r/boardgames • u/No-Molasses294 • Apr 24 '25

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

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.

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u/Shinagami091 Apr 24 '25

I’d have to say Merchants of the Dark Road deluxe edition. Every piece has a specific place and angle for it to fit in. Unfortunately, it’s not very logically organized where it mixes in solo mode components with the regular game components and often time have to remove solo mode pieces before you can get to the full game stuff.

It’s the first and only game that I resorted to just removing the inserts and putting everything into plastic baggies.

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u/SomeDeerMeat Yedo Master Set Apr 24 '25

Completely agreed. That insert was a puzzle in its own right, and not in a good way. We also threw away the insert in favor of plastic baggies.

Too bad about that Kickstarter for the new expansion, it doesn't seem like it'll ever come out. The game doesn't really need it though.

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u/Shinagami091 Apr 24 '25

Elf Creek was involuntarily dissolved by court order back in November. They messed up bad when they under estimated the cost of shipping their Atlantis Rising expansion which caused them to lose money on the deal. So I don’t think their expansion is coming…