Emily Parker

I built my first board game insert out of foamcore in 2019, and it looked great for about six months. By the end of , the foam was dented, the glue lines were yellowing, and the lid no longer closed cleanly. That experience pushed me to test laminated chipboard for my next five projects, and … Read more

Bringing a board game on a trip used to mean cramming the original box into a suitcase and hoping the pieces survived the journey. Half the time, you would arrive to find tokens mixed together, cards bent out of shape, and a pile of baggies that had torn open somewhere over the Atlantic. I have … Read more

Nothing ruins a foam board project faster than watching your perfectly cut panel curl up at the edges minutes after you apply glue. I have been there, standing over a presentation board or terrain piece that warped beyond use, wondering what went wrong. The good news is that warping is entirely preventable once you understand … Read more

Setting up a complex board game can eat 10 to 15 minutes of your game night before the first player even takes a turn. I have stood in front of a pile of cubes, chits, and cards, sorting them by type one at a time, and watched my group drift to their phones while I … Read more

I’ve rolled dice on bare tabletops for years, and the clatter still drives my partner nuts. Last spring, I built my first magnetic dice tray for a weekly D&D campaign, and it changed our sessions overnight. The lid snapped shut with a satisfying click, the felt muffled every roll, and stray dice stopped flying off … Read more

I built my first card holder insert after watching a $400 Commander deck slide off the table for the third time during a game night. After testing seven designs over six weeks, I finally found one that actually works, and the secret is the angle. This guide walks through how to build a card holder … Read more

If you’ve ever set up a board game only to watch the board curl up like a taco, you already know how frustrating this problem is. A warped board slides pieces around, blocks fair gameplay, and can even damage the box over time. In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how to fix a … Read more

Yes, you can flatten warped cardboard tiles and punchboard, and you usually need only household items to do it. After testing dozens of tiles for my own board game collection and prototyping projects, I have found four reliable methods that bring curled pieces back to flat. The right technique depends on how bad the warp … Read more

Walking into a packed convention hall and watching three hours evaporate in a single line is the most common convention regret I’ve heard from designers and players alike. Our team has spent the last few years running demos at events like Gen Con, Origins, and PAX Unplugged, and the pattern is clear: the people who … Read more

Walking into your first big board game convention can feel like stepping onto the set of a movie about your favorite hobby. Thousands of tables, hundreds of games, and more dice than you have ever seen in one place. We have spent the last three years attending GenCon, Origins, PAX Unplugged, and a dozen smaller … Read more