Do you ever get those little voices in the back of your head that want to tell you something, but you ignore them because you’re telling yourself something different? During a recent cull of games that need more love, I had a mini awakening to something I’d noticed in myself for years, but didn’t acknowledge.

I really don’t like games that come in big boxes.

There are a few caveats to that statement, but I’ll come to those later. The simple fact is, that as impressive as those big boxes are, and as cool as they look on a shelf, setting-up, playing, and packing one away just isn’t any fun. Let me give you an example.

At last year’s UK Games Expo (you can read all about it here) I promised myself I’d only buy a couple of games. One of those I picked up was Ultimate Railroads. Now, I love Russian Railroads, so that cool, enormous, silver box had me cawing like a magpie. Russian Railroads and all the expansions, and a couple of new ones, all in the same box?

I got it home, and it sat on my shelf for ages. Big game like that, need to find the time to do it justice, I thought. One night I punched it all out, built the cool organisers, went through the rulebook to figure out which thing went in which bit. Nice, I thought, that’s very organised.

From then on I played that game a grand total of one time. Why? Just the ordeal (I know, poor little snowflake) of taking it all out, finding the pieces I want for the expansion I want, getting the rest all back in the box without upsetting it all. And then after playing, I’ve got to separate everything back into their little holders, lug the enormous box up and rearrange the shelf to get it back on.

Ultimate Railroads is probably one of the least offensive when it comes to this category, it’s just the one fresh in my head. I felt some small sense of relief once I’d sold it and sent it. The problem is that some of these games just have too much stuff.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion seemed like a safe bet for me. I wasn’t sure I wanted the full-blown £100+ (at the time) experience, so I opted for its little sister. Again though, punching and playing, and trying to cram everything into that box was just ridiculous. The box never closed flush, not once. Every time I went to play it, the hassle of digging through what seemed like hundreds of baggies for the bits I need for a scenario, was painful. Then it all has to go back away again.

I know I can buy aftermarket organisers for games, I have a few Folded Space inserts myself, and I’ve 3D-printed one for Nusfjord. Those examples are just convenience though, not necessity. When I see Kickstarters like Oathsworn turn up in peoples’ homes on social media I get palpitations. In fact, the trigger for me writing this was seeing my chum Richard (check out his site and podcast - We’re Not Wizards) wrestle with Frosthaven:

Seeing all those baggies piled atop a box of stuff gave me flashbacks. I knew then that even if I had Frosthaven, I know for a fact I’d never play it beyond one or two scenarios. Maybe that would be different if I had the time to play through an epic campaign, or had a nice big vaulted table that I could just leave the game on for as long as I needed.

But I don’t. I don’t have the time. I don’t have the big table. If I want to work through a game like that I’ve got to pack and unpack it so many times. I just don’t have the patience for it. It’s all left me realising that unless it’s for a game I love so much I want to marry it, I don’t want all this content. I don’t want expansion upon expansion. It just hurts my brain before I even start playing. I want to be able to open a box, tip some stuff out of bags, play the game, then put it all back in a few bags and put it back on the shelf. Like it was in the good old days.

There are exceptions, of course. I recently took delivery of Artisans of Splendent Vale, and it’s in a huge, heavy box. My heart sank at first, and it took me the best part of a week to take the shrink off. I was bolstered in an odd way to find out that much of the weight and volume of the box is due to the four books which come, to accompany the characters. There’s actually plenty of space in the box, and despite being another campaign game, the enemies are just a handful of meeples in three bags. That’s it. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! I still wish it was a smaller box, but at least I’m willing to set it up and play.

That’s me then, the grumpy old man who likes his boxes smaller, like they used to be. What about you? Do you feel the same, or do you love nothing more than 20 KG of fantasy-filled crates turning up on your doorstep? Do you dread the setup and teardown, or does the whole process fill you with glee?

Drop a comment on this post to let me know, or head over to the Punchboard Discord Server and chat with the other fine peeps there.