Comparing 8 of the Best Custom Board Game Inserts
This Fall, Adam and I have been hard at work assembling, organizing, and testing out the best custom board game inserts. I think I might have wood glue permanently stuck to my finger tips! But we’re happy to take one for the team to find the best inserts to help organize your favorite games.
Custom inserts are a unique upgrade for board gamers. They can be the difference between getting your game to the table often, and having it gather dust on the shelf because you don’t want to go through the sometimes 10, 15, or even 20 minute process of setting the game up and taking it down. (yes, some games can take that long!) That can add a ton of time, cutting into your playtime – especially if you’re a family with kids like us and are squeezing in games between naps and bedtime wakings.
Although the priority of this test was to find which inserts we feel are best, each and every insert we tested would help improve any game’s organization!
So let’s get to it!
We chose these inserts based on our own personal use, their high Amazon and Etsy ratings, and your recommendations you shared with us!
Our criteria: of course overall organization – the insert must make the set up and tear down process easier and less of a pain point. Ease of assembly, durability were similarly important. And finally, usefulness during play – does the insert serve a purpose during the game, eliminating the need for things like bowls, card trays, etc.
Our goal is for this to be a helpful resource for you and take the risk out of guessing which board game insert company is best for your needs before buying. These are general impressions of the insert quality – not each game that each company provides inserts for. It is important that you read the product details carefully before ordering an insert to ensure that it works for your specific game plus any expansions, sleeved cards or upgrades you may wish to use with it.
If you’re ready to upgrade your game’s insert, I’m confident there’s a company with the perfect one for you here!
For those inserts that require glue, we recommend these options:
For Wooden Inserts
For Foam Inserts
You may also benefit from a hobby mallet.
* Inserts Presented in Alphabetical Order
Broken Token
Material Type: Wooden Inserts
Assembly Required: Yes. Glue Required
Number of Inserts Listed: 140+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Lords of Waterdeep & Marvel Legendary
The Broken Token is a well-established board game insert company, and we have used their Card Organizer for the Hobby Lobby Wooden Artist Case to store our Marvel Legendary set for years. The aesthetics of the organization are straightforward, with the occasional design elements added. These are no nonsense inserts. You must assemble these inserts yourself, and wood glue was required. Our build was straightforward but still took a little more than an hour to complete.
Broken Token offers a vast amount of inserts that are focused on functionality in storage and setup. While it can take a while to assemble, Broken Token provided excellent videos to support their customers through the whole process. These instructional videos were the best of any insert we tested, showing how to assemble and store the game pieces. The sheer number of game inserts available makes Broken Token a good option for almost any game you need an insert for, especially those with many, many expansions requiring a more custom organization option.
Folded Space
Material Type: Foam Core
Assembly Required: Yes – Glue Required
Number of Inserts Listed: 150+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Tapestry and Castle of Burgundy (we have the older version)
See our Tapestry insert video here.
Folded Space inserts are made of a sturdy foam core, which is great because it doesn’t add too much extra weight to the game once assembled. Their newest design is made on color-printed foam, which makes the insert more functional and eye-catching. Older designs are standard basic gray foam.
The insert design did speed up assembly and token organization for the games we tested. Assembling requires glue. In addition to the instructions there was also a very nice video of the build you could follow along with which was very helpful. Even with that, our Tapestry insert build required about 2 hours. The foam fit together smoothly and, once glued, held together well. Folded Space is great about releasing updated versions of their inserts when new expansions are released.
Despite the build time, these inserts tend to be a good value. If you are worried about the weight of your game with the addition of an insert, Folded Space is the way to go.
Game Tamer
Material Type: Wooden
Assembly Required: No
Number of Inserts Listed: 50+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Tapestry and Viticulture
See our video of the Viticulture Insert here.
Game Tamer wooden inserts are straightforward designs that come preassembled. *Angels Singing!* There are very few extra design elements on their inserts, but the elements that do exist aim to increase the functionality of the insert, helping users know which components go where. These inserts also have a very beautiful rich wood tone to them.
We loved the design of the Tapestry’s insert and prefer it overall to folded space due to both the wooden aesthetics and overall usable design. The player trays are uniform and the boxes for landmark buildings easier to put away. This insert greatly decreased what was once a long set up and tear down process.
We were slightly disappointed with the insert for Viticulture with the Tuscany expansion. The website did not state that you couldn’t keep your original Viticulture board in the box, and there is a lot of unused space in the design that, if reworked, could likely fit the mini expansions like Visitors in the design, making it an even better option for Viticulture.
While we loved that the inserts were pre-assembled, the only wooden inserts we tested that came preassembled in fact, we wish there was more support for customers in how to pack the game. There is a quick gif of the box being loaded on the product page which I had to watch approximately 1000 times to know where everything went. Overall we think their inserts are very reasonably priced, especially for being pre-assembled, and function well during the game.
Laserox
Material Type: Wood
Assembly Required: Yes – Snap Fit – We found glue to be required
Number of Inserts Listed: 200+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Earth
See our video of the Earth insert here.
I was very impressed with the design of the Earth Insert from Laserox. They created two trays for tokens so you could have resources on both ends of the table. The design worked to accommodate both sleeved cards but also maintained a lot of space for cards in potential future expansions.
The insert included both functional and fun designs engraved. It looks beautiful and really fits the theme of the game well adding to the experience. The insert has a few nice interlocking designs to minimize the chance of your game becoming jostled. Everything stays nicely in place and they even factored in areas for discards to be placed during the game. A very nice touch to improve the player experience.
The assembly did take some time and required a hobby hammer/rubber mallet to get everything into place. The instructions stated that glue would not be needed, but we found that to not be the case. Once the weight of the cards are added many, though not all, joints come loose and need to be glued to secure it long term.
Laserox has great written and video instructions on how to assemble and organize the insert. They have a lot of inserts to support a huge variety of games with reasonable price points based on game size.
PRINTserts
Material Type: Plastic
Assembly Required: No
Number of Inserts Listed: 115+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Meadow
Watch our video of PRINTserts here.
We found these inserts both sleek and highly functional. The insert design was great about including the expansion content into the base box but still keeping it separate if we didn’t feel like playing with the expansion. The little sliding doors that keep the components secured in their box are the nicest touch and something you just can’t get with a wooden insert. We both preferred this lid system over the acrylic lids.
We loved that this insert was ready right out of the box. No assembly required. There are no written/video instructions on how to organize the insert, but there are multiple detailed photos on the store that were helpful.
ShipShape Gamer
Material Type: Wooden
Assembly Required: Yes – Snap Fit – No glue required
Number of Inserts Listed: 25+ available listed
Game of the Insert We Tested: Tiny Epic Dinosaur
Watch our video of the ShipShape Gamer insert here.
I love the acrylic lids on the ShipShape Gamer inserts! It held the dino meeples in securely while providing excellent visuals for organizing the pieces. Before this insert, the game had a lot of box lift as we tried to stuff all the components back into the tiny box, but now everything fits great and works perfectly during play.
The assembly was smooth, but we benefited from using a rubber mallet. We did use glue on one tray but it wasn’t overly necessary if you don’t have any glue. We did, so we used the tiniest drop on one corner of one tray. On the whole, I was very impressed with the snap fit.
We also loved the smell of this insert and never want it to lose that wonderful campfire scent.
I only wish there were more inserts for games available from The ShipShape Gamer because the quality of the product is excellent.
Store All The Bits
Material Type: Plastic
Assembly Required: No
Number of Inserts Listed: 30+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Furnace Travel Box and The Loop
Store All The Bits has some of the most interesting inserts with their travel boxes. The travel box replaces the box entirely with a new compact, organized solution. I love how it took two boxes and shrunk them down to one smaller box while being highly functional. Admittedly, this won’t be for everyone, and I’m not quite sure if it’s for me either, but I think it’s a really smart idea. The Furnace travel box without the expansion is even smaller and such an ingenious idea.
The Loop design was well made, and the colored plastic made it easy to know how everything was stored. I highly recommend these inserts, but there are fewer options of available games than some of the other insert companies.
TowerRex
Material Type: Wood
Assembly Required: Yes – Snap into place – (Glue still Needed)
Number of Inserts Listed: 145+ available inserts
Game of the Insert We Tested: Parks, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Wingspan
TowerRex makes potentially the best looking inserts on the market. They are works of art, and as much an experience as they are an organization solution. The assembly process took time, but written instructions were easy to follow. The pieces snapped into place, but you will definitely want to have glue nearby. Many of the holders from each of the three inserts we sampled required glue to stay assembled.
They are thoughtfully designed to be utilized during the game. We specifically loved the Wingspan design – the cards organizer is how it always should have been! Some of the pieces do seem quite delicate, particularly the Quacks chest for the tokens, so you may want to keep that in mind when selecting for your game.
If I had to get another insert today, PRINTserts would be the first place I would look.
Lightweight, functional, and well designed.
The elegance of the design really sets the Tower Rex inserts apart from the field. These are the right amount of “extra” for your favorite game.
A special thank you to the teams at Broken Token, Folded Space, Game Tamer, Laserox, Printsert, ShipShapeGamer, Store All the Bits, and Tower Rex for providing insert samples for review and making this guide possible.
As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.
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