In my frustration at the size of the king is dead box I found this from the designer (Peer Sylvester) responding to a BGG thread on the subject:
The problem is that publishers usually have fixed box sizes. TKID doesnt fit in the small box, so the alterantive is to not publish the game (and that has actually happend to me in the past - a publisher passed on a game because it was too big for their small size box and to small for their medium sized box).
Just introducing more box sizes isnt the solution, because thats making its way harder to stock and ship games compared to have all of them in standard sizes. Its also more expensive, because this way you could order bigger numbers of the same box size.
A personal note: For a short while in the 80s Schmidt had different box sizes for all games. Downside: You cant stack them properly in your shelf. So personally, Im not angry that publishers dont custom size boxes but use standard sizes.
That kind of response irritates me a bit, not because it’s wrong but because it focuses on minor logistical challenges as being big problems versus the obvious financial incentives. Osprey have used various sizes over the years - they previously used smaller boxes for The King is Dead 1st Edition and EftAiOS and other games. Games aren’t usually shipped to/stocked by publishers in mixed batches, so having one more box size doesn’t really affect that. The only thing it really affects is small orders/direct sales, which is a logistical challenge that every online retailer manages to deal with fairly comfortably.
The reasons that do hold water are the cost/scale implications, and crucially, the ability to get away with charging more for a bigger box. If that’s what it took to get it published, then fine, but downplaying it as a factor feels a bit dishonest.
Agree that there was probably a design solution hidden in there somewhere but I do get a sense from the post that having been burned in the past he possibly didn’t want to rock the boat with the publishers preference.
Interesting dynamic between publisher and designer that I previously wouldn’t have considered.
So earlier this week I got this, which takes inefficiency to a new level: we have a deck of cards in a box, suspended in an insert which fits a non-existent second deck, and is exactly twice the size of the standard double-deck box used by the same company, just so it can have a bunch of space surrounding it.
There is no drawing/discarding mechanics in the game, so the 2-well insert is pure unmitigated cruft.
I’d just toss the main box and keep the little one if it wasn’t so ugly…
I cracked into Lost Cities last night and thought of this thread. It’s just the instructions, a deck of cards and a board. The board could easily have been replaced with a series of colored cards for the various expedition discard piles and the rules also done on cards, and just been sold in a box sized just for the cards! Would have been even more portable than it already is.
Royal Visit is much the same. Five wooden figures, a deck of cards, and a rolled up cloth board. Box could have been half the size it is, especially if they simplified the figures to pawns, but I must admit the game is gorgeous as it is.
Lots of games are purchased as gifts, so the purchasers are not the ones being disappointed.
This is actually a big driver of other package decisions, I am sure it’s the same for games.
The board would have easily allowed the box to be about 3-5cm shorter in each dimension. The screen could easily have been folded once more or been a bit smaller.
Bad Company also arrived today. The board is the size of Spacebase but the box is the size of My City.
Speaking of Heist games I hate the gimmicky storage of Burgle Bros 2. It’s needlessly hard to get it packed up again and NOBODY will ever use that 2 stage board. Nobody!
Not the worst crime, but something small that’s annoyed me about Libertalia:
The insert fits everything perfectly and allows you to have individual player stuff in their own slots and everything communal in the centre (the reputation tokens all get used regardless of player count, so they’re technically communal). Then there’s a nice snug lid that goes on top to keep everything secure and hold the board.
It’s not that there isn’t any space - I’ve ended up bagging the cards and putting them under the coin tray (so at least they’re neatly covered up) and the Midshipman tile just floats around on top along with the rulebooks. It’s just that they made neat places for everything else and left these in a state of “eh, just stick 'em somewhere”.
Doubly weird is that you could argue it’s because they’re not part of the “core game”, but there is a slot for the other part of the Automa - the replacement loot tiles.
The first printing of Stellar Conflict evidentially came in a box which was just barely big enough to hold the contents, and they got complaints from people who sleeved the cards, so the second edition is in a much taller box which seemed to me like it had a lot of empty space. I’m probably not sleeving this (reflected light from glossy sleeves would be terrible for the real-time gameplay, and I suspect matte sleeves might also make it hard to read) – but once I’d separated each player into a separate bag (cards+tokens = bulkier than strictly necessary), and added my copy of Light Speed as well, it’s actually about right : ) Still a bit more space than needed, but things aren’t just rattling around inside any more.
I don’t know whether it may originally have come with some sort of card inlay [ETA: it did], but there’s certainly a lot of air here - I could slice this box down to the footprint of the rulebooks and still have plenty of room for the rest, and I may just do so.
While I’m on the subject, here’s the inlay for VOLT:
and that seems really nice. But even with the large flat components on top pressing it down, it does a lousy job of keeping them in their trays. After too many embarrassing box-openings (all right, two of them), I’ve now bagged everything as well, which I feel I shouldn’t really have to.
I’ll keep the inlay because it forms part of the board setup - not crucial to gameplay but it looks nice, even without the painted minis.
I currently have 3 games by Queen Games, so their usp of ugly boxes that are hugely oversized is vexing me. In many ways I want to cut the boxes down. Slicing to keep the same foot print but dropping the depth seems feasible for sensible collection space. I firmly believe box height is the most important to be as slim as possible.
I think the thing that holds me back from doing this most is I think it’s important to have a fluid collection and I’m slightly concerned about limiting resale/trade value. In some ways it’s mad, I’d be doing whoever got the game next a favour by removing a whole lot of air, just I’ve had enough experiences of people being dicks about boxes to feel cautious. A secondary thing is no longer getting a clear read of the name of the game in the side of the box.
So what do people think? Who has the courage to slice and who wouldn’t?
