Game Trayz inserts and resources

We’re not surprised to see board game industry continue to accelerate every year.

More games are being published each year and more people are getting into the hobby.

It’s just natural when you find something you enjoy you want to share the experiences with family and friends. And board games, card games, dice games, and party games are experiences meant to be shared.

One tell-tale sign about the growth in the industry over the last decade is the recent surge in board game accessories.

Not only are players able to find so many games they can enjoy. But they’re also able to enhance those games in many ways.

Two of the popular ways to enhance board games are through custom game inserts and game components.

Game Trayz Game Inserts

I met up with Game Trayz at their booth at Gen Con 2016 and was impressed with their game inserts.

In the past we’ve created our own foam core inserts to store our game pieces nicely in their box. And we’ve put together a few wooden game inserts and organizers as well this year. But Game Trayz goes a different route.

Game Trayz are made from thick, durable plastic which is 3-5 times thicker than standard plastic game inserts.

While the quality of the plastic is great, the real benefit comes from the design of the inserts.

The one Game Trayz gave us to review is the insert for Splendor — a splendid family card game — and we were immediately impressed with the nice touches throughout.

Rather than just being a way to store the game pieces, the insert itself can be used during game play.

For starters, it’s a great way to keep the gem tokens stacked nicely throughout the game. Since there’s plenty of gem taking and paying during the game, the Splendor Game Trayz accommodates this very easily.

Sometimes getting the last card or token from the bottom of a stack can be difficult. However, with Game Trayz, that’s not a problem at all.

The bottom of each area of the tray is raised so that one simple need to press on one side of the token or card and the other side will pop up – making it easy to grab and remove. It’s so slick!

While we don’t have other games Game Trayz makes inserts for, I was able to check out their quality at Gen Gon and each is very nicely tailored to the game.

I’ll also note that the Splendor Game Trayz comes in different colors. In addition to the black that we have you can get it in deep blue, white, red, or clear.

Game Trayz Holders

Game Trayz also does more than just inserts with their plastic molds. They also make slick game piece holders — called Treasure Trayz — for both storage and use during game play.

These are cool plastic holders that will keep your game components, such as resources, organized during a game. No more piles of game pieces rolling around or getting away from you on the table. Each can have its place.

There are even Treasure Trayz with two compartments in one. So in the case where there aren’t too many pieces of one type, you can store two different resources in one tray without them getting mixed.

The Treasure Trayz also come with lids that snap on so clean up is a breeze. Just put the lid on and set them all back in the game box.

Like the inserts, Treasure Trayz also come in different colors depending on your preference.

Game Trayz Components

But Game Trayz offers more than just plastic inserts and trays. They also have a selection of realistic resources for many popular board games.

Rather than stick with just wooden bits that come with board games, many players are “upgrading” their game components with such resources.

The Game Trayz website has a handy chart where you can look up your games and see how many of what type of resources you need to replace the components in your game with these cool resources.

Since Power Grid is one of my favorite games, I had to check out the Game Trayz coal, oil, garbage, and uranium resources.