Anyone else love a good old family game night? Since it’s an activity we all enjoy, our collection of games has grown over time, especially since every Christmas our family gets a “Family Game Night” box with a few new games. All these games can only mean one thing — board game organization is essential!
Related Post: Instagram’s Favorite Games
Games come in all shapes, sizes, and containers. Organizing them can be challenging, especially when some boxes can be flimsy, others can be bulky, and others inevitably get sat on, stepped on, or just plain worn down after years of use.
Luckily, I have a variety of solutions for a variety of game boxes.
How Life with Less Mess Does Board Game Organization
Thinking back to my childhood, I can distinctly remember the teetering pile of games we kept in our front hall closet (Parcheesi was a family favorite). I’d try to pull one game out and inevitably topple over the entire stack and pieces would go everywhere.
WHO THOUGHT A PILE OF BOARD GAMES WAS A GOOD IDEA?
Everyone. The 80s were crazy. Luckily, in the 2020s, we know better.
Go Vertical for Board Game Organization
Storing board games vertically (think: books on a bookshelf) is usually a better way to go. Standing the games up means:
- You can see all the games at once games.
- You can easily slide one out of the collection without causing an avalanche.
If you’re looking to reduce some visual clutter, arrange the boxes into rainbow order and slide them all out so the fronts of the boxes are all even on the shelf — it doesn’t add to your organization, but it will look a bit nicer.
If you do nothing else in this post, please just stand your games vertically.
Board Game Organization Examples in Client’s Homes
As a professional organizer, I often organize the same items in different clients’ homes. You can bet when I’m organizing games I’m standing them up.
This client’s playroom got an upgrade with the addition of cube shelves and some canvas baskets. As you can see, the larger games in sturdy boxes are lined up. Smaller games are in the striped basket.
Here’s another example of board game organization. Again, we stood up the large sturdy boxes (from large to small) and stacked some boxes on the narrow middle shelf. The bottom shelf is where Hungry, Hungry Hippos and card games live.
Here’s one final example. The armoire houses games for this family. The games are standing up and easy to grab (in rainbow order this time). I found a white wooden box that fit perfectly on this shelf and added it for the smaller games (this house had older kids who are clearly much gentler on their Uno boxes that my children are).
Think Outside the Box
How do you organize board games that don’t have a box or whose box is damaged beyond repair?
My favorite way to store games like this is in a vinyl mesh zipper pouch. They are strong, sturdy, and keep all the pieces contained. Here’s how I transferred our games to pouches.
Personally, I keep as many boxes as I can — as long as it makes sense to do so. Card games, such as Uno, usually come in quite flimsy boxes. Plus, they’re really hard for little hands to get the cards back in nicely.
These games are the perfect type to transfer to zipper pouches.
Related Post: Board Game Storage without Boxes
Board Games in a Basket
Regardless of whether you keep as many boxes as you can or decide to transfer all the games to matching pouches, you’re going to need to put the games in the bags into a bin or basket to contain them.
Bins or baskets are also a great way to store games with oddly shaped boxes — this also further reduces visual clutter.
Make sure your basket is large enough to hold the largest zipper pouch you’ve used, then stand the games up vertically within the basket.
Slide the basket on to a shelf and you’re good to go!
Board Game Organization
Board game organization doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Do what works for you and your family. Keeping the boxes and lining them up on a shelf works for me. It’s a nice pop of color in our playroom and helps our games get played more frequently.
If tucking your games away in zipper pouches works for you and your family, do that!
How do you organize your board games? Leave a comment below and let me know!
