muffin cups as ressource holders. We can easily colour-code them with the ressources and they will not break if dropped.
Oh my gosh that’s such a great idea
I carry a piece of black felt to cover tables. For $10 it started as a 4 x 10 sheet in a package, and I cut it down to 4 x 4.5 feet. Perfect.
Tks for the tip about the label maker! This is so helpful (and not only for board games)! Cheers from Brazil 🍃
I have some nice round wooden bowls for my tokens. Definitely elevates the experience.
Great video, thank you
Whoa. So many great things. I think I need to buy all said things now lol.
Loved this video. Some of the points are overworked but probably that is just me, as someone new to boardgames would like the amount of detail. I would never manage with the case, though. The game box art is part of the gaming experience for me.
I appreciate the honestly and feedback. Definitely a work in progress
Enjoyed the vid, thank you.
For games where players have hidden tokens behind their player boards, I use opaque bags. Typically, games provide cardboard screens to hide tokens, but when players move around the table, someone might accidentally see something they shouldn't. Using the opaque bags helps prevent this, as players can store their tokens inside and keep everything hidden, even while moving around the table.
Last game I played with 6 bags (of different color, for personal touch) is Zoo Vadis.
Great video!
Ahh man, a label maker is such a great idea. LOVE that. Great, clean video! 😄
Hey thank you for watching! I absolutely love your content so I’m a bit giddy seeing your comment 😄
I use a set of terracotta pinch bowls for resources. The clear glass is "clearly" a step up!
OMG I have a label maker and how have I never thought about labeling the baggies! I no longer need to leave the one resource in the bag. Thanks for this video! Question, do you keep the boxes for all those small games?
That’s such a good question and I should have mentioned that! I do 😭 so I don’t really save space with the case but oh well haha
Great video - I use small plastic containers with lids for resource holders where they fit into the box ... so they make it easy to bring them out when setting up the game and then can put them away easily to save time. Yep using mats as well cause I am like you "can we wipe the table down to not dirty the game etc ' .... also got the coins for some games lol ... coins I have are for Viticulture, Witcher and Hogwarts battle
Varus = omigawd! Who has time to spell "various." 😂😂😂
What do you do with the boxes from the small box games when you put them in the photo cases?
It depends. There are some games that I know I will never sell so I throw those boxes but I do keep most of the original boxes. I try to nest the boxes into other boxes so that it takes up less space.
@@BoardonaShelf oh that makes sense! Thanks!
I wanted to sleeve Scout but the box is super tight, especially with all of the tokens. Do you have a different storage set up for it?
Nevermind, should have waited until the end of the video!
Do you recommend glossy or matte card sleeves? Ive been thinking about investing in some sleeves for a few games like wingspan and clank but im very indecisive about glossy vs matte since ive never bought sleeves before.
That's a great question and my opinion on that has actually changed over time. Initially I was only getting matte sleeves because they felt more deluxe and reduced the glare of overhead lighting. However, the matte sleeves can occasionally blur the text on cards and make the cards harder to read which ended up being enough for me to switch to glossy sleeves (plus matte is a little bit more expensive).
my personal favourites are mayday premium glossy sleeves. they dont obscure the text like matt sleeves but also dont have any glare. they always look really elegant on my cards
So pleased I found you! Great channel and love the good vibes. 💚 Those iron clays are going on the xmas list! And I wonder if they sell the Merchants Of The Dark Road coins separately? 🤔 They are so nice.
You can buy them separately and I highly recommend it if you love the game. I know I do and the coins just add a nice touch to the experience!
Great video 😊 Could you please provide the dimensions of your token bowls?
Of course! My glass token bowls have a diameter of 3.5 inches and a height a little shy of 1.5 inches. There's an amazon link in the description of the video if you're interested in buying something similar to what I bought. Thanks for watching :)
Been using a label maker for a couple of months now. Love it! I also put tiny labels on the board for minor rules that are easily forgotten. Table mats can be expensive. I bought a yard of felt. Works! But it also collects tiny hairs. 😢 mats for mahjong are cheaper than game table mats, but also smaller. Yes! Love metal coins! I bought a mix of silver and bronze pirate coins from Alibaba (500 for $80) and blinged out several games: Architects of the West Kingdom, Jamaica, etc. Anywhere nondescript coins are used. Silver for higher values, bronze for less. OMG!! Getting a photo case now!!
Have you checked out Board Game Butler? I've been getting tons of use out of my set.
That was my number 7! I’ve really been loving them. My only hold up is that most of my boards that warp are the dual layer boards and those don’t fit on them.
No dice tower? I use mine frequently, I made it myself off of an online blueprint. Took less than one day and sounds cool when rolling dice.
I really do need to invest in a cool dice tower. I play King of Tokyo fairly frequently and I've always had this fantasy of playing that game with a dice tower that is king kong climbing the empire state building.
@@BoardonaShelf Oh that sounds cool. I definitely recommend one. That sound is dopamine!
What is the link to the label maker?
The label maker I use is the Phomemeo P3100D which uses a phone app. However I’ve also used the Brother brand label makers and those work great too!
Where your dice rolling trays at
I used to use them a lot more but once I built my game table I didn’t use them as much
Great video!
I have a question. When you put all those small card games into the photo case, do you still keep the original boxes that cards were in?
Also, if you could put all the components of an expansion into a box of the original game, do you throw away the expansion’s box?
I always have this problem of keeping empty boxes because either the artwork of the box is too beautiful, or in case I want to sell it later…
Ah yes I do still keep the original boxes for the most part. Some of the games that I have in the photo case I have gotten rid of the box because I don't think I'll ever sell them or if I ever wanted to take it out of the case they would probably be fine in a bag. I definitely understand you though, I can't get myself to get rid of the box for High Society even though I know I will never sell the game.
Not sure if I’m late to this idea but card sleeving Scout is so genius. My poor cards are visibly worn out from numerous plays 😅 Awesome video again 🫶🏽 Also video with Paul when? 👀🥹
Paul is going to make a video soon on his favorite games to play in the morning, over tea, or at a cafe so be on the look out for that one!
@@BoardonaShelf Can’t wait!!
I like the wear and tear on the cards, gives them character. Plus its a $10 game, if the cards are so worn I literally cant read them I can get another copy any time, and sleeves feel like sh*t
@@RawrBargleI used to feel the same way - until I went to buy a new copy of a favorite card game and it was no longer available. Then eventually it was reprinted and the new version was not as good as the original.
@@PamOrl I find it highly unlikely I would ever wear out my cards enough to warrant having to buy an entire new copy of it.
I have seen small games before, buy none so small that fit into photo cases.
Yeah they’re mostly smaller card games
First, I absolutely love your videos! Thank you for posting some awesome content. Secondly, I am definitely a sucker for upgraded components, especially metal coins. I'm currently trying to find a good set up metal coins to go with River of Gold that won't require me to spend a lot of money also, hahaha. I also love playmats and token holders as well! One thing I would add that makes organizing and setup and teardown easier, and also acts as token holders, is GameGenics Token Silos! They come in little cases with their own removable token holders, so you just remove what you need and place it on the table. I absolutely love them and use them to organize so many games. Also, for games that have loose cards, I absolutely love are the clear plastic playing card holder boxes. They are relatively inexpensive and will usually hold a single poker sized card deck, 52 cards or less, and snap close to hold the cards securely. They are great for keeping cards in place!
Card sleeves are so annoying and unnecessary, and you say it’s not big deal if someone is damaging your property but it is a big deal, say hey please treat my game with respect, and any decent human being should listen, if they don’t then don’t invite them to board game night, and like how is a flimsy ass sleeve gonna stop a chronic card bender from doing it anyway
I have found sleeves to be very useful in some (not all cases). You may be surprised with how some quality sleeves can increase the stiffness of the card.
Another, and perhaps the main reason I really enjoy sleeves is because they preserve cards pretty well so if I decide to sell or give away a game the cards are basically in new condition when I give them the game.
Like I said in the video I’m not as big on them as I used to be. But I do find them useful in a lot of cases.
@ for people who plan on selling games I see why they’re useful, but other than that they just make the experience less fun imo
I love how sleeved cards play and shuffle
@ i tried and just found it slightly annoying, I’m sure for some people tho sleeves are the way to go
@@opuppeto4054 Sleaved cards are much easier to shuffle without damaging, plus I can eat snacks without messing up the cards. Win win.