Boxes full of air?

If you have bought a number of tabletop games, you will have noticed how some games fill out every inch of space in the box, while other games are basically a large box of air.

Most card games come in perfectly sized boxes, while board games often waste space to fit in the board, even when there are very few other components. Games with miniatures also often leave space to keep the figures safe. Many games ship with punch out boards that decide the box size, but the actual game parts end up filling less than half of the box they came in. Box sizes are a consideration for display purposes. Larger boxes stand out better among a display of tabletop games – while small boxes often get overlooked and therefore not the attention they deserve.

However, storing your games becomes harder if boxes are basically just air – and shipping costs increase as well. Many people resort to taking everything out of the box and storing it in bags or plastic storage containers, leaving the game board separate. That is far from ideal, because it makes it hard to find the game you want.

So what are your thoughts on boxes? How do you store your games? Is there a particularly good game that makes the best use of the box it comes in? Is there a worst offender? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.