Sort Out Board Games Pieces At Once

To organize your board games, gather appropriate materials: snack bags, sandwich-size bags with a zipper, a marking pen, Scotch Brand Invisible Tape, and the right shelf space in the closet, or cupboard.

Spread all of the games on the floor or large dining room table. Deal with one game in front of you at a time. (Notice the playing card humor)? Examine the box and all of the toys, game pieces, letters (for Scrabble), play money, cards, board, or other accessories.

Place each group of items into one matching-sized bag. For the example of Monopoly, all houses and hotels go in one bag; all money goes in denominational order in another bag; both kinds of cards go in a stack in its bag; and the game pieces go in another bag. (Remember that the use of rubber bands to bind stacks of cards has drawbacks, ie. bending the cards or leaving dents, possible staining, drying out and hardening or crumbling, etc.)

Then, examine the board itself. Tape any tears of the graphics on the board surface. For taping larger tears of the fold in the cardboard, use a stronger tape, or fabric tape, and tape the board from behind, in a folded or closed position. This allows for the game board to open and close easily.

After that, check out the box. Tape all torn side seams, from the inside. Tape all tears of the picture and instructions (the graphics) on the surface. Fold the tape over along the edges the way you'd use bias tape.

Finally, place the game board in the box, first. Place each bag in the box, with sealed zipper, flattened down gently with most of the air squeezed out. Make certain all them are side by side, not stacked in layers, so that the box lid closes easily. Use the marker for naming the game on a new box if the original game box is not available, or if the name has been worn off. Rewrite the instructions or write up House Rules for those which have been altered.

When you are finished, stack them, flat, in the prepared space. Don't forget to file away your puzzles the same way. Ta-Daaaa! You are ready for fun.

By 'Miss' Bonnie from Denver, CO