Imagine a game with a lot of different cards, tokens, and meeples. If you would just randomly dump them all into the box of the board game, it would take quite a while to sort them and set the next game up. So, many board games at least provide cheap little plastic bags into which you can sort the game components by type. But that is just half of the equation: I frequently replace those plastic bags by little plastic boxes, because then I can put that box open next to the game board, and have the tokens more easily accessible.

I currently have a weekly game session to play Agemonia, a long narrative campaign game. And that game came with custom plastic trays, including covers, which make setup and storage very fast. Unfortunately, that is an exception, and probably financially viable only for those expensive big box games. A more typical board game box for way under $100 is more likely to just have a few cardboard dividers, and those aforementioned plastic bags for tokens. As that isn't ideal, third party companies provide improved inserts for various popular board games.

I recently bought the classic version of Dune: Imperium. And then the online shop I bought it from sent me clever advertising and offered me the new Dune: Imperium Uprising version of the game for 25% off, so I couldn't resist and bought that one as well. Both boxes come with the tokens and meeples already in plastic bags, but the cards come shrink wrapped and by default all go into the same big compartment in the box, where they will get all mixed up. Thus I bought for both versions of the game two slightly different insert solutions from Folded Space. Folded Space makes inserts out of coated foam, which you have to assemble and glue together yourself. You end up with a bunch of trays that fill up the original game box completely, which more or less prevents game components from spilling. And the trays can be set up directly for use in the game.

My experience with this product is mixed. I found assembly less fiddly than the e-Raptor insert for Gloomhaven. But the overall experience stands and falls with the quality of the glue you are using. For the first insert I used a cheap glue, which was way too liquid, and hard to dose precisely. Inevitably the excess glue spilled into the trays. And then it turned out that even after drying, the glue remained sticky for a long time; that was really bad, because I had already put game components in the trays, and then had problems getting them unstuck from the trays without damaging them, especially the cards. I got better glue for the second insert, and this is easier to dose. But some excess glue inside the trays seems inevitable, and I'll have to dry the completed trays for several days before using them.

The positive point of the Folded Space inserts is that they are in a price range from $15 to $30, which is at the lower end of that particular market. For comparison, the Feldherr insert for Dune: Imperium doesn't need assembly, but costs €40. As the Dune: Imperium games directly from Dire Wolf cost between €50 and €55, a €40 insert seems somewhat excessive in comparison. For games without many cards, I often use the $15 Gamegenic Token Silo, but that is a generic product, and doesn't necessarily fit perfectly for every game and every box. Still, having a lid is good, and the outer tray holding the token trays can be used to roll dice in. Individual little plastic boxes from Amazon cost only around $1 per box, and can provide an even cheaper alternative. But usually I have to buy a complete set of boxes of different sizes and then pick out the ones that best fit in size for a particular game.

So, once I mastered the assembly of the Folded Space inserts and the glue problem, the final product is both pretty and useful. Set-up is sped up considerably, compared to the provided plastic bag solution with no containers for cards. As I am currently playing Dune: Imperium quite a lot, I don't regret having bought the inserts. I still wouldn't buy inserts for every game I own, just for the favorite ones.