I bought the Tower Rex solution and I really like it. Even at $70 now it has a lot of features that are nice. 2 of the trays with a millions pieces interlock meaning it's easy to take out and one acts as a lid for the other. The token tray has a curved edge so it's easy to get pieces out. Only complaint is there is 1 mashup slot for all status tokens but a decent solution I found is that my edition came with a small expansion box for Forgotten Circles and since I don't have that expansion I can separate the status tokens with it (just need to put down a small piece of paper or cardstock to block the hole on the bottom. That box is tiny and fits in the excess space of the card box. Speaking of the card box it came with quite a few dividers and the rows are very flexible (flexible use, not physically floppy) given how long they are, absolutely no issue with sleeving every card. The monsters are well labeled and while there are labels facing each other on the vertical walls, if you don't see what you need on first pass it's super fast to just spin the tray and check the other side. Agree that terrain tiles are a bit annoying having to physically flip them to see what is on the other side.
Thanks Mark for your overview on these organizers. Your observations and reasons for your likes and dislikes were well thought out. This is an extremely useful video.
I have this game in my Amazon cart, went to watch an unboxing before I purchased the game so I had an idea of what I was about to get myself into, and this video came up in the recommended videos to watch which is how I landed here. Thank you so much for putting this information together, especially for those of us who have no clue what we are in for once we unbox this game. No, I did not know I would spend another $100 to organize these pieces, but I believe if I do not, it will ruin everyone's enthusiasm to play it. I do love the organizer you chose for the same reasons you chose it, I just wish it came with character "dashboards," or that somehow those character boxes transformed and could be used as a dashboard during play. Like you said, no organizer is absolutely perfect at meeting everyone's needs, but the go7gaming comes the closest.
FWIW the organization issue is primarily an issue with setup and putaway, so if you're willing to setup ahead of time and put away after everyone else has left, the lack of an organizer shouldn't have much impact on their enthusiasm. Now if you want to play a second scenario back-to- back then it gets dicey faster....
I really like seeing how TowerRex used to be some $20 and now it's $100 but with no differences I can see - it basically reconfirmed my decision not to go with them.
Cost of materials have gone up drastically, as has the cost of building space, staff, etc during COVID. Plus I've never seen them charge for shipping, it's always free international shipping whenever I've checked. Do you only want them to make peanuts on each insert they sell? Do you want them to stop eating food and turning their lights on lol?
@@FHRiley-yk9by The price increase was far before COVID - as that is when I was looking to purchase. That would have made sense. If it was worth the cost it would make sense, but they have a subpar organizer and have increased the cost to match competitors. Which is smart for capitalism, but not realistic for what I've seen their product capable of doing.
Good, thorough overview. I found this instructive on the game itself (I haven't bought the game yet) to hear you explain WHY some things worked or didn't
I got myself the e-raptor one because it looked effective in sorting cards, but sadly that isn't true. The monster cards are very neatly organized, yes, but after trying out the Gloomhaven Helper app, I don't plan on going back to classic monster cards and sheets. For all the other cards, I had to add separators myself to organize all the cards. The 5 small card slots and the 4 big card slots (there's technically a 5th, but it's so thin that I only put the 4 "Player aid" cards in there). And then, as Mark said, the two very large trays are problematic. I didn't use the suggested organization, to try and have a tray that I can put away and one that I can keep on the table, but even on the tray that I keep on the table, there's lots of terrain tiles in there that I only need to set-up when I open a room, and all the monsters that are stored in the other tray need to be placed on the map too when I open a door, meaning I have to pull it back out. Additionally, some of the monsters barely fit in there, meaning that getting them out of the tray is a real pain. I've been thinking about carving out a hole in the bottom part of the tray so that I can push the monsters out, but it's annoying that I have to do that myself.
Gloomhaven is definately something that should come with some kind of in house organisation as the amount of tokens are insane. Luckily I had a plastic tub with lots of deviders in that held everything even if it wasn't really done all that well
Excellent perspective on all these storage options. Very helpful. Your focus on design and ease of use and table set up were hitting home with me. I could relate to many of your dislikes and likes. I have been learning to play Gloomhaven via TH-cam and that naturally led to storage solution videos. It seems that most manufacturers need to simply provide clear laser etching or heat printing or stickers of text to be used along the sides of many of their trays/inserts to make these products greatly improved. The Broken Token tuck boxes fall apart very easily. I played with a friend who purchased that organizer, used it once, and the things were already falling apart. I have personally loved all of Daedalus Productions (DP) game inserts. I still feel that DP's insert for Merchant of Venus is their best work, by far, especially for setting up the game and how excellent it provides a presence on the table. I like how the g7g tuck boxes are removed all together for characters. Like you said, I would just try to transfer all the components blindfolded (eyes closed). Daedalus Productions had a cool design for the character tuck boxes where, after they're opened, the storage space shape/dividers can be shifted to accommodate. The little laser cut Key for pulling out the monsters that are a tight fit is genius! I haven't purchased a Gloomhaven storage solution yet, and right now I just use plastic craft boxes and acrylic card boxes for everything, I may still go for Daedalus Productions as a loyalist, but after watching this video, I may be going for the go7gaming one. We will see. Keep it up. Great Work. Subscribed!
Thank you for the informational video. Previously I have purchased Broken Token products (for King of Tokyo and Dead of Winter) and Go7Gaming (for Aeon's End) and I definitely felt that the wood Go7Gaming used was much more sturdier than the flimsy ones of Broken Token. I have been considering purchasing an organizer for Gloomhaven and this has reassured me to stick with Go7Gaming's products.
With broken token somthing everyone seems to miss is that if your doing only 2 players you can just remove 2 of the active player bins and then 2 more boxes can fit. So you dont have to open 4 like you said
I don't think this was yet available when I made the video, or if it was I did not come across it in searching for different organizers, so this is my first time hearing about it. From a quick look at their video and the stills of it, seems well-designed and has some features I liked (the hinged player boxes are kind of cool, and I am a fan of the holes in the bottom of trays to push things out). Seems like it's probably pretty decent; not sure value-wise where it fits relative to costs of other options at this point. But made me curious, I'll look into them for Frosthaven when that comes out and see what the options are.
Smonex is definitely the best with the folding player boards and the ease of tokens in and out. The monster storage and card dividers are the best in my opinion. I went with the Smonex after reviewing the other options.
Thanks man. Wish I found this video sooner. I’ve also been heavily researching inserts (because of huge prices) and was already leaning towards the go7 gaming. Thanks for this video and I believe it does a great job explaining all the different rationales for the different inserts.
This is extremely helpful, @Mark Kerins. One suggestion would be to list these organizers in order of the amount to time each takes to build. According to the listing on Amazon, it takes 200-300 minutes to build the Go7 Gaming organizer. ~4 hours is quite a commitment outside of learning to play and actually playing the game.
Interesting idea, though the trick would be getting reliable info on how long it takes to build (different people build at different speeds, so I feel like you'd need to have the same person assemble all of them so the relative differences would be the same). I'd say my experience with the go7 was probably about 3 hours to build. I was just listening to an audiobook the whole time though so it wasn't like it was consuming my whole attention, so I think that's a factor too - you're not committing that time SOLELY to building the organizer.
Fantastic comprehensive review. I am using the plano setup, but sleeving my cards has me rethinking things. I appreciate the help allowing me to narrow it down.
Hi Mark, we just purchased Gloomhaven and the Go7! Your video was an amazing overview of all the choices out there. Do you have a link for the folder for map tiles?
I think it was this one that I bought: smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CN22C56/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_70GFEb8VB74RZ but basically any sort of 8.5x11-size accordion folder would work.
@@filmprofmark Thank you! I just ordered that one as I like how you are still able to keep everything in one Box! The fact that you can't fully close the box does not bother me at all :)
I just got the game and ordered the Broken Token one. I know I'll mostly just be playing with the same people, so the downside wasn't really a problem for me. Although I'm going to have to figure out how I want to store things until it arrives without making a mess!
E-Raptor has the No Glue required design. The sections look to actually snap together. That seems very interesting, as most laser cut wood storage solutions require glue to even work (broken token).
Great video. I didn't even know there were so many options for organizers available. I just went with the Broken Token and I've been pretty happy with it. The tuck boxes make for great organization but they are a pain when it comes time to put stuff away. You make a very good point about not knowing what's on the bottom of the tiles when they're in the tray. Sometimes a lot of flipping and searching is required. All that said, Broken Token won a lot of points with me when they offered an update to their organizer that make the Forgotten Circles content fit into the base game box. Very nicely done.
Thanks for the comment. There are a few interesting DIY-esque options out there (saw a photo of a pretty clever tackle box solution where the whole thing unfolds into multiple layers or drawers) but since that's a pretty deep rabbit hole, decided to just go with commercially available organizers made specifically for Gloomhaven. Though if it turns out there's enough interest, I could do something similar for the DIY options. For anyone interested in the Plano box solution, you can Google it, or check out the idea here: boardgamegeek.com/thread/1726878/yss-yet-another-storage-solution
see earlier replies, I posted somewhere in here about this. I think if you just search "clear printable adhesive paper" you'd probably find the right thing.
Out of curiosity which sleeves are you using? I received my Folded Space Organiser prior to finding your video and I've been going through the process of assembling it and attempting to organise the components. Having not played the game yet I've certainly found organising it to be a very unpleasant experience and I have concerns about the longevity/integrity of the organiser over time. While I like that I don't have to crack open the character boxes, I can't help but feel as though had I found this video first I'd have perhaps opted for a different organiser. Another issue I've come across (which is mentioned in FSO's own instructional video) is that the newer editions of Gloomhaven use thicker card stock which effects the ability to store some of the monsters as FSO originally intended.
I used Mayday Games premium sleeves. Honestly don't have experience with different brands so can't compare, but have been happy with these and they fit in my organizer.
@@filmprofmark Picked up the Mayday sleeves and I'm happy with the quality of the sleeves. Unfortunately I've found that with all cards sleeved the FS Organiser appears unable to accommodate all the cards (perhaps I'm doing something wrong?). At this stage I'm trying to find a UK/EU supplier for the Go7Gaming organiser but it looks as though I'm out of luck on this front and the cost of postage direct from Go7 combined with various other fees and a poor exchange rate are rendering it non-viable. The Broken Token system doesn't appeal due to the idea of rotating characters so I'm finding myself at a bit of a loss at the moment in terms of finding a suitable organiser.
@@FreeFragUK sorry the FS organizer doesn't work with all the cards sleeved. Wish I had a great suggestion to make but I don't; given that you can't get the go7 one and aren't interested in BT (for same reason as me) I wonder if maybe one of the homemade options might work best? I didn't review those since I was focused on commercially available ones, but a couple people on this comment thread have posted suggestions about those. I imagine you have a little more freedom with those to scale to accommodate sleeves?
@@filmprofmark I appreciate the feedback and suggestions Mark. To be honest your video outshines the various other insert videos out there. I may look into the LaserOx insert as an alternative. Despite its shortcomings it look as though it is possibly the best option at the moment. I'll certainly have a look at the homemade options although admittedly I'd prefer a commercially available option.
The logos are available on the site of the game's graphic designer www.behance.net/gallery/41364169/Gloomhaven-Graphic-D so I just printed from there. If you'd really like to buy them DM me and I'll sell you a set - but to be honest I'll charge like $15, which is way more than it would cost you to just make them yourself, plus I'd have to pay to ship them. (so basically I'm willing to do these for others myself, but only if there's enough profit to make it worth my time - perfectly happy to just point people where they can get the info to do them themselves instead).
I almost think that the publisher really should have done a better job building some sort of organization into the box better than their default method so that we didn't have to have so many options out there. Thanks for the reviews though that helps greatly!
Maybe in Frosthaven they'll include a better organizer as part of the core game? Although I understand one of the issues was cost, and Isaac decided (I think rightly) to focus on the content and keep the price more reasonable - while I would argue (having played it) the game plus organizer is "worth" the $250 it might have cost to come with an organizer, that's a tough sell for someone who's not already 100% sure they like the game. On the plus side, this model allows for a proliferation of different styles of organizers, so you're more likely to find one that fits your particular needs or tastes.
Didn't see that one when I made this, either it wasn't out yet or just missed it. On a cursory glance at their site looks like not enough sorting/separation of things like cards for my taste but always good to have more options. I noticed they said they're going to do an update for Frosthaven and I'm curious what many of these companies do when that comes out; I'm assuming most of them will stick with the same basic design, but what will they have learned from their Gloomhaven experience to improve? Planning to do another vid once Frosthaven is out comparing those organizers.
Great review. Bought Gloomhaven a year ago for solo play and realized I really want to play it with others instead, so just now getting it back out and checking into storage options. This review was amazingly detailed, so thank-you for that. Odd question... I can't seem to find sleeves that fit the small cards (the modifier decks and the like). I've bought a few options and they're either FAR too tight on the card, or far too lose. Any suggestions?
The ones I got were from Mayday Games and I have been happy with those and their fit. There may well be others out there that are better or cheaper, but at least back when I was looking those seemed like a decent value and they have held up (and stayed on) well.
Thanks for the tip, another I hadn't seen (may not have been out when I made the video). Will add it to the comments at least. I like the labeled clear plastic cover on the monsters; the player parts remind me of the Broken Token organizer where there are spots for four but if you switch characters frequently you'd be doing a lot of putting them in and out of that.
@@SmonexSmartOneBox Just ordered your organizer! I think out of all the organizers, you seem to have the best for the average gloomhaven player. Looking forward to set it up, and review!
@@russelward7368 thanks for choosing our organizer! Looking forward for your feedback. In case of any issue feel free to contact us directly. I am happy to help you!
@@filmprofmark Ended up ordering the E-raptor. Feels a little bad man after watching you video. But it was the only one I could find shipping to Norway at a reasonable price. The go7gaming one would cost me 200 USD not including customs clearance fees. Oh well, still a nice upgrade from not having an organizer.
@@Asbiss ha no worries. I have no stake in any of these, just tried to provide useful info about each (and didn't think to look into international differences in availability). Glad you found something - and yes, any of these is a big step up from NO organizer. Hope the e-raptor works out well for you!
Mark, I'm in the Uk and want to order a go7 organiser. That said I'd really like to put stickers on the character boxes like you have. Do you have the file for these please? I'd really appreciate any help you could give me?
Most of these will accommodate either 1st or 2nd edition, and several will also accommodate the "Forgotten Circles" expansion. I'd suggest if you're interested in a particular organizer, check for that specifically on that manufacturer's website. But there's not that much difference between 1st/2nd edition in terms of the storage needs. FWIW, I have the 2nd edition and my organizer works fine with it, but in the character boxes there are some different notches, cut out I think to accommodate slightly different 1st edition elements.
Your review of the different storage solutions is well done. I chose to go with your choice and chose the go 7 gaming. I just ordered it and it's on the way. On a seperate note, do you use any type of app to assist you in your gameplay? Cheers!
I use GH helper just for the way it hides the map tiles you haven't hit yet. Otherwise, no, I know there are some good ones out there, but I'm kind of old-school and like actually manipulating all the physical pieces. Though during social distancing have been playing on Tabletop Simulator on Steam, and there's a very good mod for it that automates some of the things, which I appreciate - but largely because it's harder to drag stuff around on the virtual table than on a real one.
I wish you reviewed the Gaming Trunk organizer. It is a Canadian company, so after conversion to US$ the price was really decent. I wish I saw your video before I purchased it, but I still don't know if I made the right choice. I also didn't see you include ease of assembly. For me, for example, Folded Space was a non-starter due to amount of gluing required. And you were right a bunch of their open trays is pretty useless.
I wish I would have, too! I did not know about this one when I did the review (perhaps it came out later, or perhaps I just never came across it) but just looked it up now and looks pretty cool. I really like how they organized the monster tokens and action cards, maybe the best version of that I've seen! Some other stuff (some of the tokens and map overlays) I'm not super-keen on but the Gaming Trunk is definitely a worthy contender. Re ease of assembly, that was something I thought about a bit but didn't include in the video since it's difficult to judge the ones I hadn't actually had / built myself. But also figured most are pretty similar in requiring some assembly, and given the length of a Gloomhaven campaign, a little more or less gluing was not a big distinguishing factor and not a ton of time relative to the gameplay itself. FWIW, the go7gaming one I have did require a significant amount of assembly/gluing, I did it over a couple of nights doing an hour-ish each night while I listened to an audiobook. I don't remember which, but there was at least one I looked at where (at least when I had looked) you could pay significantly more to buy it already assembled, if that's a major concern.
@@filmprofmark Thanks. I am always so insecure and your opinion made me feel better about my purchase. Some purchasers claim (will test when it arrives) that GT tolerances are so tight you can just assemble it with a rubber mallet and little to no glue. I have some hand mobility issues so ease of assembly is important to me. As for pre-assembled, I know that Broken Token was selling assembled organizers at Origins when I was there a year ago at significant extra surcharge.
@@christophermoore8524 I actually have received it since I first posted this and I love it. No glue required at all. I assembled it just using a rubber mallet. The tray that holds the tokens has a cover to prevent spillage. Which I didn't even notice because a clear plastic cover was almost invisible in the photos. And monster organization is fantastic the way it cleverly has a gap for the cards right in front of standees. EDIT: The price for the value was the best surprise.
Obviously multiple ways you could do this - I think the coolest (not what I did, but what I would've done if I could) would be to use laser cutter to literally engrave the logos in the top of the boxes... if you have access to a laser cutter I think this would be great, would just recommend doing it *before* assembling the character boxes since that'd be easier. My own method: I found the class icons on the site of the game's graphic designer (www.behance.net/gallery/41364169/Gloomhaven-Graphic-D and printed the PDF on a regular laser printer onto clear sticker paper. Then cut them out with scissors and stuck them to the top. Semi-related FYI - I still wish I could figure out the best way to mark which classes are still locked and which are not - I ended up (as you can see in the video) just using little squares of post-it note on the ones that are still locked, then just removing the post-it and throwing it away when we unlock that character. This has worked perfectly fine but just looks a little cheap/cheesy, and I've been trying to think of a "cooler" way to do it. The other obvious one is to flip over the locked boxes when put away so the character icon is not showing, but I personally like being able to see the logos and speculate on what those classes would be.
@@stevendibella7550 happy to help, for my own curiosity let me know if you end up going with the go7gaming one in the end, and if so what you do for the class labels
@@filmprofmark ordered it right after this video. Should be here by Monday haha. I was back and forth between deadalus and go7, but the character boxes sold me. I don't have access to any that could print stickers so I might try online.
FYI, decided if people really want to buy the stickers DM me and I'll sell you a set - but at like $15, which is way more than it would cost you to just make them yourself, plus I'd have to pay to ship them. (so basically I'm willing to do these for others, but only on a small scale and only if there's enough profit to make it worth my time). Honestly perfectly happy to just point people where they can get the info to do them themselves instead, however since so many people asked, wanted to offer some solution for those who you don't have a way to make them themselves.
Thanks a lot! Good to hear about the comprehensibility - early in my teaching career I heard from some foreign students that I was hard to understand so tried to improve that.
It's a lot, admittedly... but as I explained in my "Gloomhaven review for casual gamers" video, it's a better value than most other board games in terms of cost-per-player-hour IF you get into it and actually play it through. If you only play it a couple times it's a terrible deal.
hahaha! Let's trash Folded Space one for not being on par with the Go7. FS is without a doubt the best value for money. Yes it is not perfect, but lets be honest. Go7 is same price as another copy of Gloomhaven - the most expensive game in my collection (not counting the LCG-s). So I would much prefer to buy myself FS organizer that somewhat does the job and with the rest of the money buy another (60-70$) game such as LotR:JiME. ( My 0.02$ )
Well, I hope it's clear I didn't set out to "trash" Folded Space, or any other organizer for that matter. Tried to be clear these are my own thoughts on the merits and weaknesses of each system (and unfortunately, there isn't one I found to be without its faults). True, I did not give Folded Space a very positive review, but that's because I thought it was lacking in some key ways as an organizer. You're absolutely right that "value for the money" is a consideration for buyers. I intentionally did not discuss that much here because it's very much in the eye of the beholder and I can't predict how other people will weigh cost and determine value. For me personally, I currently play Gloomhaven more than all my other board games combined, so an organizer I feel is significantly better is worth it even if it costs more because it improves the quality./efficiency of those sessions for me, which is worth something - but that doesn't mean that's the right calculation for everyone. On the other end of the spectrum, for someone who plays very rarely and is cost-conscious, a set of Ziploc bags may be the best "value for the money" - it's not as good an organizer as *any* of these reviewed, but serves the purpose of keeping things stored and organized to some degree, and is far and away cheaper than any of these, so if you're only playing once a year it's probably worth setup being more of a hassle to save the $$ and go that way. So it's a personal calculation. All that said, since you raised the question, if your definition of best VALUE is "as inexpensive as possible but better at doing its job than Ziploc bags," then I would suggest looking into some of the DIY options others have mentioned in the comments, which are cheaper than Folded Space organizer and appear to do as good or better a job organizing the game.
Yeah I can certainly understand that. My pseudo-justification to my self was to count the whole cost of game plus organizer as one price, at which point it still overall is a good deal
Leland Wilson By going through these, it helped to point out the factors that players might overlooked when choosing the right organiser, so I still appreciate all the efforts of covering these disliked products.
4:21 Basically Wooden
6:44 GameFit
7:58 E-raptor
10:06 Folded Space
12:35 Daedalus
14:53 TowerRex
16:06 MeepleRealty
19:01 LaserOx
21:39 Broken Token
25:45 go7gaming
thank you so much
I fucking love the depths of nerdiness I get to feel when I watch a board game organizer comparison round up. Thank you for this
Ha yes it definitely has that!
This is the review from real player, it covers lots of thoughtful comparison and provides well explained details! Well done!
You have done a bang-up job describing all of the organizers. I appreciate all of the work you put into this. It was very informative and helpful.
Thanks, appreciate the positive review!
I bought the Tower Rex solution and I really like it. Even at $70 now it has a lot of features that are nice. 2 of the trays with a millions pieces interlock meaning it's easy to take out and one acts as a lid for the other. The token tray has a curved edge so it's easy to get pieces out. Only complaint is there is 1 mashup slot for all status tokens but a decent solution I found is that my edition came with a small expansion box for Forgotten Circles and since I don't have that expansion I can separate the status tokens with it (just need to put down a small piece of paper or cardstock to block the hole on the bottom. That box is tiny and fits in the excess space of the card box. Speaking of the card box it came with quite a few dividers and the rows are very flexible (flexible use, not physically floppy) given how long they are, absolutely no issue with sleeving every card. The monsters are well labeled and while there are labels facing each other on the vertical walls, if you don't see what you need on first pass it's super fast to just spin the tray and check the other side. Agree that terrain tiles are a bit annoying having to physically flip them to see what is on the other side.
Great info on this organizer, thanks!
Thanks Mark for your overview on these organizers. Your observations and reasons for your likes and dislikes were well thought out. This is an extremely useful video.
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
This video was incredibly helpful. I've been researching organizers for this game for several days and this video has helped a lot. Thanks!
Which one did you get?
thanks man, that was a huge help. i am literally waiting for he game to arrive, and honestly i feel overwhelmed, every little thing helps, great video
Glad I could help! The game's awesome, enjoy!
I have this game in my Amazon cart, went to watch an unboxing before I purchased the game so I had an idea of what I was about to get myself into, and this video came up in the recommended videos to watch which is how I landed here. Thank you so much for putting this information together, especially for those of us who have no clue what we are in for once we unbox this game. No, I did not know I would spend another $100 to organize these pieces, but I believe if I do not, it will ruin everyone's enthusiasm to play it. I do love the organizer you chose for the same reasons you chose it, I just wish it came with character "dashboards," or that somehow those character boxes transformed and could be used as a dashboard during play. Like you said, no organizer is absolutely perfect at meeting everyone's needs, but the go7gaming comes the closest.
FWIW the organization issue is primarily an issue with setup and putaway, so if you're willing to setup ahead of time and put away after everyone else has left, the lack of an organizer shouldn't have much impact on their enthusiasm. Now if you want to play a second scenario back-to- back then it gets dicey faster....
I really like seeing how TowerRex used to be some $20 and now it's $100 but with no differences I can see - it basically reconfirmed my decision not to go with them.
Cost of materials have gone up drastically, as has the cost of building space, staff, etc during COVID. Plus I've never seen them charge for shipping, it's always free international shipping whenever I've checked. Do you only want them to make peanuts on each insert they sell? Do you want them to stop eating food and turning their lights on lol?
@@FHRiley-yk9by The price increase was far before COVID - as that is when I was looking to purchase. That would have made sense. If it was worth the cost it would make sense, but they have a subpar organizer and have increased the cost to match competitors. Which is smart for capitalism, but not realistic for what I've seen their product capable of doing.
Good, thorough overview. I found this instructive on the game itself (I haven't bought the game yet) to hear you explain WHY some things worked or didn't
Thanks!
I got myself the e-raptor one because it looked effective in sorting cards, but sadly that isn't true. The monster cards are very neatly organized, yes, but after trying out the Gloomhaven Helper app, I don't plan on going back to classic monster cards and sheets. For all the other cards, I had to add separators myself to organize all the cards. The 5 small card slots and the 4 big card slots (there's technically a 5th, but it's so thin that I only put the 4 "Player aid" cards in there). And then, as Mark said, the two very large trays are problematic. I didn't use the suggested organization, to try and have a tray that I can put away and one that I can keep on the table, but even on the tray that I keep on the table, there's lots of terrain tiles in there that I only need to set-up when I open a room, and all the monsters that are stored in the other tray need to be placed on the map too when I open a door, meaning I have to pull it back out. Additionally, some of the monsters barely fit in there, meaning that getting them out of the tray is a real pain. I've been thinking about carving out a hole in the bottom part of the tray so that I can push the monsters out, but it's annoying that I have to do that myself.
I just bought this game and this video helps me out greatly on which organizer I want, thank you so much
You're welcome, glad it was of use to you!
Great round-up. I was able to quickly find the details I needed and I believe you provided an honest and well-researched opinion. Thanks!
Gloomhaven is definately something that should come with some kind of in house organisation as the amount of tokens are insane. Luckily I had a plastic tub with lots of deviders in that held everything even if it wasn't really done all that well
Very, very helpful review..! Thank you very much for this detailed look to the organizers. Now I know which one is the right one for me.
Great! What'd you decide on?
Excellent perspective on all these storage options. Very helpful. Your focus on design and ease of use and table set up were hitting home with me. I could relate to many of your dislikes and likes. I have been learning to play Gloomhaven via TH-cam and that naturally led to storage solution videos. It seems that most manufacturers need to simply provide clear laser etching or heat printing or stickers of text to be used along the sides of many of their trays/inserts to make these products greatly improved.
The Broken Token tuck boxes fall apart very easily. I played with a friend who purchased that organizer, used it once, and the things were already falling apart.
I have personally loved all of Daedalus Productions (DP) game inserts. I still feel that DP's insert for Merchant of Venus is their best work, by far, especially for setting up the game and how excellent it provides a presence on the table.
I like how the g7g tuck boxes are removed all together for characters. Like you said, I would just try to transfer all the components blindfolded (eyes closed). Daedalus Productions had a cool design for the character tuck boxes where, after they're opened, the storage space shape/dividers can be shifted to accommodate. The little laser cut Key for pulling out the monsters that are a tight fit is genius!
I haven't purchased a Gloomhaven storage solution yet, and right now I just use plastic craft boxes and acrylic card boxes for everything, I may still go for Daedalus Productions as a loyalist, but after watching this video, I may be going for the go7gaming one. We will see.
Keep it up. Great Work. Subscribed!
Thank you for the informational video. Previously I have purchased Broken Token products (for King of Tokyo and Dead of Winter) and Go7Gaming (for Aeon's End) and I definitely felt that the wood Go7Gaming used was much more sturdier than the flimsy ones of Broken Token. I have been considering purchasing an organizer for Gloomhaven and this has reassured me to stick with Go7Gaming's products.
With broken token somthing everyone seems to miss is that if your doing only 2 players you can just remove 2 of the active player bins and then 2 more boxes can fit. So you dont have to open 4 like you said
Thanks for the tip!
Even though the labels are on the lids, it looks quite nice even with the lid in front of it.
thoughts on the smonex organizer?
I don't think this was yet available when I made the video, or if it was I did not come across it in searching for different organizers, so this is my first time hearing about it. From a quick look at their video and the stills of it, seems well-designed and has some features I liked (the hinged player boxes are kind of cool, and I am a fan of the holes in the bottom of trays to push things out). Seems like it's probably pretty decent; not sure value-wise where it fits relative to costs of other options at this point. But made me curious, I'll look into them for Frosthaven when that comes out and see what the options are.
Smonex is definitely the best with the folding player boards and the ease of tokens in and out. The monster storage and card dividers are the best in my opinion. I went with the Smonex after reviewing the other options.
Thanks man. Wish I found this video sooner. I’ve also been heavily researching inserts (because of huge prices) and was already leaning towards the go7 gaming. Thanks for this video and I believe it does a great job explaining all the different rationales for the different inserts.
This is extremely helpful, @Mark Kerins. One suggestion would be to list these organizers in order of the amount to time each takes to build. According to the listing on Amazon, it takes 200-300 minutes to build the Go7 Gaming organizer. ~4 hours is quite a commitment outside of learning to play and actually playing the game.
Interesting idea, though the trick would be getting reliable info on how long it takes to build (different people build at different speeds, so I feel like you'd need to have the same person assemble all of them so the relative differences would be the same). I'd say my experience with the go7 was probably about 3 hours to build. I was just listening to an audiobook the whole time though so it wasn't like it was consuming my whole attention, so I think that's a factor too - you're not committing that time SOLELY to building the organizer.
Fantastic comprehensive review. I am using the plano setup, but sleeving my cards has me rethinking things. I appreciate the help allowing me to narrow it down.
Drink a shot every time he says "obnoxious". :) Good review.
Hi Mark, we just purchased Gloomhaven and the Go7! Your video was an amazing overview of all the choices out there. Do you have a link for the folder for map tiles?
I think it was this one that I bought: smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CN22C56/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_70GFEb8VB74RZ
but basically any sort of 8.5x11-size accordion folder would work.
@@filmprofmark Thank you! I just ordered that one as I like how you are still able to keep everything in one Box! The fact that you can't fully close the box does not bother me at all :)
I just got the game and ordered the Broken Token one. I know I'll mostly just be playing with the same people, so the downside wasn't really a problem for me. Although I'm going to have to figure out how I want to store things until it arrives without making a mess!
I used empty egg cartons which works okay if you have space to leave them somewhere
@@filmprofmark OH that's a pretty clever way to store all those tokens!
E-raptor is my favorite by far
E-Raptor has the No Glue required design. The sections look to actually snap together. That seems very interesting, as most laser cut wood storage solutions require glue to even work (broken token).
That is nice. The go7 gaming one also requires qlue to work, took me a couple nights to put it all together.
Great video. I didn't even know there were so many options for organizers available. I just went with the Broken Token and I've been pretty happy with it. The tuck boxes make for great organization but they are a pain when it comes time to put stuff away. You make a very good point about not knowing what's on the bottom of the tiles when they're in the tray. Sometimes a lot of flipping and searching is required.
All that said, Broken Token won a lot of points with me when they offered an update to their organizer that make the Forgotten Circles content fit into the base game box. Very nicely done.
Thanks for this. It's a pity you didn't include the YASS method here (Plano boxes). But it may be hard to find photographs.
Thanks for the comment. There are a few interesting DIY-esque options out there (saw a photo of a pretty clever tackle box solution where the whole thing unfolds into multiple layers or drawers) but since that's a pretty deep rabbit hole, decided to just go with commercially available organizers made specifically for Gloomhaven. Though if it turns out there's enough interest, I could do something similar for the DIY options.
For anyone interested in the Plano box solution, you can Google it, or check out the idea here: boardgamegeek.com/thread/1726878/yss-yet-another-storage-solution
nice vid man... can you point me in the right direction on what adhesive printable paper to get?
see earlier replies, I posted somewhere in here about this. I think if you just search "clear printable adhesive paper" you'd probably find the right thing.
Out of curiosity which sleeves are you using? I received my Folded Space Organiser prior to finding your video and I've been going through the process of assembling it and attempting to organise the components. Having not played the game yet I've certainly found organising it to be a very unpleasant experience and I have concerns about the longevity/integrity of the organiser over time. While I like that I don't have to crack open the character boxes, I can't help but feel as though had I found this video first I'd have perhaps opted for a different organiser.
Another issue I've come across (which is mentioned in FSO's own instructional video) is that the newer editions of Gloomhaven use thicker card stock which effects the ability to store some of the monsters as FSO originally intended.
I used Mayday Games premium sleeves. Honestly don't have experience with different brands so can't compare, but have been happy with these and they fit in my organizer.
@@filmprofmark Picked up the Mayday sleeves and I'm happy with the quality of the sleeves. Unfortunately I've found that with all cards sleeved the FS Organiser appears unable to accommodate all the cards (perhaps I'm doing something wrong?). At this stage I'm trying to find a UK/EU supplier for the Go7Gaming organiser but it looks as though I'm out of luck on this front and the cost of postage direct from Go7 combined with various other fees and a poor exchange rate are rendering it non-viable.
The Broken Token system doesn't appeal due to the idea of rotating characters so I'm finding myself at a bit of a loss at the moment in terms of finding a suitable organiser.
@@FreeFragUK sorry the FS organizer doesn't work with all the cards sleeved. Wish I had a great suggestion to make but I don't; given that you can't get the go7 one and aren't interested in BT (for same reason as me) I wonder if maybe one of the homemade options might work best? I didn't review those since I was focused on commercially available ones, but a couple people on this comment thread have posted suggestions about those. I imagine you have a little more freedom with those to scale to accommodate sleeves?
@@filmprofmark I appreciate the feedback and suggestions Mark. To be honest your video outshines the various other insert videos out there.
I may look into the LaserOx insert as an alternative. Despite its shortcomings it look as though it is possibly the best option at the moment.
I'll certainly have a look at the homemade options although admittedly I'd prefer a commercially available option.
You’ve convinced me to buy go7. You should sell the stickers you made for the character boxes. I would buy them.
The logos are available on the site of the game's graphic designer www.behance.net/gallery/41364169/Gloomhaven-Graphic-D so I just printed from there. If you'd really like to buy them DM me and I'll sell you a set - but to be honest I'll charge like $15, which is way more than it would cost you to just make them yourself, plus I'd have to pay to ship them. (so basically I'm willing to do these for others myself, but only if there's enough profit to make it worth my time - perfectly happy to just point people where they can get the info to do them themselves instead).
Such a great review! Thanks! I was already leaning toward the Go7Gaming organizer, and now I feel comfortable ordering it.
Glad it helped!
I almost think that the publisher really should have done a better job building some sort of organization into the box better than their default method so that we didn't have to have so many options out there. Thanks for the reviews though that helps greatly!
Maybe in Frosthaven they'll include a better organizer as part of the core game? Although I understand one of the issues was cost, and Isaac decided (I think rightly) to focus on the content and keep the price more reasonable - while I would argue (having played it) the game plus organizer is "worth" the $250 it might have cost to come with an organizer, that's a tough sell for someone who's not already 100% sure they like the game. On the plus side, this model allows for a proliferation of different styles of organizers, so you're more likely to find one that fits your particular needs or tastes.
Where does the Gloom Tavern by Gaming Trunk fit in?
Didn't see that one when I made this, either it wasn't out yet or just missed it. On a cursory glance at their site looks like not enough sorting/separation of things like cards for my taste but always good to have more options. I noticed they said they're going to do an update for Frosthaven and I'm curious what many of these companies do when that comes out; I'm assuming most of them will stick with the same basic design, but what will they have learned from their Gloomhaven experience to improve? Planning to do another vid once Frosthaven is out comparing those organizers.
Great review. Bought Gloomhaven a year ago for solo play and realized I really want to play it with others instead, so just now getting it back out and checking into storage options. This review was amazingly detailed, so thank-you for that.
Odd question... I can't seem to find sleeves that fit the small cards (the modifier decks and the like). I've bought a few options and they're either FAR too tight on the card, or far too lose. Any suggestions?
The ones I got were from Mayday Games and I have been happy with those and their fit. There may well be others out there that are better or cheaper, but at least back when I was looking those seemed like a decent value and they have held up (and stayed on) well.
@@filmprofmark Thank-you!
Such a great review! Now it misses the Gloomhaven organizer by Smonex :)
Thanks for the tip, another I hadn't seen (may not have been out when I made the video). Will add it to the comments at least. I like the labeled clear plastic cover on the monsters; the player parts remind me of the Broken Token organizer where there are spots for four but if you switch characters frequently you'd be doing a lot of putting them in and out of that.
@@filmprofmark that's true, we're a young company. We tried to make player boards light and solid to serve as long as possible.
@@SmonexSmartOneBox Just ordered your organizer! I think out of all the organizers, you seem to have the best for the average gloomhaven player. Looking forward to set it up, and review!
@@russelward7368 thanks for choosing our organizer! Looking forward for your feedback. In case of any issue feel free to contact us directly. I am happy to help you!
Great job! I'm glad someone already did all of this work for me.
Glad it's useful to someone! And thanks for tagging the timecodes!
@@filmprofmark Ended up ordering the E-raptor. Feels a little bad man after watching you video. But it was the only one I could find shipping to Norway at a reasonable price. The go7gaming one would cost me 200 USD not including customs clearance fees. Oh well, still a nice upgrade from not having an organizer.
@@Asbiss ha no worries. I have no stake in any of these, just tried to provide useful info about each (and didn't think to look into international differences in availability). Glad you found something - and yes, any of these is a big step up from NO organizer. Hope the e-raptor works out well for you!
Great overview of the main choices! Glad the one I decided on before seeing this is Go7!
Very, very helpful Sir !!!
Great video thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Mark, I'm in the Uk and want to order a go7 organiser. That said I'd really like to put stickers on the character boxes like you have. Do you have the file for these please?
I'd really appreciate any help you could give me?
Just added a link to the description since I've gotten this request before, here you go: www.dropbox.com/s/ued0u0iwmee3s60/gloomhaven%20logos.jpg?dl=0
Thanks Mark
Very nice review. From your point of view, is there any outstanding new ones for the 2nd edition?
Most of these will accommodate either 1st or 2nd edition, and several will also accommodate the "Forgotten Circles" expansion. I'd suggest if you're interested in a particular organizer, check for that specifically on that manufacturer's website. But there's not that much difference between 1st/2nd edition in terms of the storage needs. FWIW, I have the 2nd edition and my organizer works fine with it, but in the character boxes there are some different notches, cut out I think to accommodate slightly different 1st edition elements.
Your review of the different storage solutions is well done. I chose to go with your choice and chose the go 7 gaming. I just ordered it and it's on the way. On a seperate note, do you use any type of app to assist you in your gameplay? Cheers!
I use GH helper just for the way it hides the map tiles you haven't hit yet. Otherwise, no, I know there are some good ones out there, but I'm kind of old-school and like actually manipulating all the physical pieces. Though during social distancing have been playing on Tabletop Simulator on Steam, and there's a very good mod for it that automates some of the things, which I appreciate - but largely because it's harder to drag stuff around on the virtual table than on a real one.
Great review! Just ordered my go7 organizer! Where did you find the pictures of the class emblems to print out on sticker paper?
They're available on the site of the game's graphic designer www.behance.net/gallery/41364169/Gloomhaven-Graphic-D
I wish you reviewed the Gaming Trunk organizer. It is a Canadian company, so after conversion to US$ the price was really decent. I wish I saw your video before I purchased it, but I still don't know if I made the right choice. I also didn't see you include ease of assembly. For me, for example, Folded Space was a non-starter due to amount of gluing required. And you were right a bunch of their open trays is pretty useless.
I wish I would have, too! I did not know about this one when I did the review (perhaps it came out later, or perhaps I just never came across it) but just looked it up now and looks pretty cool. I really like how they organized the monster tokens and action cards, maybe the best version of that I've seen! Some other stuff (some of the tokens and map overlays) I'm not super-keen on but the Gaming Trunk is definitely a worthy contender.
Re ease of assembly, that was something I thought about a bit but didn't include in the video since it's difficult to judge the ones I hadn't actually had / built myself. But also figured most are pretty similar in requiring some assembly, and given the length of a Gloomhaven campaign, a little more or less gluing was not a big distinguishing factor and not a ton of time relative to the gameplay itself. FWIW, the go7gaming one I have did require a significant amount of assembly/gluing, I did it over a couple of nights doing an hour-ish each night while I listened to an audiobook. I don't remember which, but there was at least one I looked at where (at least when I had looked) you could pay significantly more to buy it already assembled, if that's a major concern.
@@filmprofmark Thanks. I am always so insecure and your opinion made me feel better about my purchase. Some purchasers claim (will test when it arrives) that GT tolerances are so tight you can just assemble it with a rubber mallet and little to no glue. I have some hand mobility issues so ease of assembly is important to me.
As for pre-assembled, I know that Broken Token was selling assembled organizers at Origins when I was there a year ago at significant extra surcharge.
@@knighthawk3749 I almost got the Gaming Trunk one for the monster organization alone.
@@christophermoore8524 I actually have received it since I first posted this and I love it. No glue required at all. I assembled it just using a rubber mallet. The tray that holds the tokens has a cover to prevent spillage. Which I didn't even notice because a clear plastic cover was almost invisible in the photos. And monster organization is fantastic the way it cleverly has a gap for the cards right in front of standees.
EDIT: The price for the value was the best surprise.
@@knighthawk3749 I thought about getting that one, and then just using a few Plano boxes or whatever for the characters that were in play.
Reviewing inserts without having them :D all about looking at photos
Yeah there's some guesswork involved. Would've loved to have copies of all in hand to review but can't afford that
Great video. Where did you get the copy of the symbols to make stickers of for the go7gaming organizer?
They're available on the site of the game's graphic designer www.behance.net/gallery/41364169/Gloomhaven-Graphic-D
How can I make stickers for my character boxes like in this video?
Obviously multiple ways you could do this - I think the coolest (not what I did, but what I would've done if I could) would be to use laser cutter to literally engrave the logos in the top of the boxes... if you have access to a laser cutter I think this would be great, would just recommend doing it *before* assembling the character boxes since that'd be easier.
My own method: I found the class icons on the site of the game's graphic designer (www.behance.net/gallery/41364169/Gloomhaven-Graphic-D and printed the PDF on a regular laser printer onto clear sticker paper. Then cut them out with scissors and stuck them to the top.
Semi-related FYI - I still wish I could figure out the best way to mark which classes are still locked and which are not - I ended up (as you can see in the video) just using little squares of post-it note on the ones that are still locked, then just removing the post-it and throwing it away when we unlock that character. This has worked perfectly fine but just looks a little cheap/cheesy, and I've been trying to think of a "cooler" way to do it. The other obvious one is to flip over the locked boxes when put away so the character icon is not showing, but I personally like being able to see the logos and speculate on what those classes would be.
@@filmprofmark thank you
@@stevendibella7550 happy to help, for my own curiosity let me know if you end up going with the go7gaming one in the end, and if so what you do for the class labels
@@filmprofmark ordered it right after this video. Should be here by Monday haha. I was back and forth between deadalus and go7, but the character boxes sold me. I don't have access to any that could print stickers so I might try online.
FYI, decided if people really want to buy the stickers DM me and I'll sell you a set - but at like $15, which is way more than it would cost you to just make them yourself, plus I'd have to pay to ship them. (so basically I'm willing to do these for others, but only on a small scale and only if there's enough profit to make it worth my time). Honestly perfectly happy to just point people where they can get the info to do them themselves instead, however since so many people asked, wanted to offer some solution for those who you don't have a way to make them themselves.
I just bought a tool box and plastic bags. Does the same but cheaper honestly.
If that works for you, great! I tried something similar first and it wasn't to my liking but different things work for different people.
@@filmprofmark yeah, it depends on how enthusiast someone is about it
Wow! Awesome, thank you so much! Very helpful.
Thx a lot for the effort behind this review. Everything is very clear... even your english pronunciation for a non mother tongue english speaker :)
Thanks a lot! Good to hear about the comprehensibility - early in my teaching career I heard from some foreign students that I was hard to understand so tried to improve that.
Yep! Go7gaming is best! Even fits the Forgotten Circles expansion with the redesign!
True - though so do a couple others. Curious to see what each company does for Frosthaven
33:00 Expansion
Great Job thanks
Fucking great vid! Already bought the e-Raptor but it gave me a few ideas in how to fix the problems with it.
$240 for a boardgame and organizer is more than I can stomach.... or is it.
It's a lot, admittedly... but as I explained in my "Gloomhaven review for casual gamers" video, it's a better value than most other board games in terms of cost-per-player-hour IF you get into it and actually play it through. If you only play it a couple times it's a terrible deal.
hahaha! Let's trash Folded Space one for not being on par with the Go7. FS is without a doubt the best value for money. Yes it is not perfect, but lets be honest. Go7 is same price as another copy of Gloomhaven - the most expensive game in my collection (not counting the LCG-s). So I would much prefer to buy myself FS organizer that somewhat does the job and with the rest of the money buy another (60-70$) game such as LotR:JiME. ( My 0.02$ )
Well, I hope it's clear I didn't set out to "trash" Folded Space, or any other organizer for that matter. Tried to be clear these are my own thoughts on the merits and weaknesses of each system (and unfortunately, there isn't one I found to be without its faults). True, I did not give Folded Space a very positive review, but that's because I thought it was lacking in some key ways as an organizer.
You're absolutely right that "value for the money" is a consideration for buyers. I intentionally did not discuss that much here because it's very much in the eye of the beholder and I can't predict how other people will weigh cost and determine value. For me personally, I currently play Gloomhaven more than all my other board games combined, so an organizer I feel is significantly better is worth it even if it costs more because it improves the quality./efficiency of those sessions for me, which is worth something - but that doesn't mean that's the right calculation for everyone. On the other end of the spectrum, for someone who plays very rarely and is cost-conscious, a set of Ziploc bags may be the best "value for the money" - it's not as good an organizer as *any* of these reviewed, but serves the purpose of keeping things stored and organized to some degree, and is far and away cheaper than any of these, so if you're only playing once a year it's probably worth setup being more of a hassle to save the $$ and go that way. So it's a personal calculation.
All that said, since you raised the question, if your definition of best VALUE is "as inexpensive as possible but better at doing its job than Ziploc bags," then I would suggest looking into some of the DIY options others have mentioned in the comments, which are cheaper than Folded Space organizer and appear to do as good or better a job organizing the game.
Nearly 5min to explain what the video is... Probably too long...
That's fair. My first time doing one of these, good note for the future. Thanks!
@@filmprofmark well done on your first vid...
no.. youre just probably impatient
I just can't justify spending as much as the game cost, again, for storage.
Yeah I can certainly understand that. My pseudo-justification to my self was to count the whole cost of game plus organizer as one price, at which point it still overall is a good deal
Maybe you shouldn't have reviewed the ones you didn't like.
Leland Wilson By going through these, it helped to point out the factors that players might overlooked when choosing the right organiser, so I still appreciate all the efforts of covering these disliked products.