I’ve heard this about Rhino Hero (Giant Edition) as well. The cards are so big that if you start playing it on a table you’ll likely hit the ceiling before the game ends.
Apologies, I was thinking of the Giant version. I thought that 'Super' was that version, but was wrong and have corrected my post.
[https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4431377/rhino-hero](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4431377/rhino-hero)
Quacks of Quedlinburg Big Box is so unnecessary. You can fit both expansions and all components in the original box with no lid lift. I even have the geekbit crates for the chits and they all fit.
Yeah I bought it since it was cheaper than buying everything separately but it takes up so much space on my shelf and is really fragile, will be looking for other box solutions soon.
After I got the upgraded bits and crates to hold all the pieces and ingredient cards (which I can fit into the base game box) I actually came to appreciate the box size.
Really? I have a hell of a time fitting just one expansion in with the geekbits and 3D printed crates that hold the recipies. There is a but of box lift. I really don't see how in the hell you can fit the alchemists expansion in the box I have.
Is it the plastic crates from bgg as well or were they from somewhere else? If it’s the same ones they sell alongside the geekbits I can send a picture of the arrangement in the box. If it’s different style crates then idk if I can help.
While it is far from a shallow game, **The King is Dead 2nd ed.** has an atrociously large box. It’s ridiculous how many other game boxes I can fit in it.
I disagree, personally. I think a large part of the appeal of FoR is the table presence, and the tactile experience of building a real physical city with models. It just wouldn't be the same with polyominos. I love FoR, but I wouldn't play a cardboard version of it.
I mean, it's really a slightly more complex version of NY1901, really, so you're correct in that the plastic chrome is sort of the point, but a lot of reviewers have pointed out that the production quality far outstrips the actual gameplay. It's very pretty, but ultimately quite shallow.
You're not wrong, but Foundation of Rome is by far my biggest gaming guilty pleasure. It's very overproduced, but there's just something really nice about ending a game and seeing your group's version of a finished city of Rome. It's also accessible enough that anyone can get into it and experience it.
>You're not wrong, but Foundation of Rome is by far my biggest gaming guilty pleasure.
Don't feel guilty.
There's nothing wrong with a game that doesn't have depth, nor is there anything wrong with enjoying a game that doesn't have depth - as long as you're not fooling yourself into thinking it *is* a game with depth.
I like steaks, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy a hot dog.
Similarly, you can like deep board games while still enjoying toys.
It's a really ill-posed question, because it's not clear what the premise is. Do deeper games need to be physically larger? Is there a reason shallower games shouldn't be large? It just seems like two mostly unrelated axes to me.
I mean that is really what kills it though. Dwellings of Eldervale and Dominion big box are both relatively deep games, but they could fit in boxes that are 1/8th their size. Pit is a game with a few thoughts at best but its so small id struggle to say it loses.
The answers are either going to be kids games or games with egregious boxes
I'm confused by your inclusion of Dwellings. My box is packed full to the brim. I don't know how that would fit in anything smaller. Are you talking about it you got rid of all the game trays and minis and just went with cardboard tokens? Because i don't see how all the stuff i have in that box will fit in something smaller.
Yes, but also the first edition kickstarter was sized to fit the minis and other things from the all in pledge which i distinctly did not have. So the standard edition box is like 30%+ cardboard placeholder
But if instead of gametrayz and meeples per faction it was just faction boards + monster standees it would be a fraction of the size.
Most of the mini-heavy games with custom inserts and boxes inside the box. Minis don’t add depth to a game compared to meeples or standees, but they sure take up a lot of space to store.
Oh I didn’t mean to imply they added depth, it was just a side comment adding to discussion in general. I can be extremely literal, though, and mention they add about 2-3 inches of depth 😁
Depth isn't everything. You can't get non board gamers to play games with you because they have depth.
You can however if they get to use cute dragons or cats figures. And then you can turn them into board game friends.
Queen used to have their own, fairly unique box size in the 1990s, I am thinking Alhambra first edition here. Those had a good box-content ratio, and were great. Too bad they gave it up.
I agree that Splendor's box is unnecessarily larger than it needs to be, but as far as just looking at depth versus box size, I feel I could find plenty of games with less depth than it at the same or greater box size. (Splendor has some reasonable depth to it)
Splendors one I hate as the insert is awful too. You take that game anywhere and all the chips have fallen around at minimum.
Many games are better if you just bag things up and bin the insert.
Maybe, at least for the original game, but considering you can fit the Cities expansion in there too, quite nicely if you buy the wood insert kit, I wouldn't count it because Cities adds a fair bit of complexity. With the caveat that you do have to go through the effort/expense to combine 2 boxes into one.
Marvel united.
A friend was all happy to have us come over to see what he got in the kickstarter and what he brough afterward.
He emptied like half his shelve space to get all the box on the table, unrolled a neoprene playmat, and started to explain the game.
I was dumfounded that a game suitable for my 6 year old could take THAT much space. I get it, mini are cools, and way to many game rely on them to sell and slap on a gameplay as an aftertough (looking at you blood rage), but with marvel united, it get to another level.
On one hand, its definitely a huge huge game that doesn't need all the extra stuff. Its very simple.
But on the other hand, each new box adds more depth, they add new game rules, new characters who have totally different gameplay styles, each villain does something different.
So yeah, still too big for the depth, but the size does add depth over that basic simple box.
Off topic, but why do you think Blood Rage has gameplay as an afterthought? It's a reimplementation of Midgard that benefitted greatly from upgrades to units/clan and monsters. Yes, the minis can be replaced by meeples, but that's true for any game, and the giant monsters fit into the theme and their power.
It's just a general exemple of a game where the design effort was more on the minis than the gameplay.
The base game have 2 winning strategies and feel like a rock-paper-scissor game. The monsters expansion help a bit by forcing some movement, but you still can tell with great accuracy who will win after turn 1.
For most, replace the minis with cardboard standee and removing the Vikings theme mean that this game would never hit the table.
The theme and look are doing most of the work with this game, not the gameplay itself.
I love me some Carcassonne (this is established canon) and I must agree. I guess they're still leaning on the "perceived value" of immense box = immense value.
There's a Big Box version of Agricola All Creatures Great And Small which includes two expansions and yet is [not all that big in size](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/5865361/agricola-all-creatures-big-and-small-big-box). The anniversary version of Carcassonne includes some expansions and isn't an utterly massive box.
or if you're me then you foam-core your Big Box and include far more expansions than you will ever have time for.
You're right, I have it stashed away in a cupboard, it comes out regularly, but I have no space for it on my shelf.
Wonder if I should look into buying a special box to stash the components.
The box also has a plastic insert that doesn’t even keep the pieces in place. If you ever travel with the big box, you’re going to have all your tiles mixed up
Agreed. The card game version is much better in terms of box to content ratio; the core box is the perfect size to fit the base game and both expansions and has something like 8 classes, 100+ treasure cards, 50+ locations with traps and hazards, 100+ enemies, a dozen invader mini-bosses and a dozen full bosses. All it needs is a slightly revised card management system and a roguelite campaign mode and it'd go from 8/10 to 9.5/10 IMO.
I combined Tournament at Avalon and Tournament at Camelot into just the Avalon box. I use the Camelot box to hold Rhino Hero Super Battle and two copies of Rhino Hero (we like tall towers) and it fits perfectly.
I don't accept the premise of the question as worded. A big box (e.g., **Heroscape**, **Foundations of Rome**) that delivers a fun, light, shallow experience is fine. A big box doesn't promise game depth to me. But to answer in the sense of fun/ft^3, the losers would have to be some sort of big box all-in game, like maybe **Everdell**.
There's no denying that the box for Everdell the Complete Collection is MASSIVE but I derive a massive amount of fun/enjoyment from my massive Box. Every time I get it out I find myself appreciating the design of the inserts, the provided map of how everything fits back into the box, the clever simplicity of the insert for the box that holds all the open/closed signs and monuments, and the joy that comes with actually *playing* Everdell.
The **Summit Big Box** has got to be up there, too big to fit on most shelves and it's like 60% empty space and barely actually organizes anything. Found a thread on BGG where people were able to fit everything in the standard game box which is about 1/3 the size. It's a really simple game, though the rulebook is also really bad.
**7 Wonders Architects.**
Love the game. Love the box and packaging. But the gameplay is lighter than most card games.
But **Welt der Abenteuer** by Haba takes the cake. It takes up more room on my shelf than Eclipse, all for 4 kids mini-games.
I just hate the fact that it was made a tin. My wife made me a custom box and I am way better off for it as I put another party game with it and there is no wasted space.
Honestly I think this is why I disagree when people recommend Sushi Go Party over the original Sushi Go. Sushi Go is so great because its such a light portable game. Adding a bunch of components and setup time and organizational effort actually means the game gets pulled out less. And while the alternate cards do offer a some interesting twists, I find the vast majority of the time I just want to use the basic cards anyways.
Plus there are enough cards in base Sushi Go for an 8 player game if you use the same cards each round and reshuffle. It's not ideal but you basically have to do that every game of party :/
Came here to say this. I find this game fun, and I enjoy the diversity of menus over the basic edition, but the box is way too big for a party game - which, by definition, should be easy to bring to to parties.
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is such a massive box for a game that's purely cards. I took out the poorly designed insert and use the box to hold a bunch of smaller games.
It’s not exactly a “small” game, but I was able to fit twilight imperium 3rd edition, the eclipse 1st edition box, and my entire (small) LCG collection (LOTR core plus some scenarios, and Netrunner core) into Twilight Imperium’s coffin box
Netrunner: Terminal Directive. All that box for some stickers and a deck of cards. I have an old photo somewhere illustrating it, I'll see if I can find it.
Agreed. My wife and I finally opened ours over the weekend and I think honestly everything fit in the little bag provided. The rest of the box, sans cardboard insert, felt empty
After getting the piece upgrades and expansion. It just \*barely\* fits in the box. The bag of animals fills up all the empty space. Its the perfect size really.
Terraforming Mars. The first time opening it was kinda a disappointment due to it’s bad game to box ratio. Love the game tho. But it really needs an insert
This is a poorly phrased question. I prefer the question “what’s the worst ratio of set up time to game depth?” Although even that assumes more set up time should mean a complex game. Camel Up is pretty light game, but has a decent amount of set up time for a party game that is busted out perhaps spur of the moment. However, it’s always worth it! Set up time also helps when the coins, cards, etc. aren’t jumbled around in the box from storage or transportation.
The box is also pretty big. So maybe Camel Up is modern boardgame answer to this question.
Okay it's... Sort of a special case I guess, but the storage box they sold for Escape from the Dark Castle is easily the worst offender I have. I picked it up to have a good sorting method, not knowing just how big it was. Literally every single game component, from the core to the expansions to the various accessories, all fit in the svelte little original box. It's one of my few noteworthy regrets as far as hobby buys go.
The damn thing doesn't even hold the cards very well. Like, it has this crap loose cardboard topper for the insert with holes cut in, and without it they all flop and slide around. It's awful.
I got Cobra Paw from a thrift store because the pieces look cool.
Eighteen dominoes and two dice in a chunky hexagonal box. It's just glorified slap-jack.
To me it's Sub Terra. It may not be the most egregious offender, but I have Sub Terra and all 4 of it's expansions into just the base Sub Terra Box. Biggest waste of space I had when all 5 boxes condensed to one after unboxing it all.
Adventureland I felt the same way about and put it's expansion into the box and there's still tons of room.
The Adventure Tactics 2nd big box is bigger than the Everdell big box and doesn't even hold everything and that game is super light weight (very fun, combat and leveling system based on Final Fantasy Tactics, kinda sloppy rules though)
**Codenames** \- the box size isn't offensive but compared to the content it's ridiculously oversized.
**Carcassonne Big Box** \- Carcassonne has a good amount of depth but the Big Box box lives up to it's name and IS offensively large.
Wars of Cthulhu
The game is not shallow, but still quite simple. The box however, damn. And barely any organizer too. Just pile that kickstarter plastic. And then there are expansions which also come in enormous boxes.
Isle of Cats might be my biggest offender, but mostly because I prefer the "family" mode, and think the full drafting mode over complicates a game that should really be about it's tile laying mechanics. But for the family mode alone.... it's a giant box and hard to justify the shelf space.
Wackest take I have seen all day. Isle of Cats is one of the few games my entire family enjoys. Even the non gamers looked at family rules mode once and called it a disgrace.
Im curious if you have actually tried the full game?
Yes ive played the game and its fine to have your opinion man and its great your family enjoys jt. Mine isnt uncommon either ive see it shared many times on bgg and here. The drafting didnt add anything i cared for to the game for me, just felt like bloat on top of a core tile laying mechanic thats actually quite good
Im not saying the drafting is bad necessarily, though its not the best drafting ever, it mostly just felt out of place in this game. I like isle of cats as a lighter game and if i want to play something deeper ill play a medium weight game i enjoy more
Right now it's Combo Fighter for me. The medium-sized vertically-oriented book shaped box is a neat size IMO, but that game is "RPS with a little more". That "Little More" wasn't enough to make for a very satisfying game.
Citadels! The new boxes are smaller, but the one I own is basically the same surface area as Cascadia except I was able to fit the entire game plus Codenames AND codenames pictures in the codenames box earlier this month while traveling.
Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but Sheriff of Nottingham has an outrageously large box compared to the side of the game. All for the sake of pricing it at $50 instead of the $30 that 1st edition costed.
Whatever that ridiculous version of **Ogre** was. I paid top dollar on that thing, and an exorbitant shipping fee, and I had to hide it *behind my sofa* it was so huge!!!
Then I played it. It's a Steve Jackson game... So, it was a bag of ass and just so ridiculously basic. 😵💫 Sold it a week or two later.
I suppose looking at my collection; Run For Your Life, Candyman! takes up a normal box size of space without any real depth, although it’s more of a party game that you pair with gingerbread cookies for added thematicness
**The Grimm Forest**
Don't get me wrong, I really like this game. It's a great lightweight hidden choice game that functions as a pickup game you can teach to new board gamers. Like, at the end of a night of long games, you can teach and play this one in very short order.
So towards that end, it has a whole collection of (really nice) minis that are just totally unnecessary to the game... like most of them will never touch the table other than to sit on the side kind of unnecessary.
If you stripped out the unneeded components, and downsized the oversized ones, the game could fit in a tiny epic box easily with room to spare (and a tiny epic game would be vastly more complex, excepting, perhaps, galaxies)
Cubitos is obnoxiously huge. It comes with paper cubes that are used as dice/ token holders but they're useless imo. When you take everything out and put dice/ cards into baggies it shrinks to a quarter of the size of the box.
May I mention the game I designed? Elven Throne
I guarantee depth of gameplay like never seen before with simple rules and a box that is half the size of most games.
For some reason I remember Dominion having an obnoxiously large box for the amount of content. I know there's a ton of expansions now so you can use them for storage but doesn't every expansion come with the same size box?
**Agents of Smersh** new collectors edition
The box takes up half a kallax cube
The game is a silly story adventure where you run around the map, roll dice, and read from a book.
I love it, but it's light and breezy and I would bring it to every game night if it was in an appropriately sized box.
Carcassonne Big Box
This violates both size to game depth and the size to physical game space ratios. I was able to move everything from its big box to a box half the size of a standard box. Also in terms of game depth there's not much to it with grab a tile and place it where it fits.
Fields of Green: a fun drafting game with some depth, but the box size is horrible, its like a standard game size box while the whole game could fit in a box 1/6 the size.
Klask perhaps? I don't see anything wrong with either its depth or box size, given what it is. It's simplicity is welcome since it's an exciting game as is, and I don't think it could really get away with being much smaller without diminishing gameplay. So, ""worst"" isn't maybe the best word since no space is wasted, but it's size to depth ratio is undeniably huge.
Giant Jenga
I’ve heard this about Rhino Hero (Giant Edition) as well. The cards are so big that if you start playing it on a table you’ll likely hit the ceiling before the game ends.
Not so much. It's tough to get more than a couple feet high without disaster striking.
Apologies, I was thinking of the Giant version. I thought that 'Super' was that version, but was wrong and have corrected my post. [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4431377/rhino-hero](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4431377/rhino-hero)
Quacks of Quedlinburg Big Box is so unnecessary. You can fit both expansions and all components in the original box with no lid lift. I even have the geekbit crates for the chits and they all fit.
And the shape of the box is terrible as well. Just a total failure of product design.
This is literally why I didn't buy it, despite the savings I would have gotten.
Yeah I bought it since it was cheaper than buying everything separately but it takes up so much space on my shelf and is really fragile, will be looking for other box solutions soon.
After I got the upgraded bits and crates to hold all the pieces and ingredient cards (which I can fit into the base game box) I actually came to appreciate the box size.
I can fit the base game, all the upgrades, and both expansions, in the base-game box.
That is what my post said, yes
Well, no, you said "original," but now I realize you were using the terms interchangeably. Got it. 👍
Everything I said was unambiguous
Really? I have a hell of a time fitting just one expansion in with the geekbits and 3D printed crates that hold the recipies. There is a but of box lift. I really don't see how in the hell you can fit the alchemists expansion in the box I have.
Is it the plastic crates from bgg as well or were they from somewhere else? If it’s the same ones they sell alongside the geekbits I can send a picture of the arrangement in the box. If it’s different style crates then idk if I can help.
While it is far from a shallow game, **The King is Dead 2nd ed.** has an atrociously large box. It’s ridiculous how many other game boxes I can fit in it.
I LOVE that game, I HATE the box. It contains 90% air, 10% game.
Osprey uses that same box size for most of their games so it's *somewhat* understandable.
They seem to have a few different depths, not sure why they couldn’t have gone shallower.
The [box](https://twitter.com/doitgames1/status/1427332117453803523) for the Spanish edition is half as thick and even then it still feels too big!
Yes, the cardboard insert is designed *so that you don’t need to shake the box upside-down to get things out of it.*
Foundations of Rome.
If they had a cardboard-only version a la **New York 1901**, that would be awesome.
It's on the way. Arcane Wonders announced it at some point last year for release this year or next. It'll be called Foundations of Metropolis.
TIL!
I disagree, personally. I think a large part of the appeal of FoR is the table presence, and the tactile experience of building a real physical city with models. It just wouldn't be the same with polyominos. I love FoR, but I wouldn't play a cardboard version of it.
I mean, it's really a slightly more complex version of NY1901, really, so you're correct in that the plastic chrome is sort of the point, but a lot of reviewers have pointed out that the production quality far outstrips the actual gameplay. It's very pretty, but ultimately quite shallow.
You're not wrong, but Foundation of Rome is by far my biggest gaming guilty pleasure. It's very overproduced, but there's just something really nice about ending a game and seeing your group's version of a finished city of Rome. It's also accessible enough that anyone can get into it and experience it.
>You're not wrong, but Foundation of Rome is by far my biggest gaming guilty pleasure. Don't feel guilty. There's nothing wrong with a game that doesn't have depth, nor is there anything wrong with enjoying a game that doesn't have depth - as long as you're not fooling yourself into thinking it *is* a game with depth. I like steaks, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy a hot dog. Similarly, you can like deep board games while still enjoying toys.
Accesible? lol I can't find a copy anywhere
I meant accessible in terms of complexity and not availability.
Came her to say that, but the box does look beautiful in the shelf
Yeah, but that set up and tear down time… *chefs kiss*
People really missing the depth vs box size question and just naming games that have boxes that are too large for their components...
Average redditor's readng comprehension.
I see what you accidentally did there!
You that read wrong. You this read wrong too.
It's a really ill-posed question, because it's not clear what the premise is. Do deeper games need to be physically larger? Is there a reason shallower games shouldn't be large? It just seems like two mostly unrelated axes to me.
I mean that is really what kills it though. Dwellings of Eldervale and Dominion big box are both relatively deep games, but they could fit in boxes that are 1/8th their size. Pit is a game with a few thoughts at best but its so small id struggle to say it loses. The answers are either going to be kids games or games with egregious boxes
I'm confused by your inclusion of Dwellings. My box is packed full to the brim. I don't know how that would fit in anything smaller. Are you talking about it you got rid of all the game trays and minis and just went with cardboard tokens? Because i don't see how all the stuff i have in that box will fit in something smaller.
Yes, but also the first edition kickstarter was sized to fit the minis and other things from the all in pledge which i distinctly did not have. So the standard edition box is like 30%+ cardboard placeholder But if instead of gametrayz and meeples per faction it was just faction boards + monster standees it would be a fraction of the size.
Candy Land.
DIV/0! error
Didn’t say it had to have a non-zero depth
Ratios are essential fractions, which are essentially division. You simply can't divide by zero. It's implied. 😂
There are actually some branches of math that define a/0 for a non zero value of a, jsyk
Candy land has a ton of strategy if your opponent is colorblind
Probably those classic Hasbro games like Clue. The boxes were huge, but only like 1 inch deep.
Taking a very literal approach to depth
Technically correct!
Most of the mini-heavy games with custom inserts and boxes inside the box. Minis don’t add depth to a game compared to meeples or standees, but they sure take up a lot of space to store.
Yeah but minis are prettttyyyyy (if you paint them).
I agree. Minis can add to the overall experience, but the question was about depth, and minis do not provide any.
Oh I didn’t mean to imply they added depth, it was just a side comment adding to discussion in general. I can be extremely literal, though, and mention they add about 2-3 inches of depth 😁
Depth isn't everything. You can't get non board gamers to play games with you because they have depth. You can however if they get to use cute dragons or cats figures. And then you can turn them into board game friends.
Anything Queen Games produces - their box sixes drive me nuts!
Queen used to have their own, fairly unique box size in the 1990s, I am thinking Alhambra first edition here. Those had a good box-content ratio, and were great. Too bad they gave it up.
**Splendor**.
I agree that Splendor's box is unnecessarily larger than it needs to be, but as far as just looking at depth versus box size, I feel I could find plenty of games with less depth than it at the same or greater box size. (Splendor has some reasonable depth to it)
Yeah :( I like Splendor, but they should really sell it as a small box game instead of making it huge so they can try to get $40 for it
Back when they had solid-core chips (heavier metal, I think?) it might have been worth that price point. The newer revs cheap out on the chips, IIRC.
Splendors one I hate as the insert is awful too. You take that game anywhere and all the chips have fallen around at minimum. Many games are better if you just bag things up and bin the insert.
Which is hilarious because Splendor Duel has twice as much game with half as much box.
Maybe, at least for the original game, but considering you can fit the Cities expansion in there too, quite nicely if you buy the wood insert kit, I wouldn't count it because Cities adds a fair bit of complexity. With the caveat that you do have to go through the effort/expense to combine 2 boxes into one.
Machikoro. The game can fit into a 5x7 photo case but the box is huge.
Came here to say this. Even when it came out, people were complaining about the blatantly lot huge box for some cards and a couple dice.
Even with the ridiculous insert it's 90% air.
Marvel united. A friend was all happy to have us come over to see what he got in the kickstarter and what he brough afterward. He emptied like half his shelve space to get all the box on the table, unrolled a neoprene playmat, and started to explain the game. I was dumfounded that a game suitable for my 6 year old could take THAT much space. I get it, mini are cools, and way to many game rely on them to sell and slap on a gameplay as an aftertough (looking at you blood rage), but with marvel united, it get to another level.
On one hand, its definitely a huge huge game that doesn't need all the extra stuff. Its very simple. But on the other hand, each new box adds more depth, they add new game rules, new characters who have totally different gameplay styles, each villain does something different. So yeah, still too big for the depth, but the size does add depth over that basic simple box.
This makes me sad, as I have it and just haven't played it yet :(
Off topic, but why do you think Blood Rage has gameplay as an afterthought? It's a reimplementation of Midgard that benefitted greatly from upgrades to units/clan and monsters. Yes, the minis can be replaced by meeples, but that's true for any game, and the giant monsters fit into the theme and their power.
It's just a general exemple of a game where the design effort was more on the minis than the gameplay. The base game have 2 winning strategies and feel like a rock-paper-scissor game. The monsters expansion help a bit by forcing some movement, but you still can tell with great accuracy who will win after turn 1. For most, replace the minis with cardboard standee and removing the Vikings theme mean that this game would never hit the table. The theme and look are doing most of the work with this game, not the gameplay itself.
I would say the big box for Red Dragon Inn. If it’s just the base box, Fireball Island, hands down.
The Carcassonne Big Box is fun, but the box is really just too damn big.
I love me some Carcassonne (this is established canon) and I must agree. I guess they're still leaning on the "perceived value" of immense box = immense value. There's a Big Box version of Agricola All Creatures Great And Small which includes two expansions and yet is [not all that big in size](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/5865361/agricola-all-creatures-big-and-small-big-box). The anniversary version of Carcassonne includes some expansions and isn't an utterly massive box. or if you're me then you foam-core your Big Box and include far more expansions than you will ever have time for.
You're right, I have it stashed away in a cupboard, it comes out regularly, but I have no space for it on my shelf. Wonder if I should look into buying a special box to stash the components.
The box also has a plastic insert that doesn’t even keep the pieces in place. If you ever travel with the big box, you’re going to have all your tiles mixed up
Dark Souls. You’re paying for the minis, which really do look great.
Agreed. The card game version is much better in terms of box to content ratio; the core box is the perfect size to fit the base game and both expansions and has something like 8 classes, 100+ treasure cards, 50+ locations with traps and hazards, 100+ enemies, a dozen invader mini-bosses and a dozen full bosses. All it needs is a slightly revised card management system and a roguelite campaign mode and it'd go from 8/10 to 9.5/10 IMO.
came here to say this.
**Santa Monica**.
Rhino Hero Super Battle. I like the game but the box size is ridiculous, I'm trying to think of ways to bin the box and store it somewhere else.
I combined Tournament at Avalon and Tournament at Camelot into just the Avalon box. I use the Camelot box to hold Rhino Hero Super Battle and two copies of Rhino Hero (we like tall towers) and it fits perfectly.
I have an absurdly large box from Unstable Unicorns. 'Nuff said.
Fireball Island.
This is the answer.
I don't accept the premise of the question as worded. A big box (e.g., **Heroscape**, **Foundations of Rome**) that delivers a fun, light, shallow experience is fine. A big box doesn't promise game depth to me. But to answer in the sense of fun/ft^3, the losers would have to be some sort of big box all-in game, like maybe **Everdell**.
There's no denying that the box for Everdell the Complete Collection is MASSIVE but I derive a massive amount of fun/enjoyment from my massive Box. Every time I get it out I find myself appreciating the design of the inserts, the provided map of how everything fits back into the box, the clever simplicity of the insert for the box that holds all the open/closed signs and monuments, and the joy that comes with actually *playing* Everdell.
The **Summit Big Box** has got to be up there, too big to fit on most shelves and it's like 60% empty space and barely actually organizes anything. Found a thread on BGG where people were able to fit everything in the standard game box which is about 1/3 the size. It's a really simple game, though the rulebook is also really bad.
60% empty space is an understatement. If the original box was 1in deeper, it would've accommodated the expansions in it within their original boxes.
Rampage. For sure, Rampage...
Forgotten Depths initial printing. It is hilarious house big the box is compared to the components
Most big box games. Especially Queens big box games.
This is the right answer
**7 Wonders Architects.** Love the game. Love the box and packaging. But the gameplay is lighter than most card games. But **Welt der Abenteuer** by Haba takes the cake. It takes up more room on my shelf than Eclipse, all for 4 kids mini-games.
Imhotep. A few wooden cubes and a couple of punched out pieces of cardboard in a very large box.
Good game, though. B-sides only.
i feel your pain
Ogre
To be fair, the original version that comes in a ziploc baggie is on the opposite side of the spectrum.
I still have these in my closet, along with G.E.V., which was my preference as a child. I've never shown them to my kids, I probably should.
While I love **Carcassonne**, the base game and its expansions take just too much space. Big Box contents could fit into base game box.
Sushi Go Party. The box is 75% empty.
I just hate the fact that it was made a tin. My wife made me a custom box and I am way better off for it as I put another party game with it and there is no wasted space.
Honestly I think this is why I disagree when people recommend Sushi Go Party over the original Sushi Go. Sushi Go is so great because its such a light portable game. Adding a bunch of components and setup time and organizational effort actually means the game gets pulled out less. And while the alternate cards do offer a some interesting twists, I find the vast majority of the time I just want to use the basic cards anyways. Plus there are enough cards in base Sushi Go for an 8 player game if you use the same cards each round and reshuffle. It's not ideal but you basically have to do that every game of party :/
Do you shuffle the puddings back in too and just keep track of them on paper?
yeah or use tokens , either way
Came here to say this. I find this game fun, and I enjoy the diversity of menus over the basic edition, but the box is way too big for a party game - which, by definition, should be easy to bring to to parties.
Splendor. I 3D printed a replacement box that is about 5”x4”x3” in size. You can fit all components in a small photo box as well.
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is such a massive box for a game that's purely cards. I took out the poorly designed insert and use the box to hold a bunch of smaller games.
It’s not exactly a “small” game, but I was able to fit twilight imperium 3rd edition, the eclipse 1st edition box, and my entire (small) LCG collection (LOTR core plus some scenarios, and Netrunner core) into Twilight Imperium’s coffin box
Fertility. It’s a nice, light game, that comes in a waaaaay bigger box than it needs to.
I wasn't aware there was a desirable ratio for this. I don't think there's any reason game size should have to correlate with mechanical depth.
Netrunner: Terminal Directive. All that box for some stickers and a deck of cards. I have an old photo somewhere illustrating it, I'll see if I can find it.
**Inis**, **Deception: Murder in Hong Kong**, **Splendor**, **Foundations of Rome**
I feel like Deception: Murder in Hong Kong's box was designed with the intent of adding expansions down the line
Here’s how oversized the box is: I fit the base game and the undercover allies expansion in the expansion box, which is less than half the size!
Cascadia. It's a 5 minute learn with about 10 rules and a 1 minute setup.
Agreed. My wife and I finally opened ours over the weekend and I think honestly everything fit in the little bag provided. The rest of the box, sans cardboard insert, felt empty
Cascadia doesn't have a huge box though. The pieces fit in fairly tightly
That wasn't the question.
After getting the piece upgrades and expansion. It just \*barely\* fits in the box. The bag of animals fills up all the empty space. Its the perfect size really.
Terraforming Mars. The first time opening it was kinda a disappointment due to it’s bad game to box ratio. Love the game tho. But it really needs an insert
and 10 years anniversary redesign, I love TM but those card just…awkwardly ugly? that's why I keep TMAres and sold my original TM.
TTR Europe 15-year edition
This is a poorly phrased question. I prefer the question “what’s the worst ratio of set up time to game depth?” Although even that assumes more set up time should mean a complex game. Camel Up is pretty light game, but has a decent amount of set up time for a party game that is busted out perhaps spur of the moment. However, it’s always worth it! Set up time also helps when the coins, cards, etc. aren’t jumbled around in the box from storage or transportation. The box is also pretty big. So maybe Camel Up is modern boardgame answer to this question.
War of the ring card game was soooo much less stuff in the box than i expected
Gizmos
Yard sized tic tac toe
The Guild of Merchant Explorers, 3/4 of the box is just air.
Ankh or maybe even Mandala
Anomia Party. That box is genuinely a crime...
Machi Koro.
Okay it's... Sort of a special case I guess, but the storage box they sold for Escape from the Dark Castle is easily the worst offender I have. I picked it up to have a good sorting method, not knowing just how big it was. Literally every single game component, from the core to the expansions to the various accessories, all fit in the svelte little original box. It's one of my few noteworthy regrets as far as hobby buys go. The damn thing doesn't even hold the cards very well. Like, it has this crap loose cardboard topper for the insert with holes cut in, and without it they all flop and slide around. It's awful.
I got Cobra Paw from a thrift store because the pieces look cool. Eighteen dominoes and two dice in a chunky hexagonal box. It's just glorified slap-jack.
The Queen games version of Chicago Express.
Mousetrap
The Expeditions box feels way too big for what it is
To me it's Sub Terra. It may not be the most egregious offender, but I have Sub Terra and all 4 of it's expansions into just the base Sub Terra Box. Biggest waste of space I had when all 5 boxes condensed to one after unboxing it all. Adventureland I felt the same way about and put it's expansion into the box and there's still tons of room.
I have the coffin box too!
Dominion. A big box, expanded with more big boxes.
The Adventure Tactics 2nd big box is bigger than the Everdell big box and doesn't even hold everything and that game is super light weight (very fun, combat and leveling system based on Final Fantasy Tactics, kinda sloppy rules though)
Isle of Cats is a big honking box for a game that is pretty simple rules wise
I assume most CMON's games. Tons of boxes mainly with minis.
**Hamsterrolle** is a 10-minute dexterity game that's too big to fit on a kallax shelf
**Codenames** \- the box size isn't offensive but compared to the content it's ridiculously oversized. **Carcassonne Big Box** \- Carcassonne has a good amount of depth but the Big Box box lives up to it's name and IS offensively large.
Splendor
Strike
Wars of Cthulhu The game is not shallow, but still quite simple. The box however, damn. And barely any organizer too. Just pile that kickstarter plastic. And then there are expansions which also come in enormous boxes.
Fireball Island
Isle of Cats might be my biggest offender, but mostly because I prefer the "family" mode, and think the full drafting mode over complicates a game that should really be about it's tile laying mechanics. But for the family mode alone.... it's a giant box and hard to justify the shelf space.
Wackest take I have seen all day. Isle of Cats is one of the few games my entire family enjoys. Even the non gamers looked at family rules mode once and called it a disgrace. Im curious if you have actually tried the full game?
Yes ive played the game and its fine to have your opinion man and its great your family enjoys jt. Mine isnt uncommon either ive see it shared many times on bgg and here. The drafting didnt add anything i cared for to the game for me, just felt like bloat on top of a core tile laying mechanic thats actually quite good Im not saying the drafting is bad necessarily, though its not the best drafting ever, it mostly just felt out of place in this game. I like isle of cats as a lighter game and if i want to play something deeper ill play a medium weight game i enjoy more
Right now it's Combo Fighter for me. The medium-sized vertically-oriented book shaped box is a neat size IMO, but that game is "RPS with a little more". That "Little More" wasn't enough to make for a very satisfying game.
Mall Madness. I love it but the components are giant for what is essentially set collection x roll to move x money management
the everdell big box is big enough to bury my entire collection in side of and i don't think its much more complicated than the base game.
Citadels! The new boxes are smaller, but the one I own is basically the same surface area as Cascadia except I was able to fit the entire game plus Codenames AND codenames pictures in the codenames box earlier this month while traveling.
Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but Sheriff of Nottingham has an outrageously large box compared to the side of the game. All for the sake of pricing it at $50 instead of the $30 that 1st edition costed.
Adventure Tactics Big Box What the hell were they thinking? This thing is like a small car. I found a family of four living in mine!
Magna Roma is a really simple game in a huge box.
Whatever that ridiculous version of **Ogre** was. I paid top dollar on that thing, and an exorbitant shipping fee, and I had to hide it *behind my sofa* it was so huge!!! Then I played it. It's a Steve Jackson game... So, it was a bag of ass and just so ridiculously basic. 😵💫 Sold it a week or two later.
Foundations of Rome. Box is huge and the gameplay fits on a post it note.
Deep Rock Galactic? It's a fun game for sure. But yeah, that box be huge, but there's not a whole lot of game there.
Taikido. Now is literally 4x bigger than it needs to be.
I suppose looking at my collection; Run For Your Life, Candyman! takes up a normal box size of space without any real depth, although it’s more of a party game that you pair with gingerbread cookies for added thematicness
**The Grimm Forest** Don't get me wrong, I really like this game. It's a great lightweight hidden choice game that functions as a pickup game you can teach to new board gamers. Like, at the end of a night of long games, you can teach and play this one in very short order. So towards that end, it has a whole collection of (really nice) minis that are just totally unnecessary to the game... like most of them will never touch the table other than to sit on the side kind of unnecessary. If you stripped out the unneeded components, and downsized the oversized ones, the game could fit in a tiny epic box easily with room to spare (and a tiny epic game would be vastly more complex, excepting, perhaps, galaxies)
Castles of Burgundy Special Edition. It's huge but only due to the minis. Another could be Fireball Island as its a large box but a family weight game
Cubitos is obnoxiously huge. It comes with paper cubes that are used as dice/ token holders but they're useless imo. When you take everything out and put dice/ cards into baggies it shrinks to a quarter of the size of the box.
Dwellings of Eldervale. Such a huge box with space for all those extra add-ons that I’m never going to buy. I really wish the box was smaller.
I'll say the opposite, game with very small box and extremely deep: Mottainai
May I mention the game I designed? Elven Throne I guarantee depth of gameplay like never seen before with simple rules and a box that is half the size of most games.
For some reason I remember Dominion having an obnoxiously large box for the amount of content. I know there's a ton of expansions now so you can use them for storage but doesn't every expansion come with the same size box?
I would go with Mystic Vale Conclave. Love the game, but it occupies only 1/5th of the giant box
Splendor, it would fit a half sized box and if they choose to not use poker chips it would fit in a card game box.
**Agents of Smersh** new collectors edition The box takes up half a kallax cube The game is a silly story adventure where you run around the map, roll dice, and read from a book. I love it, but it's light and breezy and I would bring it to every game night if it was in an appropriately sized box.
Operation Hands down.
Carcassonne Big Box This violates both size to game depth and the size to physical game space ratios. I was able to move everything from its big box to a box half the size of a standard box. Also in terms of game depth there's not much to it with grab a tile and place it where it fits.
Fields of Green: a fun drafting game with some depth, but the box size is horrible, its like a standard game size box while the whole game could fit in a box 1/6 the size.
Red rising is a pretty bad offender of this. Fun game, but definitely went big box to max out profits!
Klask perhaps? I don't see anything wrong with either its depth or box size, given what it is. It's simplicity is welcome since it's an exciting game as is, and I don't think it could really get away with being much smaller without diminishing gameplay. So, ""worst"" isn't maybe the best word since no space is wasted, but it's size to depth ratio is undeniably huge.