Organizing Board Games: Play-by-Play Plans for Keeping Them Hidden

Life. Monopoly. Scrabble, Sorry and Trouble. All the great classic games and then some come in standard square or rectangle cardboard boxes for easy storage. They’re bright, colorful and just invite people of all ages to grab them and play. 

So why is just about every game shelf in just about every home across the country a complete disaster, hidden away at the back of a closet or behind cupboard doors? How do these cheerful boxes that stack so neatly and nicely on the toy store shelves disintegrate so quickly into chaos? 

The simple answer is that they’re just board games. They’re not meant to be works of art and they’re not supposed to be considered part of a serious decorating scheme. They’re cheap fun, and as such they shouldn’t require an adult’s attention unless that adult is in the thick of the game. 

It’s easier to just put a box back on top of a pile than it is to figure out where it fits neatly and move other boxes aside to put it there. It’s human nature. Most of us do it with everything that should be easy to keep neat, from books to CDs to photo boxes. Inevitably, the solution to that ugly pile of rickety boxes is to store it in a cupboard or a closet, behind some kind of door that can lock the disaster away. 

But therein lies the problem; it’s easier to ignore clutter, mess and chaos when it’s hidden away. But the old “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy can backfire. You got the games in order to play them, right? If they’re hiding away, or too much work to get to, how often do you think you’re going to play them? Shoving board games away in a closet creates more problems than it solves.

When it’s in your face, you’re more likely to do something about it. Getting your collection of board games out in the open may be your best strategy for maintaining control. Think about displaying those board games and what a cheerful collection of brightly decorated boxes can do to perk up a room.