Our board game travel case is one of our favorite things we’ve created. 

Whether you are looking for a way to quickly and easily take board games on the road with you or you need a way to save shelf space, this case can be a great solution!

It’s completely customizable and easy to set up!

Find a list of all the games in our case here in this living blog post.

What Case We Use

We use this 4×6 photo storage case. It comes with 16 boxes that are the perfect size to store many smaller and medium sized games — especially those that are card based. 

You can also choose to order just the 4×6 boxes without the case to keep them in. We have purchased a few extra 4×6 boxes and find we like the ability to uniformly store games (like love letter which comes in a pouch) so that everything is more organized. This also makes it easy to quickly swap games in and out of the travel case.

For labels I love this retro embosser that comes with three tapes and is super reasonably priced. We’ve also tried a label printer which works well though I’ll admit I like the character of the embossed tags much better.

How We Add the Rules

In many cases, the rules fit into the box. However, sometimes the rules do not. When that happens, we look for the rules online. Many game publishers provide a copy of the rules on their website for players to view or download. 

When we locate them, we’ll create a QR code that, when scanned with your phone’s camera, pulls up those rules. To make the dinosaur QR code for our cases we used the QR code generator on Chrome’s web browser. Press the Share icon and click Create QR code. Suuuuuper slick. Plus dinosaur.

There are also many free sites that will generate QR codes for you.

What Games Fit in the Case

Short Answer: Tons.

Here’s a list of a few we have in ours

Always Ready to Hit The Road!

Having a box of games ready to toss in the car at any time has been amazing. We love having a curated case of games ready to go at any moment. We try to fill the case with a good variety of games. At least one or two large group games, quick to learn card game options, a few for the kids, and couple more thinky games for us.

Is staring at the shelves and imagining all the things you could possibly play on your trip part of the fun? Absolutely! And we still do that! But when we’re heading out for a quick visit with the grandparents, or need to save space in the car on a road trip this case is unbeatable! Plus there’s no risk of your original boxes getting damaged on the road!

But What About the Boxes? 

I know what you’re thinking. “Oh my goodness! I could never get rid of the boxes!”

I get it. Truly I do. In many cases we do not get rid of the original box. This is primarily a case made for travel. So we might put a game in the travel box for a few months, and then switch it out later for a different game when we’re ready for a change. 

However, it is true that sometimes we do get rid of the boxes. (*gasp*) A game might enter this case because it’s original box was damaged or an obnoxious size (tuck box games or those in tins like Abandon All Artichokes for example.) 

This storage case has been excellent for helping us save shelf space.

Some games are truly just a deck of cards but come in a large box to increase shelf appeal and justify a higher price point. (Point Salad and Machi Koro are two big offenders of “boxing air”.) Opening up a box of air is probably my biggest pet peeve as a board gamer. I may not want to house the big box on my shelf, but that doesn’t mean I want to get rid of the game either. 

What I recommend for the boxes is pretty simple: If you’re worried you may regret putting the game in the case, keep the original box! Boxes we want to keep we’ll nest inside each other and place in an unused corner of a closet or the garage. If we ever want to put it back in the original box, we know right where to go! 

I’m not trying to squeeze huge, big box games in this case. I’m only concerned with games that are either in boxes much too large, damaged, or awkward. If the components don’t fit, then it stays in the original box. You won’t catch me on here recommending chucking the box and storing Ticket to Ride or Gloomhaven in Zip Lock bags. Not my thing.

Won’t You Play the Games Less if You Can’t See Them on the Shelf?

This is probably the second, most commonly voiced concern I get from folks on Instagram every time I share our case. And my answer to this is pretty simple: No. I play the games just as much in the case as I do if they were on the shelf in their box. 

If anything, I play some of them more. 

I rarely ever grab a game to play because I saw it’s box on my shelf. We choose our games to play based on what we’re feeling like. Heck, all our games are hidden away anyhow.

If I want to play a quick two player strategy game, I’m not any less inclined to select Targi just because it’s in my travel case. When the kids ask to play Similo, I can more easily grab the game because all three of our Similo sets are together in a single case. Noone forgot we had it just because we couldn’t see it every day. 

Be it a shelf full of games or books, I think we become blind to what we see constantly. Placing a game in a photo case is no different than having it disappear in a crowd of boxes. 

As with anything, this is personal preference! We know ourselves and have seen, after using this case for a long time, that it has no negative impact on playing the games inside.

Even if you aren’t interested in getting rid of your original boxes, this case can still be a great travel solution for the next time you want to save space in your luggage but also bring a ridiculous number of board games on your camping trip! 

Ideas From Our Community

After sharing about our case for over a year, we’ve had ideas come in from our friends on Instagram for ways that they’ve used this case beyond just saving shelf space.

Many have shared about how they’ve made a case for family, friends, or a child off to college. This touching gift is an amazing way to send your loved one off on their next big adventure with games that feel like home and will help them make new memories while away. (When I tell you my heart just melts at this and thinking about my own kids leaving for college much too soon…)

Others have shared that they use this for all their personal camping trips or in an AirBNB they manage for their guests. (How fun!?!) Some have shared that they purchased duplicates of the games they loved so they both lived on the shelf and in the case.

Many more grab a case to use solely for travel. Bring your games with you on a train, car trip, or cruise then unpack everything when you get home!

It’s all about fitting it to what you need!

Recap

4×6 Case We Use
4×6 Boxes in bulk
Label Embosser

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