[Insert] Storage Solutions and Setup

 I think that I have mentioned this a few times on this blog, but I'm a sucker for a game that has excellent inserts. Games that have an insert that not only makes it easy to set up the game, but also tear down the game are some of my favorite games. Setting up a game can make or break how much I want to play it and that is often mitigated by a great insert. If I have to spend a bunch of time setting up and tearing down a game, I'm less likely to play it over a game that has a quicker setup due to the included insert.

However, games that include fantastic inserts tend to get a pass from me because I love the way that good inserts fit into the box and store things. While it's not yet come out, the insert for the deluxe edition of Critter Kitchen looks to be absolutely amazing (see below for render of the insert, via the Kickstarter page). Not only is it being designed by GameTrayz, but the player trays also double as storage for the player components, which is just absolutely brilliant.

I am so excited to see how this all fits in the box, and how big the box will be!

Another fantastic insert is contained within the Collector's Edition of Castles of Mad King Ludwig. Once again designed by GameTrayz (I think I just really like their insert designs), the game fits all of the beautifully updated pieces and boards into a rather large box, but also does a great job of easing the setup of the game. It holds everything, including the fantastic plastic room, card, and token holders that sit on the double sided and triple layered score track. It's an elegant solution that makes setting up this game, which could be a chore, an easy prospect and it does that well.

This looks so much better than the render in real life. The trays are this beautiful royal purple color.

For games that have a custom insert that has been designed by the creators of the game to hold everything, I do want to give a huge shoutout to Brotherwise Games and their insert for Dungeon Kart. It's fantastically designed and fits everything contained within the box without any extra wasted space. I love a good insert, but ones that leave a bunch of empty space in the box are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I will accept a box that needs to be big for it's components, but making a large insert just to have your box appear bigger is just frustrating to me.

This fits so well and I'm so impressed by how it all sits so nicely in the box.

Another game that has an absolutely fantastic insert, that not only works to keep the components well sorted and easy to set up, but also offers additional changes to setup, is the insert for Life in Reterra. While I know that Eric M. Lang is known for amazing games with fantastic miniatures and strategically deep gameplay, he absolutely knocked it out of the park with Life in Reterra and the lighter game that was created. The storage inserts in the game also act as ways to set up various modules to play the game with that players can mix and match to have up to three separate setups, so they're functional in several different ways. It's brilliant and clever and I have to hand it to Eric for making such a clever storage solution.

Using an insert to help with game variations is an absolutely brilliant big brain move.

There's also the inserts that come from third-party after market creators, such as the Broken Token or Folded Space among several other companies that provide storage solutions. While I haven't yet had the opportunity to utilize anything third party yet, the idea of being able to purchase something to help with storage is something that appeals to me greatly. I do have the Folded Space insert coming with my order of Thunder Road: Vendetta – Maximum Chrome, so I'm very excited about that, especially since it looks so good in the photos (below).

While this will need to be put together, I'm sure it will look incredible.

Last but not least, we have player designed inserts. This can be anything from a 3D-Printed insert (such as the one for Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure I have pictured below) or a mishmash of small containers that were obtained from a craft store/hardware store/etc. I personally like the 3D-Printed storage solution as it feels a bit more customized towards the game and less "cheap" to me, but that's my personal opinion. The only downside is that I don't personally own a 3D Printer myself and I have to rely on the good graces of a friend to help me out with the inserts.

The game cannot be stored on its side due to this, but that's a small price to pay.

All in all, I think that having a great insert that helps not only to organize your game, but also assist with storage and setup/teardown is almost essential to most games nowadays, especially with all the little parts that come in many of the games. Plastic bags and cardboard inserts might be nice and cheap, but it also makes me want to play your game less, especially if it's a bit of a bear to set up because of the number of components.

I'm a bit on the fence about this one to be honest. Part of me wants to have nicely designed inserts for games, but I know that that could potentially case the cost of the game to increase for the consumer. But on the other hand, third-party inserts or player-made inserts do have their own costs included with them, so it becomes a bit of a "six of one, half a dozen of the other" situation. I will say this however: if you have a great insert for your game, that's probably going to end up scoring higher for me than if I have to go out and buy or make my own insert.

Give me your thoughts:What are your thoughts on inserts? Do you like them? Don't care for them and throw them away immediately? Or have you not thought about it much until this post? What is your favorite insert in a game? Do you make or buy any aftermarket inserts for games to make them easier to set up and/or store?

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*Originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 28/8/2024*