THE CREATIVE GAMER - Game Bit Storage Obsession (aka Are You OCD Like Me?) - Part 3/3

(This is the final installment in my 3-part posting of my Game Bit Storage Obsession)

Still sticking it out with me?! There are some really interesting boxes and ideas here, so don't leave now!

SMALL CARDBOARD CRAFT / JEWELRY BOXES

Acquired from: Michael's craft box section

Not only have I found a variety of interesting plastic boxes at Michael's, I also found some nice cardboard boxes as well.

First, when I was looking to pimp out Twilight Struggle, I ran across some cardboard jewelry boxes. I bought them hoping they would fit in the box and they did! Well, they ALMOST fit. Length-wise they fit fine, but they were a little too tall. The lid itself was actually small enough but not the bottom. So, I set about cutting the box base down.

Then, I needed a way to separate the components so I cut some extra pieces of thin cardboard I had (actually, I think it was the backing from a pad of paper) and glued them into the boxes as dividers.

Here is the final result:

Plain white jewelry boxes used to hold Twilight Struggle counters.

A look inside.

Eventually I will decorate the outside of the boxes with a printout of some sort. I'm thinking a player's aid inside the box lid might also be a neat idea. Yet another project to complete!

PHOTO BOXES and TRIVIAL PURSUIT BOXES
Acquired from: Michael's craft section (photo boxes), Goodwill (Trivial Pursuit boxes)
Back in November 2010 I decided I was tired of having to all haul all of the Dominion boxes around. I had read that Dominion cards fit perfectly into Trivial Pursuit trivia card boxes. So, I went to the local Goodwill (GW) and picked up a nice looking copy of Trivial Pursuit: Genus Edition + Expansion cards box (which gave me a total of 4 trivia card boxes).

I then took all of the cards out of the card boxes and moved all the cards into the boxes and they fit very nicely! I then started looking at how to possibly arrange the boxes within the Dominon box by itself. They sorta fit in there ok, but obviously they were too tall for the box. I thought about maybe putting some foam rubber in the top of the lid to protect the tops of the cards but it just looked silly hovering above the bottom box section and it was difficult to haul around as it wasn't very stable.

So, I was a bit bummed. I loved that they fit into the TP card boxes and saw that this would save a ton of space, but I just couldn't figure out how to put it all together.

In the mean time I put together a set of files for dividers for all the cards borrowing bits and pieces from different graphics and files on Board Game Geek. Then, I printed them out, laminated and started cutting them out. Believe me there is a LOT of dividers that you need to make.

Then one day I was looking at our book shelves and realized the photo boxes we we stored our 'old' photo prints in were pretty tall. So, I grabbed one, and tried out the TP boxes with Dominion cards and dividers inside - and it fit perfectly! I immediately went to Michael's and bought a beige photo box and a black one.

Here's the one I ended up using:

Photo box from Michael's

All of the cards and components in the photo box.

 Yes, I have the following crammed in to this box: Dominion, Intrigue, Seaside, Alchemy, Prosperity, all the promo cards, all the extra treasure and VP cards (in the back), all the tokens and all the player boards (on the right and in the back)

THE CREATIVE GAMER - Game Bit Storage Obsession (aka Are You OCD Like Me?) - Part 2/3

(This is the 2nd installment in my 3-part posting of my Game Bit Storage Obsession)

Ok, I'm back. And I'm still obsessed. Are you ready for some more? Good!


CARD STOCK CARD BOXES

Acquired from: www.amazon.com (card stock), printed from www.boardgamegeek.com, www.createforless.com (paper punches), Michael's paper craft section (scissors)

Another game I made card stock boxes for is the Catan Card Game. This game has a variety of expansions and they all fit in one box but sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between the decks when you just use Hugo's Amazing tape to hold each deck separate.

There are several files on BGG (here is one example) that you can print out to card stock, cut out, fold, and glue together to make nice custom-sized card boxes. If you take your time to ensure clean cuts, score the lines and fold carefully, they come out very nice. I even used a 1/2" paper punch to cut a clean half-circle finger hold to make opening to box easier. It actually looks fairly professional when complete!

All card boxes and components in the box.

A total of 9 boxes are needed for all of the expansions.

I will say cutting out the boxes can be a bit tedious. If you try it, I suggest you invest in a nice set of SHARP scissors that are designed to cut paper. I found a nice set that has a large pair of scissors for doing the bigger cuts and a small pair for doing the smaller detailed cuts. Ultimately, it was well worth the time. BTW, be sure to let the glue dry COMPLETELY before inserting the cards into the boxes if you make them.

JEWELRY MAKING / BEAD STORAGE SYSTEMS

Acquired from: Michael's bead section, www.wargamedepot.com (counter trays)

Many of the boxes I'm showing in this thread have come from the bead section of Michael's where I've found all sorts of interesting storage options. Between the 40% and 50% coupons that are often available and the sale prices that frequently come through, you can usually get pretty good deals on them, too.

Here's another type of storage box I found: 

Plastic storage box with 24 separate round bead boxes inside.

Each small box has a screw-on lid. When I bought this I wasn't sure what I might use it for, but I had a coupon AND it was on sale, so I figured I'd pick up a couple. If anything, I could use it for an art project of some sort.

Well, for Christmas I signed up for the Secret Santa gift exchange. My Santa was PARTICULARLY awesome in that he sent me both Civilization in UNPUNCHED condition similar to one I had in my youth (and which I still haven't had the heart to punch yet) and a used copy of Samurai (an older Avalon Hill war game) which I knew nothing about.

Samurai was used and had a ton of chits all mixed together. I sorted them out into baggies and labelled the baggies. I know there are also war game counter trays but I didn't have any at the time. Later, I remembered I had this box and decided to try it out. It seemed a little strange, but why not?

Here's the filled container inside the box:

Bead containers holding Samurai chits.

THE CREATIVE GAMER - Game Bit Storage Obsession (aka Are You OCD Like Me?) - Part 1/3

In the last year I've been having fun pimping out games, upgrading them and looking for better storage solutions depending on the needs. In the course of doing this I've actively been seeking out a variety of game bit storage solutions, in particular small boxes of different varieties, plastic and otherwise.

I should back up a BIT and say that I'm OCD about game bit storage. As soon as I get a game and punch it I always have to bag each player's pieces separately, then bag all of the various chits, cubes, meeples, etc, separately as appropriate.

And, I'm one of those people that has to come to the rescue of a friend who comes over with a game and doesn't have it 'properly' bagged. I will pull out my box of baggies (yes, I have a special box just for baggies) and my Hugo's Amazing Tape (for keeping cards together) and get them all set up. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Nicely organized!

The box of baggies!

What irks me more than anything is doing a trade or purchase of a used game, have it shipped to me, and have bits and cards all mixed together and floating around in the box! Don't any of you other gamers care about your bits like I do?!

<breathe in, breath out, breath in, breath out....phewww>

Alright, I'm ok now. So, let me show you how far I go to get my games organized.

BAGGIES
Acquired from: www.boardsandbits.com
First, here we have the standard array of baggies that I'm sure you already know quite well (and if you don't, well, look CLOSELY, this is important):

Common sized baggies + Hugo's Amazing tape

HOT BOX - "Haggis" (What's in the Box?)

Hello! You're here!

Have you seen Haggis!? I've been really interested in this card game for a while. I've played and enjoyed Tichu but it requires 4 who want to play which isn't always possible. It has been said that if you like Tichu you will also like Haggis, but the advantage is that you can play with 2 or 3! There is some dispute as to how similar it is to Tichu. Frankly, I don't care how close it is as long as it's a good game. There appear to definitely be similarities which certainly begs comparison.

Anyhow, I picked up Haggis from the Jack Vasel auction. Wow, I just checked and it had 543 items, has brought in over $30,000 so far, and has another $7,000+ left to collect! Amazing!

Well, Travis Worthington sent me my copy of Haggis (2nd printing) which I received earlier this week (before anyone else got it!). Thanks Travis!

Haggis was designed by Sean Ross and is published by Travis's independent publishing company Indie Boards and Cards. They also publish Triumvirate and The Resistance, the latter of which was very popular at the EGG convention a couple of weeks ago. I'm considering pre-ordering copies of both from the next print run.

In anticipation of Wednesday gaming I opened the box and took some pics. I was hoping to get a game in Wednesday, alas, it didn't happen. I'm hoping to get it learned and played within the next week.

EGG (Eugene Games Gala) 2011 - My EGGxperience (Part 5)

This is my final installment for EGG 2011. I had a great time even though I missed out on part of Saturday. I hope Lorna continues to run EGG for years to come.  I think it's really starting to come into it's own and beginning to attract some good attention.

Between some of my turns I made sure to get up and take some pictures of other games going on around the convention. Here are some shots of what I saw:

RoadZters set up and ready to play.

EGG (Eugene Games Gala) 2011 - My EGGxperience (Part 4)

I forgot to mention yesterday that on Saturday I missed out on the game giveaways! Lorna contributes some games of her own for the drawing and FunAgain also provides some games. Early Saturday tickets are distributed and then throughout the day they were drawn from a cannister. If yours is drawn you get to go pick any game you like! My friend Bob got a copy of Onirim which he was very excited about. Three years ago I won a copy of Hoity Toity. Unfortunately I still haven't played it yet :(

Speaking of three years ago (2008) apparently that was the first year of EGG as a full 3-day convention! I had thought EGG had been running for longer than that, but apparently it had only been 1 or 2-day sessions up to then. SO, I can proudly say I was an inaugural member of EGG!

Sunday, Feb 6th - 8:00am
Despite getting home late and going to bed even later, I managed to pull myself out of bed at 8am. EGG started back up @ 9am and with it being the last day and having missed out on most of Saturday, I wanted to make sure I got started early.

One small issue this morning - I woke up with a headache, probably from not enough sleep and possibly not enough hydration. I took some Advil but never quite was able to shake it the whole day. I hate gaming with a headache, but nothing  was going to stop me today.

Because I hadn't really played any of the games at the top of my 'to play' list I had resolved to only playing new games as much as possible.

EGG (Eugene Games Gala) 2011 - My EGGxperience (Part 3)

Day 2 - Saturday, Feb 5th - 7:00am
One the 2nd day of EGG I got up pretty early after staying at EGG until midnight, then driving home, doing a bit of preparations for the morning, winding down a bit, and finally heading to bed. Pretty much a normal day for me actually (except the EGG part)!

Anyhow, our Scout Pack back in November rescheduled the snow day trip to HooDoo near Sisters, OR, to Feb 5th, 2011. At the time I didn't have my calendar with me as the online service we track our family calendar on no longer worked with my older phone, and so I didn't (couldn't) object. Little did I realize until later that this fell smack dab in the middle of EGG! Well, by the time I realized it was really too late to veto that weekend. Grrrrrr. Ah well, I will know better for next year.

And, because we had such a great time last year I knew I couldn't suggest backing out. Being a Den leader doesn't help in this regard either. There is this really nice snow park just before you get to HooDoo ski resort with this decent sized hill that drops about 50 feet at maybe a 35-40 degree angle, then has a gentler slope at the bottom and a berm at the end to help slow you down.

Catching some air!

There is no cost other than the snow pass for parking. Last year the weather was bright and sunny with a nice fresh layer of snow - perfect for sledding!