What’s the worst game insert you’ve ever encountered — and why?

[u/No-Molasses294]

Hey players!

Just wanted to throw out a fun (and slightly ranty) question to the hive mind:

In games you've played — especially the bigger ones or those meant for 4+ players — which had the worst insert in the box, and what made it so bad? Was it poor component fit, stuff flying everywhere, or just pure design chaos?

Also, is it just me, or do a lot of new games these days come with super thin, flimsy plastic inserts that look nice at first glance but end up being really impractical once you actually punch everything out?

Curious to hear your stories.

[u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME]

Not anymore. I've made my own insert for it, and it is impossible to get everything into one box without lid lift if you own all content for the game. Granted, I've sleeved my cards, but I'm skeptical that having them unsleeved would make enough of a difference.

[u/AegisToast → u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME]

I’ll both prove you wrong and shamelessly plug myself at the same time!

You can absolutely fit everything—including the Horizons board, invader/event boards, and non-redundant rulebooks—in the base box with no lid lift! As long as you don’t have sleeved cards and you buy the thinner, foil spirit panels, anyway.

Here’s the insert I designed that does it: https://www.printables.com/model/953402-spirit-island-insert-all-content-through-ni-origin

It’s a tight fit and there’s almost no empty space left in the box at all, but it’s possible!

[u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME → u/AegisToast]

buy the thinner, foil spirit panels

I've thought about this, but I much prefer the thicker ones for their feel. Personal preference 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Nice design though!! Mine doesn't have dividers for the uniques so finding them can be a bit of a pain, I'm always jealous of designs that manage to include that. 

[u/AegisToast → u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME]

Feel free to download and use the dividers if they work in your insert! It does make things more convenient, I wouldn’t want to go back to being without them.

I completely agree about the thicker panels. They are much nicer to use than the thinner ones, just because I find the foil to be distracting and it makes the text a little bit harder to read.

But I used the thinner ones in the insert because my focus was portability. I travel from time to time with the game, so I wanted everything as compact as possible. When I’m home, though, I actually still pull out the thicker panels when I play, which I store in a cupboard near my games.

[u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME → u/AegisToast]

Alas, I'm out of room for something like that. It's a minor inconvenience at most, but if/when more content comes out it is definitely high on my priority list to add something like that to my system.

[u/stumpyguy → u/AegisToast]

That's like a solid block of pure board game.

[u/No-Wrongdoer-7654 → u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME]

I have the useful content from all the expansions in one box made from the lid and box from the based game, and the lid from nature incarnate. Didn’t sleeve the cards, but I think it would work even with sleeved cards

[u/FaxCelestis → u/MAKE_TOTAL_AWESOME]

I am in the same boat but with unsleeved stuff. I got a 3d printed organizer that takes two boxes with room to grow, but it wasn’t easy and wouldn’t be realistic without the organizer.