Pro tip: Stop storing your board games vertically unless you want warped boxes

I had a stack of games on a shelf standing up like books for 3 years. Pulled down my copy of Twilight Imperium last Friday to find the box lid is totally bowed out on one side. Won't even sit flat anymore. Guess all that weight from the other boxes pushing against it did it over time. A buddy at a convention in Austin told me he keeps everything flat stacked no more than 4 high. Said his collection from the 90s still looks new. Anyone else have boxes get ruined from vertical storage?

3 comments

3 Comments

john65018d ago

Stored my copy of Terraforming Mars standing up for maybe two years and the box now has a permanent lean like it's been hitting the bottle too hard. Opened it up last week and the punchboards are all curled up on the edges like potato chips. Learned my lesson the hard way. Everything stays flat now or I just let the boxes rest on their sides in a pile on the floor.

diana_black18d ago

Wait, aren't you supposed to store board games vertically though? I thought that was the pro tip for keeping boxes from getting crushed on the bottom of a stack.

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rileyb6118d ago

Actually vertical stacking isn't totally the issue its how tight you pack them together. @john650 is right that pressure from other boxes can warp them over time just like you said with Twilight Imperium. I started putting thin sheets of foam core between each game when I stack them vertically and that stopped the bowing. Also helps to leave some breathing room so the boxes aren't being squeezed from both sides.