So what are some ways that you can bling out a board game, or that board games have bling?

First there are fancier editions of board games, might be called collectors edition where they only make a certain number of an ultimate edition where some of the pieces have been upgraded by the company in the game. This might be something that the company puts out like a 25th Anniversary Edition of a game, but another common spot is on Kickstarter where they will have a standard or retail edition of the game where all the pieces are normal card board or whatever it might be, and then there is an ultimate or special edition that has it’s own unique cover and upgraded pieces in it, of course which costs a bunch more.

The next biggest way that people can bling out their board game is known as a custom insert. A custom insert is especially useful for a game with lots of pieces. The main reaso for this is because while you can put the pieces into little baggies, you then have to dump them out on the table and it’s all a mess, you have to know how you put them back into the baggies, and get them to lay flat enough in the box. There are companies like Broken Token and Folded Space that create inserts for these games. A great example of how this works is Gloomhaven. In that game you have monster tokens, status tokens, damage tokens, terrain, and more, to fit that all into the box is just a mess. The insert that I have is a wooden one that I had to put together. It has a spot for all the tokens, the coins, and the monsters so you can lift out trays, keep them in their trays for storage while they are on the table, and keeps them from shifting around in the box. This doesn’t make your game looks any nicer, like a lot of the upcoming ones will, but it makes it more functional to play, especially the bigger games out there, like a Gloomhaven.

Beyond that there are a lot of other ways you can bling out a game. Board Game Geek has items known as Geek Up Bits which are plastic bits to replace the cardboard tokens already in the game, it makes it shinier and nicer. And there are a lot more items like this as well from Etsy. There are companies that are creating custom meeples for games, or 3D printing minis. You can get card holders that help you organize your place space for games like Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions. These can range from cheap little things that might cost $10 to bigger things like for Marvel Champions that might be over $100 plus shipping. All of these things are going to make the game pop on the table more.

Finally, and I mentioned this above, you can bling out your own game with a 3D printer. There are sites, such as thingiverse.com where you can get 3D printer files and print out blinged out pieces for your own game. I’ve seen people who have 3D printed terrain for an RPG and then used that in Gloomhaven as well, or printed out things specifically for Gloomhaven. Out of all of the areas, besides organizers for some of my bigger games, this really interests me, because it means that I can bling out games I want to have blinged out without having to track down some specific Etsy shop and spend a large chunk of money. Now, buying a 3D printer is obviously a pretty large chunk of money as well, but kind of as I’m thinking about slowing down some in buying games, or there are fewer this year that are really standing out to me, this would allow me to really bling out some games and have cool minis and things to practice my painting on. I’d also allow me to create set pieces more easily for D&D games as well, which isn’t a requirement, but once in a while for big epic moments, that’d be awesome.

So those are just some of the ways you can bling out your board game. Obviously, the question is why would you do that, some of it is for convenience, like the organizers, and some is just because you can. And to tie it into food, they say you eat with your eyes first, so the same can be pretty true with board games, if it looks better on a table, you’ll probably be more interested to try it and the experience itself might be better because it looks good.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Pros

• Amazing Look
• Functional design

Cons

• Some options seem less functional
• Price

The Page

This is a nicely done page, they do a good job of showing off that their product is going to be useful for a lot of board games and board gamers. This system would especially be useful if you have a smaller playing area so a game with a lot of tokens and a bigger foot print, something like Sword and Sorcery or Gloomhaven without an insert, would allow you to fee up more space on the table by storing stuff in neater compartments.

Add in the art plates, that really would allow you to create a look and feel for your game room. I really think they did a great job with the art and while I think we’ve seen some sillier looking accessories at times, this is something people would see on your table and it’d be a cool accessory as well as functional.

The one thing that I don’t like is the pledge level section. I feel like I have a general idea of everything that I’d get in the pledge, but it would be nice to see it laid out more graphically. Right now I’m looking at that list knowing that I could find out what they mean by a “body kit” but that should be laid out graphically so that the buyer can easily see.

Back or Brick

I mention in my cons, and pros and cons are pretty limited for this, but it seems like a nice functional system, but I mentioned that the price as a con. Now, let me say, I think that this price is spot on for what it should be. They had some amazing artists do work on it, they have a clearly well thought through product and design for it, but it is a tabletop accessory. If I want to upgrade my games, and I think that might be something I start to do in 2021, I want to not have it cost as much or more than most games. Comparing this to most others, it looks better, but I’m not sure, while it does seem to be very functional, that it is that much more functional than some cheaper options, or just me going to Target or Wal-Mart, or somewhere like that, and getting some little bowls. I’m also wondering how much I’d actually use it. Is this something that I’d set-up while streaming a game, and then since I’m leaving the game up, I’d just leave stuff in it, and I wouldn’t use it for other games, if so, are there better storage options that would pack back into a box for me? So for me, this is a brick. I really like it in concept and I think it’d look amazing on my table, I just wonder if it’s an accessory that I would use as much for board gaming as I hope.

How about for you, is this a back or a brick? Do you have a storage solution for tokens besides ziplock bags or for keeping them organized on the table?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.