Board Game Storage: Carcassonne

For a birthday a few years ago my wife purchase me a Carcassonne Big Box: the base game and multiple expansions in one box (and the box was big at 39" x 18.75" x 55.75").  (She claims I had mentioned being interested in it; I think she was reading my mind and gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received because it was a complete surprise.)  But the Big Box was way too big for what boils down to a large stack of cardboard tiles.  My experience in condensing my game of Settlers of Catan gave me confidence that something similar could be done here.

Back to Hobby Lobby with a pile of Carcassonne tiles in tow, searching for boxes that these tiles could fit in neatly.  I'm sure the Hobby Lobby staff were not quite sure to do with the grown man sitting on the floor at the back of the store, trying box after box in various permutations, but my efforts made them (a small amount) of money that day.  The result is the cleanest, densest game storage box to date.

Along the back of the larger wooden box are my self-designed and hand-crafted tuck-boxes for the player game pieces.  Unlike the treasure chests in my Catan box, these comfortably fit all the pieces I have with no special stacking effort.  The manilla one on the end is empty and I leave it in as a spacer to keep all the others snug relatively immobile.

In front of the player piece tuck boxes are three more wooden boxes that contain all the Carcassonne tile sets; more details in the following picture.  The scoring board in front lays on top of the player pieces and the three tile boxes quite easily.  The lid closes cleanly with no hassle.

Looking at the three tile boxes you can see I've made tuck-boxes for each expansion that I own.  Working from left to right you can see Inns and Cathedrals (green), base set (no tuck-box), Tower (black), King and Cult, Count, and River II (all three in the blue box), Traders and Builders (gray), Princess and Dragon (red), Bridges, Castles and Bazaars (manilla), Abbey and Manor (yellow). I made the labels on the flaps for each one and the underside of the flap lists the number of tiles for each expansion; I can't tell you how much of a good idea that has turned out to be when it comes time for clean-up.

And when there are extra pieces for an expansion that don't fit in the tuck-boxes...?

Using some scrap metal I had laying around and some not-very-strong magnetic-tape, I constructed caps that created an enclosed space in the lids of the two appropriate boxes.  I used a little bit of gaffer tape (motto: "We do all the things you think duct tape can do but actually can't.") to create pull tabs to make the caps easily removable.  It takes a little wiggling to get these metal caps into place but the don't come out inadvertently.

Using a similar principle, I created a false bottom for the large box to store the instructions and the tile-holder that comes with Tower.  Unfortunately, the magnetic tape is only marginally strong enough to hold the metal lid in place.  Most of the time its not an issue as the box is either resting on the table bottom side down or being carried with a hand or two helping hold the bottom in place.

Incidentally, deconstructing the tower and folding it flat is probably not a good way to ensure its longevity.  Its a wonderful thematic addition to the game and provides an easy way to pass around the stacks of tile for all players to draw from but the regular assembly and dis-assembly will certainly shorten its life.  It is fun while it lasts, though.

Give how nearly perfectly this set-up stores all that I have of Carcassonne, I'm reticent to acquire any more expansions.  There aren't that many that I'm missing and what I have is more than enough, especially when multiple expansions are used in a single game.  And to be honest, Catapult really doesn't interest me that much.