Chits.  Dice.  Miniatures.  Stuff.  Tokens.

ALL OVER!!!  EVERYWHERE!!!!!

If you’re like me, and you’re not because then you would be writing this, and I would be reading this, and it would be really weird especially since you’d be living in my house, I love board games but tend to get overwhelmed by the amount of parts, pieces, dice, cardboard, etc.

Let’s rewind for a minute.

I’m not an organized person.  Once I get organized, you can count the seconds until it reverts back into chaos and clutter.  A perfect example would be my tool bench.  It’s separated into: wet stuff, stuff you plug-in, and heavy things.  I know where stuff is, but if I asked you to get me a screwdriver, you’d be staring at shelved that look I stuffed the trash heap into.

Let’s look at some games, and a breakdown of parts, shall we?  Well, too bad, we’re doing it anyway.

Ghost Stories – 4 game boards, 9 village tiles, 5 dice, 65 cards, 53 assorted tokens, 14 miniatures

Elder Sign – 1 clock, 8 dice, 76 small cards, 80 large cards, 144 assorted tokens (WTF?)

D&D: Legend of Drizzt – 40 miniatures, 32 dungeon tiles, 22 edge tiles, 200 cards, 200+ tokens (Really??)

Arkham Horror – Not even gonna tell you.  Way too much!!!

So, you see my point.  Games are fun, but getting everything ready to use can be a very daunting task.  And if you’re like me, and you’re not because you would have probably had ham for lunch when I prefer turkey, organization isn’t your strong point.

But wait.  What’s this?

Why, it’s the Plano Molding Company!  Originally designed for fishing and hunting storage, they make plastic boxes in a variety of sizes that fit your games perfectly!  While, they were not designed for games, they are amazing well made to store your gaming components.  I’m not sure if I’d put a $500 Warhammer army in there, but I’m sure you can find a Plano box that would fit it WITH foam to protect them.

There are many different boxes, and finding the right one might take some research, but getting all your game pieces organized cuts down on setup and breakdown time, allowing you to play more games.  Another big plus for me is that anyone can easily identify the parts need to play game, and help with the set up.

The Plano boxes used in the photos are:

I’ll never buy another game without buying a Plano box to go along with it.

What do you use to organize your games?