Sushi Go Party! DIY Insert

Tonight I endeavored to create something.  While I am a huge fan of making things, I can't say that I'm incredibly skilled or experience in such things.  Tonight's goal was to make a game insert (similar to something Broken Token makes) out of balsa wood for Sushi Go Party! (my most recent board game purchase).

First, some background:  I sleeve all of my games.  And yes, I really do mean all of them.  The problem with that being that once a game is sleeved, it rarely fits nicely back into the original box.  I'm not sure why board game companies don't plan for this.  I would guess that a fairly high percentage of serious gamers sleeve their stuff.  Or, at best, I can say that almost everyone in my gaming circles do.

So, once a game is sleeved, what is a gamer to do?  We have only a handful of options:  One, buy a Broken Token insert.  These products are expertly made, fairly easy to assemble, and work very well.  The issue?  They cost around $35.  That's a hefty price to pay, even for a $100 game.  Option two, organize all of the cards in a variety of deck boxes.  I've definitely done that a few times.  This works well, but let's face the truth, it's not nearly as cool as an insert.  Option three--or at least the only other option I saw--make my own insert!  So that's what I did.  Here's how it went:


(This is how I originally packaged the game.  What a mess!)

I started out with the basic idea.  I chose this game because it was new and should be fairly simple.  My roommate, Chris, is a carpenter and therefore very good at this kind of stuff.  I asked for his help and tools several times throughout the process, starting with his Dremel tool.  The one he had didn't have a cutting blade, but he said a drill bit should work fine.



I measured the tin's dimension's and decided that I wanted to have a divider run halfway down the length.  On each side of the divider, there would be little tilted slots for the copies of each card.  I was also hoping that there would be enough leftover space to also fit the soy sauce bottle movers (so cute!) and the cardboard item tiles.

I got to work measuring and marking the pieces I would need.  I had purchased several pieces of 3"x24"x1/8" balsa wood.  Of course, not planning ahead, I hadn't thought to get any thinner strips,  My plan would require 1" pieces.  Oh well, not to worry, I would just cut the larger pieces down!

Well, I immediately ran into problems.  The balsa was incredibly squirrelly under the Dremel.  I couldn't cut a straight line, and--incredibly--the first drill bit I used overheated and broke.  It was time to ask Chris for help.  I said I wished I had a table miter saw.  I thought it would make things much easier.  Fortune have it that Chris just so happened to have such a tool.  A portable one that he kept in his trailer.  That ought to make things easier!

From there, cutting the lengths of the pieces I needed was easy.  Obtaining the 1" width was still an issue though.  The miter saw seemed hell bent on splitting the little pieces of balsa wood, not to mention the fact that holding something 1" wide next to a spinning saw blade is terrifying.  Back to Chris!  "Just use a table saw," he says.  Well of course!  Did he have one of those?  You know it!  Chris to the rescue again!

My plan called for many 1" strips to divide the cards.  There are 23 different cards in Sushi Go Party! so I decided that I would need 25 strips (including the sandwiching pieces).  Once I had all of these little buggers cut out though, I realized that there was no way I was going to fit all of them on the little cross section that was supposed to go down the middle of the box.  That's when I decided that I would instead just make four little pockets.  That way I could still keep the cards somewhat organized, and the tiles would have their own space.



Elmer's glue works fine for balsa wood.  I gave each side about a half hour to set up.



I did run into one little spacing problem.  Being such an amateur at this, I hadn't thought enough about the 1/8" thickness of the wood.  The little space for the tiles (top right in the picture above) had to be adjusted.  That's why it looks extra crooked.

While the glue for that skeleton set, I took a larger piece of balsa wood I had leftover from an old college project and made a holder for the little soy sauce bottles by using a large drill bit.  A drill press would have been nice to get the holes perfectly straight up and down, and all the same depth, but sometimes you just have to work with what you have.  It get's the job done!



This last piece attached easiest of all.





Now, the moment of truth.  Would it fit in the tin?  The curved lips made me a little concerned.  I worried that I had made it too big and I wouldn't be able to get it in.  Fortunately, with a little wiggling and flexing, it all fit fine!



It may not look super pretty, but it definitely gets the job done!

There are definitely a few things I learned from this process.  First, I will definitely go into my next project with a much more solid plan.  I'd say make a sketch of what you want before you just jump in.  That will keep you organized and help you to purchase the correct amount of materials.  I ended this project with a full extra piece of balsa wood.

Second, I would actually leave a little more room for the cards next time.  I measured the stacks before I made the slots, bit I think an extra quarter inch or so in both directions would make it easier to fit the cards in.  As is, I have to wiggle mine quite a bit to get them in.  The tiles however work fine.

Would I do this again?  You bet ya!  Was it worth the time and money?  I think so!  I put a lot of effort into this, but when it's all said and done, it only took one evening.  Now I have something that I created instead of purchasing, and I take pride in that (even if it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing thing ever made).  For me, that's enough to make this whole process worthwhile.  Oh, and I'm the cheapest human alive, so I'll put a lot of time into something that saves me a few bucks!