TowerRex has amazing organizers, dice towers, chit upgrades, and more. Their inserts are super easy to put together and I've bought almost all of them for the games that I own. Highly recommend them. They're also based in Ukraine, so I like supporting them.
I got my wooden system for Clans of Caledonia I believe through Ukraine. Maybe not Tower Rex. I forget the name. As much as I condemn the invasion and want to supoort Ukraine against Russia, I also remember how hostile Ukraine has been to LGBTQ+ citizens. And they've been giving our white nationalists paramilitary training. The CIA has watched the proud boys send new members to Ukraine for trainjng for years. Then they used that training for the Janiary 6 insurrection. Just food for thought.
I have a big list to add. I do own everything on my list and yes all of the items get used at some point. Game upgrades/accessories: 1. Sleeves/Custom sleeves 2. Wooden insert/organizers 3. Deck boxes 4. Metal coins 5. High quality poker chips (don't need to stay in the game box, get a set and use them for multiple games. I have Iron Clays from Roxley. I'm aware better sets exist but these are perfect for me as I'm not using them to play poker) 6. Geek bit upgrades/upgraded bits 7. Playmats 8. Better dice (some games come with generic dice and I like to swap them out with dice that match the color and aesthetic of the game) 9. Your own custom set of dice 10. Dice vault 11. Dice tower (I use it for games that take up so much space there is little room to actually chuck dice) 12. Card/tile holders (Uberstax is so amazing for this, someone in my group always asks for a set. They sell 10 pack boxes too) 13. Clipboards of various sizes (used for roll/flip and writes and for games that have full sheets to fill like many hidden movement or 1 vs all games have) 14. Bit organizers (multiple companies make these: ZenBin, Stonemaier, Dice Tower) 15. Board game clips (used to hold together games that requires multiple boards or tiles to be held together, BGGStore and ETSY have people who sell these) 16. Suction cup dart (used to pick up chits and tiles that are very close together making it difficult to pick up) 17. Pens/Pencils/Markers/Dry-Erase Markers (I have school boxes for each item, they come in handy for replacements or if you want another color. I also always have enough for all player counts. My multitude of colored colored sharpies seems to be a big hit) 18. Dice trays (similar reasons as the dice tower, but more for when each person needs to roll their own dice) 19. Box bands (those stretchy cloth bands used to keep the boxes together, some boxes just won't stay shut so out comes a band) 20. Blindfolds (for games that require you to cover your eyes, I bought funny anime eye ones that we use for games like When I Dream and Just One 21. Composition notebooks (hit up a school supplies section after school starts to buy notebooks on the cheap, I use them for games that require in depth note taking like any of the escape room games, Detective, and Sherlock Homes) 22. Dice bags (I swear some of the bags that come with some of these games are ment for a babies hand. I will either replace, substitute, or add a bag to games that need it) 23. TV with screen share technology (awesome for games with apps that are integral part of it or companion apps, makes it larger and everyone can see) 24. Bluetooth speaker (I like to play sounds and music matching the game, I most recently used this with the soundtrack for The Night Cage and nature sounds for Meadow) 25. Plano boxes (for storage and sorting pieces. My X-Wing pieces are in giant plano boxes, Krosmaster has 3 boxes, I once had Dice Masters in there, and I have a few games to where a plano box was the better option to store thing then a bit organizer or baggies) As you can see I have something for everything to make all the games more immersive and more awesome. I think that's it for now. I'll update once I remember what else I have in my collection. I have a few other things that I wouldn't add to the list as they are more one offs and only for maybe 1 game. I don't have baggies on there as that isn't an upgrade and more of a necessity for a lot of games.
My favorite upgrades are inserts and upgraded bits like tokens, dice and coins. I used to buy wood inserts you have to glue together, but I’ve switched to primarily buying 3D printed inserts instead-no assembly and much lighter weight! I’d love to get to the point where we could print our own! For “bits” I love the feel of the Geek-up bit sets I’ve purchased from BGG. Love your dice vault!
Beautiful upgrades. 🐺 For me, the number one upgrade would be poker chips. I have managed to obtain a set of used casino Paulson chips to replace any currency or point tokens. I also use Apache bank chips for train games. In my opinion, the bank chips are more expensive than Iron Clays but they are better quality. So satisfying to fiddle with the chips during in between turn down times or when AP. 😅 Another upgrade is that I use steel Indian food thali bowls for game components. I’m looking to further upgrade them to brass or copper ones. Those would look so beautiful.
Thank you. Great tips! Here are a few of my favorites... 1. I think a good organizer can be good for games that take 30-60 minutes to set up or tear down. 2. Painting miniatures for that 1 game that you like the best and want to feel warm and fuzzy just to open it up each time. 3. A Card-holder for games that have unique dual-action cards in hand while moving things on the board (War of the Ring, Gloomhaven) 4. Metal money.
Metal coins are always a staple for me. If a game offers them, I'm almost always going to get them. I do have a could wooden inserts (Scythe and Terraforming Mars) that are really great. They help get the game going really quickly! I've also been digging the Game Trayz in my Castles of Mad King Ludwig Collector's Edition. They make setup and teardown so simple!
YES to metal coins! I'm the exact same when it comes to that hahah! ohhhh thanks for pointing that out! might have to get some wooden inserts for scythe... epic! game trayz hits it out of the park-I legit get excited when I see inserts from them bc teardown will be a breeze 👌🏽
For games that do not have dual layer boards, I have gotten the clear overlays for tableau boards/trackers that keep components in order during gameplay. I recommend these if available 👍🏻
Number one would be a boardgame table so I can leave a game setup without my cat ruining it. Also my go to sleeves are Sleeve Kings for quality and price.
I like the Gamegenic matte sleeves myself. When I first started sleeving my games I used ultra pro matte sleeves as well, but got annoyed by the fronts still being glossy. Over time cards tend to stick together after to much friction from shuffling. The gamegenic matte sleeves are FULL matte and also don’t have any little emblems like the ultra pro’s. Plus they come in tons of different sizes.
The ultra pro matte ECLIPSE are quite the update. It’s a much higher quality card and ultra pros regular matte. Fantastic shuffle feel . No logo on them.
@@RzorFox The ECLIPSE sleeves are indeed absolutely fantastic sleeves... for trading-card games. Unfortunately, they're not offered in a transparent/clear back, only solid-color backs. This oftentimes precludes them from being used in board games, which may have different decks of cards with different card backs that you'd like to be able to distinguish (or to just see the art) 😞. They're also only offered in standard trading-card game size.
Gamegenic also possibly has the best deal for standard card sleeves. They have a value pack, which consists of 200 sleeves, in clear or matter which end up being 11 to 13 US dollars. Dragonshield is probably the best feeling sleeve, but their sleeves have gone up so much that I don't recommend those to board game players anymore.
100% agree on the game trays. I originally picked up a set of petri dishes for my Pandemic game and have used them for all my games, you can even see them make appearances in my how to play videos. Game trays of any type really help any game.
Tim, I am also a fellow UItraPro Matte sleeve lover! (I've been using them for all my games for about 10 years.) I have two suggestions for board game upgrades: (1) Uniform-sized, generic plastic boxes to be used for component storage/game play. They sell two pretty good sizes at Daiso Japanese Stores but my favorite are the G503 containers made by Keyway in Taiwan (but hard to find these days). Having all the containers uniform size makes the "Tetris Game" of putting away a game SO MUCH EASIER! (2) Hugo Amazing Tape. Only comes in clear on Amazon these days, but the purple was the best!
Wow NOW YOU'RE MAKING ME WANT TO CHANGE ALL MY SLEEVES 🤣🤣🤣 The matte is so good!!! I agree the problem with my usual sleeves (sleeve kings) are when im trying to take pictures, there are so much glare. Might look around and find a cheap matte sleeve, amazing videos as always tim!
My favorite are Tower Rex inserts. They are of the highest quality and so worth it (fyi they are located in Kiev so, as you can imagine, shipping takes a bit). I am also a sucker for metal coins and realistic resources.
I often choose a component to upgrade every time a larger game is brought to the table, sort of encouraging that game to come out even more after, and leading to the most played games having the best components/ease of use aspects. Recently also got into matte anti glare sleeves for everything after doing it for Sushi-Go. Does seem like from the comments, 3d printed inserts are quickly becoming standard over wood. Some games sort of should have a wood feel (Scythe, Root, GoT) but for others there are some cool printed ones out there. Like the Fury of Dracula one with a coffin holder for the dracula piece.
I would change #3, a good insert with a lid that can accommodate sleeved cards. Some honourable mentions, would be. * I have a 5mm thick game matt and I use it every opportunity, 5mm is very nice to play on. * Iron Clays make for a great money replacement, I use them for Brass, GWT, Arc Nova and almost every game that has money tokens. * I have a set of 6 timber token holders that I take with me to games, they were made by a craftsman in Australia and are so nice. * There are a whole host of storage options at the local $1 shop, I have found a container where both it and the lid make great token holders. These will often do better than baggies.
I like to 3D print fancy tokens or scenery, especially for games like Gloomhaven and Massive Darkness. Along those lines another upgrade is painting minis for games with minis - even a mediocre paint job looks worlds better than grey plastic.
it's funny to see how you battle with your craving to buy more and more games only to replace that craving with more and more upgrades 🙂. It's a hobby and a passion and obviously you have the means to indulge yourself so why not? That said, impulsive consuming is never good...
The only thing I didn't get for Dwellings of Eldervale was the screen printed resources. I should have gotten them. The token you were showing are not acrylic, they are wood with a water decal and then a varnish. But they are still wood (I have them).
I like the feel of matte, but I don't like how they slightly dull the art. And, I have a love/hate relationship with inserts. Inserts that don't accommodate sleeves, and inserts that prevent me from consolidating games with a ton of expansions drive me crazy. The expansions problem is particularly with games with a ton of minis; I usually end up ditching the inserts and piling the minis in as few boxes as I can.
Did you sleeve your magic cards for Dwellings also or only the dungeon cards? I have the upgrades and to me they really add some depth to games that I love. I do not generally upgrade a game unless I really find myself bringing it to the table often. I recently have been playing Scythe quite a bit so I upgraded the coins and the resources, debating a few 3d printed things for it off Etsy but waiting to see how much money Andromeda’s Edge is gonna be!😅😅
yessss so true! maybe there's a push and pull between some games where there would be too much of a gap without inserts and components would get dislodged...idk! that's a great point
I also use those matte Ultra Pros. Not for photographic reasons, I just like the matte appearance. I like my inserts also acting as component trays (I know most bought inserts already employ this), but I also prefer individual playing pieces to already be segregated per player with their own trays. Since I saw what Eclipse 2nd ed did with their insert, I vowed to make my own inserts, or even zip locking for smaller boxes, follow this idea to just make it easy to hand out each player components.
HAHA! i'm still debating on whether it's worth it to take the time but everyone's been saying it was a pain for sure! I think I will eventually........
I did a few groups every now and then rather than all at once and eventually they all got done! Use fine tweezers for positioning before pressing them down. Unfortunately, the cute little saddles can peel up the stickers. Waiting a bit for the stickers to settle or using a hairdryer to warm the sticker glue might help. This can be fixed by spraying all of them with water-based matte varnish… more work, but not too bad since you can put them all on parchment paper and do them all at once - plus all the pieces will be matte and easier to see!
