What is this board game bling I speak of? In this article we will briefly go over various types of bling. There are a plethora of reasons why you might bling your games, and I will cover the most popular to the more obscure.
Game Protection
You don’t want the dreaded Cheeto fingers or an accidental wine glass spill to ruin your board and components. All of the below can protect your cards, tokens and even game board!
- Card Sleeves – the most common way to protect your game
- Coin Capsules – pretty uncommon to do this, but a nice way to protect the cardboard chits
- Game board protection – not many do this, but some spray their boards to waterproof them
Organization
When you first open a game, if all you see is a jumbled mess of cards and tokens, you risk losing your gaming motivation. But a neatly organized box with all cards ready to go and player tokens organized? You’ll want to dig in, maybe even show it off, and get that game on your table!
- Zip bags – some games come with these, but this is the easiest way to gain a semblance of organization
- Custom inserts – beautiful wooden, themed inserts, inexpensive Folded Space inserts, or 3D printed inserts, if you play a game a lot, they may be worth it
Organization During a Game
Similar to above, but keeping neat and organized during a game can make you one happy gamer.
- Card holders – cards can slide all over the place, especially sleeved cards, keep them in their place with a custom holder
- Token holders – a little bowl will suffice to keep your tokens organized, or go the extra mile by getting custom token holders like in the banner image on this page
- Player Dashboards – dashboards allow you to keep your player cards, resources, money and even score all in one handy place taking up minimal room
Upgrades
These upgrades add the sparkle to our bling! Instead of cardboard coin chits, how about holding actual hefty, clanky, metal coins? Instead of flat pictures of resources, what about realistic-looking wooden logs, ore, and sheathes of wheat?
- Metal Coins – there are so many choices for coins – from those that were made for a particular game to coins that match a theme or era, or just generic coins that you can use with any game
- Custom Realistic Resources – these just make the game that much more fun to play with. You can find custom resources in stores or make your own!
- Stickers for Tokens – I’ve seen these on Etsy (will feature them soon) and even some companies are sending out stickers for their tokens
Game Production Choices
Some games offer us a deluxified version of their game with upgraded components, boards, coins or extra promo cards. Feel the FOMO.
- Deluxified editions – particularly popular in crowd-funded games
- Promo Cards – often found in kickstarter pledges, and some board game personalities offer these to promote their companies
Accessories
There are some accessories that might go with several games. If you have a dice game, a dice tower or tray might come in handy. Maybe you want to use your own dice in your favorite colors.
- Dice Towers/Dice Trays – super handy if you don’t want your dice to go flying!
- Dice
- Painted Miniatures – some board games come with unpainted miniatures, bling them up with a paint job!
Playmats
Most board games come of course with a board to play upon. Sometimes they offer a board and/or player mat option. Perhaps you come across a cool design that would look really good as the backdrop for your games. For those that play roll/flip-and-writes, laminated player sheets are super convenient. For those games that use resource trackers, double layered boards can save the day.
- Board Playmats / Player Playmats – companies may offer neoprene mats to go with their game
- Game Mats – these can be mats that cover your entire table or mats that just fit under a game. It’s much easier to pick up cards and roll dice on these mats
- Laminated player sheets – super convenient for the plethora of roll-and-write (use suitable verb) games that are out, saves on paper
- Holders – I’m not sure what I meant here, but will keep this here in case I remember xD
Board Game Tables
You can play games wherever – on your kitchen table, on the floor, sometimes even in your hand. But sometimes you just want a dedicated space to sprawl out a board game, so you’ll probably want a large enough table to play your favorite games. Some people have the luxury of owning a table dedicated to the sole purpose of playing board games!
- Table with enough space to play your games
- Dedicated board game table with all the bling!
Immersion
If you really want to get immersed in your game, you might want to create the perfect environment. Whether the game theme is ocean, jungle, city, horror, there are ways to manipulate your lighting and sounds to make you feel you’re really there. Some games even come with their own soundtracks for you to play. If not, there are many websites out there that will help suggest some songs or sounds. There are even companies that offer candles to offer the scent to go along with your theme!
- Ambient Lighting
- Ambient Music
- Ambient Scents
In the weeks, months, and years to come, I’ll definitely be covering all of the above in more detail!
Please comment below if I’m missing any examples of board game bling. Or share with us your favorite types of game bling!