Carcassonne Central

So I think I'm probably going to have to make a custom storage box out of the Big Box that I have.  I'm ready to start making the custom tiles and with Chri5lynn's tiles come soon, I'm going to need it.  Anyone have any ideas or pictures they'd like to show of good ideas?  It would be a great help.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacychrisvain/4035074586/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacychrisvain/4035074586/)
I just join the forum and started 2 weeks ago to play Carcassonne. I am now creating a box for the game. It is not finish yet and I will post more pics when done.

Nice. I just finished my first ever wood project today, but I don't think I'll ever be that skilled.

I'm working on a paper version that will fit the big box along with two towers for gameplay.  It should fit all expansions plus all the ocean expansions.

That can be misinterpreted so many different ways ;)

Sorry, paper version?  I can't picture what you're describing...

Sorry, paper version?  I can't picture what you're describing...
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I'm using card stock to create labeled dividers that will separate all the expansions.  I'll post it here once I'm done.  You will be able to print it out on card stock, then cut and fold and glue it together to make proper holding cells.

Oh, OK, I understand what you're saying now.  That's a neat idea.  I am creating tuckboxes and storing my tiles inside tuckboxes in teh BGG box, but your method works as well.

It's basically this:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/363248?size=original (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/363248?size=original)

except super sized.

Oooh. Nice. I approve. I don't use two towers or the ocean fan expansion, but I do have 180 blank tiles that need a home and certainly can't find it in the current big box's layout. I just had a discussion with tuckbox guy over at BGG and we basically realized that if HiG/RGG makes any more expansions, there will be no room left in the Big Box (I) to store just the official expansions. As it is, you have to leave out all duplicate versions of expansions, as well as the non-expansion elements of Wheel of Fortune, just to fit them in the slots and tower in the box. Sad times. Very sad times.

I can't fit the tower into my big box.  I have reorganized some of the slots and use tuck boxes (or rubber bands... shutter... :-\) to keep the other small sets together on top.  I also take apart the tower to store it in the box.  I don't like doing that, but it works.  So far I've made just 20 fan-made expansion tiles.  Hoping to get some more done soon.  The are just going to be banded on the top too until I get to work on the box. 

Here's what I'm thinking.  I haven't seen the first Big Box, I have #2.  I assume they are similar in layout except for having storage spot for the tower.  It seems to me that there is a lot of wasted space in the box.  I will likely trim out the plastic for all the storage spots for the tiles and leave the two deep bins on the side for meeple storage.  Then I'll make two cardboard trays to fit in the box.  I think it should easily accomodate tiles two deep.  If I'm able to do what I'd like, I can make dividers and label all the sections per expansion.  It works well in my mind, hopefully it will in reality also!

Yea the first thing you gotta do is throw out that plastic insert.  After that you get plenty of space.

Cut some of the plastic off the bottom of the insert, then the tower will fit in it.

Of course!  Why didn't I think of that?  ???

Going to have to begin this project right away.  I got the Wheel of Fortune for my birthday, so I need to have room for those too.  I have a feeling that my box (Big Box 2) is not going to hold up for very long.  I might need to consider an alternative.  I'll let you know how it turns out, if I ever get it finished!

Still have made no progress in this endevor.  Anybody have any new news on stroage containers?

I can't find the tread about the boxes that somebody found at Michaels craft supply store.

I believe this is what you're looking for:
http://carcassonnecentral.com/forum/index.php?topic=1249.msg15556#msg15556

I have since added The Plague, but have been unable to get a copy of Die Kornkreise.

soon i will be making a wooden box for carcassonne. afterwards i will post picks and measurements.

The craziness is how many tiles one can make

I'm thinking I could end up with 600+ and still be way short of having all that are offered here

I can't imagine how long it'd take to play a game with 600+ tiles.  If you do play such a game Talisinbear, please do take lots of pictures :)

I'm a bit of an OCD geek when it comes to storage and recently got into carcassonne, of course this meant buying all "reasonably" available expansions. I'm pretty happy with my Artbin Solutions box, the 4-48 (4 fixed compartments divisible into 48 small ones) it's the 5004AB model.

It holds all of the tiles from the Big Box 3 plus tower, catapult, wheel of fortune/fate, river 1 and 2, count, king, cult-seige-creativity, plague and tunnel. plus all the tokens, meeples etc. EXCEPT the catapult and tokens from the catapult since I'm not fond of them :)

It also won't hold the scoring tracks and rulebooks.

Since I ordered it I found out that the Super satchel slim boxes, specifically the 9101AB (also from artbin.com) are also well suited to carc tiles and are bigger, so that's a possible for those who have lots of homebrew tiles.


I have just ordered another artbin box, the Deluxe Super Satchel™, Divided Top/Divided Bottom 6982AB. I'm hoping that the top box is deep enough to use to hold tiles, the bottom will hold rules, scoring tracks, catapult, the tower and other misc bits. and that the mini boxes that attach to the side will hold the meeples.

I'll post some pics of all the Carc stuff in the box once the new one gets here.

Made this from an old jewelery box I paid $4 for

would hold all current releases

but not if use the expansions from fans

That seems pretty nice.

Regarding the Super Satchel containers from artbin.com, I would expect the Open Top/Divided Bottom model 6980AB to be the best for Carc purposes, but that's just based on eye-balling it. I'm thinking about the scoring track being stored in the top portion.

For me, I think I will only be satisfied with a custom wooden box. I'm thinking the sides of the box would be finger-jointed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_joint). The bottom of the box would be connected to the sides with a variation on a lap joint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lap_joint) whereby the perimeter of the bottom panel would be removed the width of the sides. Not sure if that makes sense. The dividers inside the box would attach to the sides of the boxes using dados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dado_(joinery)). Sub-dividers would attach to dividers using halved joints (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halved_joint). All interior surfaces lined with felt (need to add a small allowance for that to the size of the tiles so that tiles will still fit). Each expansion would have its own compartment, and the internal dividers would need to be slightly shorter than a tile's height so that tiles can be easily removed from the box.

Now I just need to learn how to use tools.

I picked up the slim satchel box I mentioned above works great for tiles, holds everything, tons of room for customs perfect.

The super satchel with divided top and open bottom unfortunately doesn't have enough depth in the top tray for tiles, but it's great for meeples and tokens.

I took a hotknife to the open bottom tray and cut it so that the super satchel slim box fits inside. Now I have a single case that carries everything I could need for carc.
(http://files.scottishguy.com/carcassonne/IMG_2076.JPG)
(http://files.scottishguy.com/carcassonne/IMG_2077.JPG)

Thanks for those photos.  Merit point for you.  It looks pretty good.

Check out the Plano tackle boxes, specifically the clear flat ones, I have all of my carc stuff in them, I will post pics when i get a chance.

I also removed the deep well and use the small long boxes from michaels in them to hold meeples.  then cut and moved the shallow well to the other side of the  box freeing up the space between the deep wells.

I recently picked up a card storage box (http://www.irisusashop.com/Index.asp?KB=SHOSAI&SID=215500) from Michaels (I've seen it elsewhere too).  It has removable dividers, and the lid latches.  I had to trim the scoring track, but otherwise it holds everything.  Oh, and be careful, the plastic cracks easily if dropped.

Wow! This is a really nice looking set.  One question, what is the oversized CCRR tile for? 

Where did you get those chainmail bags.  They are great!  I'm kinda wondering if they would scuff up the meeples after a while, but still, it might be worth it.  Is it possible to get them in other colors too?

I just use two large plano boxes and one small.
I keep everything in a leather shoulderbag with all of my rule cards, score cards, player cards etc.
(http://jcardwell3rdpics.weebly.com/uploads/6/0/1/2/6012299/6574888.jpg?902)

Thanks!
I made the tile last week; it's glazed ceramic and I use a dry-erase marker to keep track of the longest road and largest city.

As for the bags; I make them myself from pre-cut chainmail rings.  They're anodized aluminum, so they come in lots of colours.  The gaps in the rings are fairly small, and the pieces don't move arounds too much inside, so I'm not too worried about scratches.  Of course I might look at them in a couple years and wonder what I was thinking.

The bags look great but i would worry about wear. The way I look at it, the device doing the protecting should always be made of a softer material that what it is protecting so if someting is going to wear it will be the protection, not the thing to be protected,if that made any sence.

If the pieces are not being tossed around in the bags too much it shouldnt be too big of a problem.

I imagine the bags will be pretty hard on the cardstock items though...

They do look amazing however!

I just use the Big Box that I bought. I bought it for extra tiles - and to get the box. It houses everything I need with plenty of room to grow. One drawback - it's not (doesn't stay) organized like with a divided tray but I suppose I could get one or two to stack in there. It is a big box after all.

That's pretty neat.  An interesting way to do that.

Well, I like them a lot.  As much as I like them though, I'd be tempted to line them with something soft which would probably defeat the purpose altogether.  Anyway, you could probably find a good market for them here if you wanted to make more.

That has been my intention all along.  I was planning on building some inserts out of cardboard for it, but it seems like such an involved project I never started it.  Procrastination...

I've thought about it.  I worry that the cost per bag would be a deterrent.  Even if shipping isn't too much, I'd still have to charge about $15 for a small bag; the bigger bags use more rings, and take more time.  I bought the rings for myself as a Christmas present, and learned how to make chainmail with them; I'd have never paid that much to buy the bags.

Of course, outside of Carcassonne, if you only wanted one bag, like a larger one for example, I could put that together pretty easily.  I'll think about a way to line them, I hadn't really considered it before.