Guide to Organizing Small Box Games
🚧 This post is very much still under construction, but, as I start to compile resources, I wanted to 🚧 have a centralized location to direct others
What are Small Box Games?
Small box games are simply card games and board games that have a low enough component count and a small enough storable footprint that they can be "re-boxed" in a 4x6 photo case.
Which Games Work?
Most games that have one deck of cards and a handful of tokens work. Games that have a low component count and a huge box are great candidates to be "re-boxed" even though their original box would definitely not be considered small. In some cases, depending on your preferences, it can even make sense to "re-box" a game with a big box into two 4x6 photo cases because of how much space you save. Splendor is a great example of this. It technically takes two photo cases to fit all of Splendor's components, but, for my taste, the smaller footprint is well worth it.
While not an exhaustive list, John Brown (BGG Username: @brown02134) has put together a fantastic list of games that are able to be "Re-boxed" into 4x6 photo cases.
Why "Re-box" Games?
- Space - For those of us with large game collections or small game storage spaces, every square inch of storage space matters. A typical photo case storage box can fit 12-16 4x6 photo cases. For reference, two photo case storage boxes fit comfortably in a typical Ikea Kallax cube. So, roughly 24 to 32 small box games can easily fit in the same space usually reserved for 4-6 large box games.
- Uniformity - Small box games have some of the most irregular sizes among all board games. On one side of the spectrum, you've got the tiny little Oink! games boxes that change depth depending on components all the way up to games like For Sale whose box is notoriously way too big for the components. "Re-boxing" these games into photo cases allows for all of these games to be stored and displayed in a uniform matter.
- Card Sleeves - Small box games tend to be quicker games and quicker games tend to be played many more times... at least in our house. To that end, whether due to card wear or game rarity sometimes collectors want to sleeve the cards for their games. There is much debate on whether this is worth it in the hobby and this isn't the place for that argument. But, if you are a person who occasionally sleeves your cards, you may have noticed that once they are sleeved they don't always fit back in the box that the game came in. "Re-boxing" in photo cases almost always provides the extra space needed for a sleeved game.
- Travel - The hard plastic, water-resistant photo cases make travel a breeze. Throw a couple of "re-boxed" games into a bag or your suitcase and you've got hours of entertainment all the while not worrying about crushing the cardboard box or the game inside.
Getting Started
Organizing your small box games is as easy as picking up the right gear and setting some time aside to start "re-boxing."
Step 1: Decide How Many Photo Cases You Need
You can start small with only one storage box, usually 12-16 photo cases, or like me, you can go all in and try to "re-box" every game small box game in your collection. I'd recommend checking John Brown's list of games (linked above) to see which games may be good candidates, but having an idea of how many games you have to "re-box" right now will help with step 2.
Step 2: Purchase Photo Case Storage Box
Just about any Photo Case Storage Box system works for this organization project, but here's a link to the one that I use. LINK One thing to keep in mind if you shop around a bit for other options, is that photo cases come in colored or not colored translucent boxes. I recommend the not-colored photo cases, see above link, because I like to add Photo Case Covers (see below).
Step 3: Migrate Small Box Games into their New Homes
This is both the most satisfying and difficult step of the process. It takes a bit of time, but when you get done, you have a nice, tidy, organized case of games and a huge pile of boxes. You'll look at the pile of boxes and your first thought will be, "wow, that's incredible!" and then you will realize that you have a huge stack of beautiful cardboard boxes that need to be recycled (hardest part 😅).
What about the rulebooks that don't fit? This is a very commonly asked question which I also found myself asking at first and the simplest answer is to store them inside the storage case on top of the photo cases. Other suggestions I've seen include:
- Storing original rules in a gallon-sized ziplock next to the storage case.
- Going fully digital with your rulebooks by making a cloud folder with rules PDFs for "re-boxed" games.
- Printing off rules on standard sheets of paper that are easier to fold and fit into the photo case.
Next Steps
After you've "re-boxed" your small box games into photo cases, it's time to organize them. The next three things are all optional, you can do one, none, or all. But I'd recommend that whether you do any of the optional organization steps below that you take the time to alphabetize your photo case collection. It makes finding your games a lot easier when it's time to play.
Photo Case Covers:
One of the cool parts of storing photo cases, whether in the storage box or on the shelf is that their spine faces outward. This makes it a perfect place to give information about the game in the photo case. The name is an obvious place to start, but including player count, playtime, and weight make it very easy to survey a huge swath of games quickly to find the perfect game or two for game night.
Boardgame Barrio has done all of this and more with the Small Box Game Cover library that they've been creating for those of us who want to spruce up photo cases and help them to feel a bit more like the original boxes. Here is a LINK to the Google Drive Folder of covers that they've made. Definitely check it out and if you end up using any of their
(Boardgame Barrio's shelf in action!)
Labels:
Whether printable stickers, fancy labels from a maker, or simply a piece of paper chronicling the games inside, labeling your storage containers with the names of the games kept within can be a great step towards getting your small box collection in order and helping easily identify what games are where when stored in the case on the shelf.