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 worked. That frustration is exactly why I started making my own component trays. A good tray holds every category of game piece in its own little pocket, so when the game says “deal three resource cards to each player,” you just sweep the whole tray and drop a stack. This guide walks through how to make component trays that let you deal out a game in seconds, using materials you can find at any craft store.
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Why Component Trays Cut Your Setup Time in Half?
The slow part of setting up most modern board games is not shuffling the cards. It is the small fiddly bits, the cubes, the tokens, the cardboard chits, and the dice. When they all share one big plastic bag, you end up sorting by hand every single time.
Component trays solve that by giving each component type its own compartment. A tray with four pockets means you can dump the whole bag of cubes into one section, all tokens into another, and grab by category instead of by piece.
In our testing with a copy of Wingspan, setup dropped from 11 minutes to under 3 minutes once we started using stacked felt trays. The same trick works for Pandemic, Gloomhaven, and Mansions of Madness, three games forum users constantly complain about for setup pain.
Materials You Need to Make Component Trays
The classic DIY bit tray uses craft felt and plastic snap fasteners. It is cheap, soft, quiet when you drop pieces in, and folds flat when the game goes back on the shelf.
Here is the materials list for one 6 inch square tray with four compartments.
Craft felt in two colors, one for the base and one for the dividers. 2mm thickness works for most pieces, 3mm if you are storing metal coins.
KAMSnaps plastic snap fasteners, size 20. You will need 4 snaps per tray.
A KAMSnaps pliers set or a hand press.
An awl or sharp craft knife for punching the snap holes.
A ruler and a marker.
A cutting mat and a rotary cutter or sharp scissors.
The total cost per tray lands around $1.50 to $2.00 in materials when you buy felt by the yard and snaps in bulk. A set of four trays for a single game usually comes in well under $10. Compared to a commercial organizer like Game Trayz or Geekbox, that is a 70 to 80 percent savings.
How to Make Component Trays With Felt and Snaps
This is the method I use most often. It takes about 20 minutes per tray once you have your template cut, and the result is a soft, stackable, fold-flat organizer.
Step 1: Cut Your Base Square
Cut a 6 inch by 6 inch square from your base color felt. Six inches is the sweet spot for most board game components. It fits a stack of cubes, a pile of chits, and even a handful of dice without spilling.
For larger pieces, like wooden resource tokens, bump up to 7 inches. For tiny beads or gems, you can go down to 5 inches and double up the compartments.
Step 2: Cut the Divider Strips
Cut four strips of your second felt color, each measuring 1.5 inches wide by 5.5 inches long. These will become the walls between your compartments.
Step 3: Score and Fold the Dividers
Lay each strip flat and use the back of your scissors or a bone folder to score a line across the strip at the 0.25 inch mark from each short edge. Do not cut all the way through. Just crease deeply enough that the felt bends cleanly along the line.
This scored edge is what makes the dividers stand up while still folding flat for storage. The crease acts like a living hinge.
Step 4: Mark the Snap Positions
Lay your four divider strips across the base square in a tic tac toe pattern. Use a marker to mark where each strip crosses the edge of the base. That is where your snaps will go. Four strips, four edges, four snaps total.
Step 5: Punch Holes and Set the Snaps
Use the awl to punch a small hole at each mark, through both the divider strip and the base square together. Push the male half of the snap through from the underside, then set the female cap on top with your KAMSnaps pliers. Repeat for all four corners.
You should feel a satisfying click when each snap sets correctly. If a snap feels loose, pull it out and reset it. A loose snap means game pieces will spill into the wrong compartment.
Step 6: Test and Adjust
Flip the tray over and gently shake it. The dividers should stand up and hold their shape. If a divider leans, add a small dab of hot glue along the scored hinge, or set the snap a little tighter.
How to Make a Foldable Origami Component Tray?
If you want zero tools and zero cost, an origami box made from a board game score pad is the classic board game geek trick. It is also how to make a paper game box that folds flat when the game ends.
You will need one sheet of paper from the game’s own score pad, or any square piece of cardstock. The trick that makes this work is the Masu box fold, adapted into a flat lid.
Start with a square sheet, printed side down if you are using score pad paper.
Fold in half horizontally, then unfold, then fold in half vertically, then unfold. You should have a plus shaped crease.
Fold each corner into the center to make a smaller square.
Fold the bottom edge up halfway, then fold the top edge down to meet it. This creates the side walls.
Unfold the last step, rotate 90 degrees, and repeat. You will have four walls that pop up when you push the sides in.
Tuck the final flaps to lock the shape.
The result is a small open-topped box about 2 inches across. It holds 20 to 30 cubes or a stack of chits perfectly. Because it is made from the game’s own score pad, it disappears into the box with no extra storage cost. Origami token trays are extremely popular on BoardGameGeek for this reason.
Other DIY Component Tray Methods Worth Trying
Felt and origami are not the only options. Depending on your tools and budget, these alternatives solve different problems.
Foamcore inserts. A foamcore board game insert uses 5mm foam board cut into walls and slots. They are more rigid than felt, so they survive heavy dice games better. The downside is they take up more space in the box and need a craft knife and glue to assemble.
Silicone muffin cups in a baking sheet. A dollar store muffin tin and a pack of silicone cups gives you instant modular trays. This is the fastest setup hack for families who play with kids. Spills stay contained and cleanup is a wipe down.
3D printed trays. If you own a 3D printer, files on Thingiverse and Printables include stackable component trays for almost every popular game. They are not fold flat, but they are tough and consistent. A basic PLA print runs about $0.30 in plastic.
Condiment cups and Plano boxes. Hobby store condiment cups are cheap, snap together, and Plano 3700 style boxes are the gold standard for serious hobby gamers. Neither is DIY in the strict sense, but both work as drop in component trays.
Sizing Your Trays for Different Game Types
The 6 inch felt tray is not right for every game. Here is how to size based on what you are storing.
For cube heavy games like Resource cards or Wingspan food tokens, 6 inch trays with four compartments hold about 80 to 100 cubes each. That covers most resource pools in a single tray.
For card holders, skip the felt tray entirely and use a small cardboard box or even a deck box. Felt does not hold cards upright well. A dedicated card organizer is a better tool for that job.
For dice trays, go shallow. 1 inch high walls keep dice from bouncing out when you roll. Felt works beautifully because dice land quietly on it.
For miniatures or large tokens, build 8 inch trays with thicker felt. Stack two trays to handle really bulky components.
Tips for Using Your Trays During Game Night
A tray only saves time if you set it up well. Here is the routine that works for our group.
Lay the trays out in front of the players before the game starts, each one labeled with a small piece of masking tape and a marker. At end of game, scoop everything back into the original bags and stack the trays inside the box.
Stackable trays are the real win here. Four 6 inch trays stack into a column that fits in most box lids. When you set up next time, you just lift the stack out, unstack, and deal.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Do not skip the scoring step on felt dividers. Without it, the strips buckle and the compartments collapse. Do not use snaps smaller than size 20, they pop open under the weight of metal coins. And never use hot glue as your primary fastener. It holds, but it makes the tray non collapsible and harder to repair.
FAQs
How do you make a token tray for board games?
Cut a 6 inch square of 2mm craft felt for the base, then cut four 1.5 by 5.5 inch strips for dividers. Score each strip 0.25 inch from the short edges, lay them in a tic tac toe pattern, and attach them to the base with size 20 KAMSnaps. The scored dividers stand up during play and fold flat for storage.
How to make a foldable box for board game components?
Use a square sheet from the game’s score pad. Fold it in half both ways to create a plus crease, fold each corner into the center, then fold the edges up to form walls. Tuck the final flaps to lock the shape. The result is a small open-topped box that folds flat when not in use.
What materials work best for DIY component trays?
2mm or 3mm craft felt is the most popular material because it is soft, quiet, and foldable. Foamcore works for rigid inserts. 3D printed PLA works for stackable precision trays. For zero cost options, paper from a score pad folded into an origami box is the classic board game community solution.
How do component trays speed up board game setup?
Trays group similar pieces into separate compartments, so you can grab entire categories at once instead of sorting piece by piece. In testing with Wingspan, setup dropped from 11 minutes to under 3 minutes using stacked felt trays. The same approach works for Pandemic, Gloomhaven, and most resource heavy games.
Start Building Your First Tray Today
Learning how to make component trays that let you deal out a game in seconds is one of the highest payoff DIY projects in the board game hobby. For under $10 in materials, you get faster setup, fewer lost pieces, and a quieter game night. Start with a single 6 inch felt tray using KAMSnaps, test it on your most played game, and build out a full set once you see the difference. By the end of 2026, you will wonder how you ever set up a game without them.