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All posts for the month March, 2018
With the game Codenames, often times people are owning more than one version. In my collection, I have the Original, Pictures, Deep Undercover, Duet, and Disney Family Edition. That’s five boxes taking up space on the shelf. One thing to note is that besides a lot of cards, inside each box is a lot of wasted space. I am conscientious about the amount of space I allow myself for my board game collection, so I try to be efficient with storage. I purchased the Spy Headquarters insert from Meeple Realty to help condense down the number of boxes to save shelf space.
The Spy Headquarters insert accommodates these three Codenames games.
OVERVIEW
The Spy Headquarters insert is designed to hold Codenames, Codenames: Pictures, and Codenames: Deep Undercover. The Spy Headquarters insert carries a price tag of $6.49, and comes with 2 sheets of laser cut wood to build the insert and an illustrated assembly sheet. The assembly time took about 20 minutes which is what the instructions said. Assembly was simple. I had to glue my insert together as some pieces had a looser fit. Using a wood glue is recommended and that is what I did.
Simple assembly yields these two trays
A nice feature for this insert are the laser cutouts naming the different Codenames versions.
Simply put the cards from each set in their spaces.
Once the insert trays are built and the glue has dried, choose your favorite of the Codenames boxes and remove the cardboard insert that came with the game. Use the back side of the instruction sheet as a guide for placing the insert in the box and also noting the spaces for different components. One thing to note is that this insert will not accommodate sleeved cards.
Cards fit into their appropriate spaces
Once everything is in the box, it should look a little something like this…..
Three versions of Codenames condensed down into one box
Impressions and Thoughts
It is no surprise that I am a fan of the Meeple Realty inserts. Overall I like their designs for their inserts. The biggest advantage this particular insert has over the competition is the price. Meeple Realty’s price for this insert is under $7.00. The insert for Codenames from Broken Token’s insert for Codenames is over double the price coming in at $14.99.
The assembly process for this insert was very easy, and a beginner could easily build this, especially since there are not a lot of pieces. I recommend using glue to assemble the insert to guarantee that the card guides stay in place. The fit inside the box is great with ample room for the agent tiles to fit in the open space. The cards all fit properly, although the Deep Undercover cards had a snug fit, but they all went in their space. NOTE: The insert designers do make a note on their site…..THIS INSERT WILL NOT ACCOMMODATE SLEEVED CARDS. I am glad they made a note of this so people will know if they sleeved their cards, this is not an option for them.
One issue I did have with this insert has to do with the sand timer. When I purchased Codenames Pictures, I received a set of promo agent tiles so we can play with a larger grid. These extra tiles more than fill up the space where they are supposed to go and it has a effect on the sand timer. I am not sure if the folks at Meeple Realty were aware of these promo cards when they designed the insert.
With the extra agent tiles, the sand timer sticks up above the top edge of the box, and affects the lid closing properly. To me it is not a big deal, as we never use the sand timer anyways so I won’t be putting it in the box. Besides if I want a timer, I can download one from the Codenames site.
Overall I am glad I picked this insert up. I now have three Codenames boxes on the shelf instead of five. Also, when I pack a bag of games to take out… I have three games in one box.
A couple of empty boxes that will result in freed up space on the game shelf
If you are looking for an inexpensive storage solution for your Codenames collection, be sure to check out this insert from Meeple Realty.
In this series of videos, Dave and Chris are going to go in depth covering this wonderful game system and all of the maps available to date. Check out this first episode where they talk the original Ticket to Ride.
