Fantastic Factories – Storage Solution from Folded Space

There’s just something about a really neat storage solution for games.

Sure, baggies are fine, and you can just turn the box upside down and drop a bunch of baggies onto the table for everybody to sort out.

They work…ok. And it’s not the end of the world if that’s what you have.

But a storage solution where you can actually take the trays out and use them as part of the game are just so much fun.

Of course, I’ve extolled the virtues of Folded Space inserts before, but what about a relatively small game like Fantastic Factories from Deepwater Games?

Even with such a small game, the storage solution actually comes in really handy once you have the expansions.

I know that when I got the expansions on Kickstarter and just threw things into the box, I actually had to keep both boxes in order to keep things separated enough to play just the base game.

Now, I don’t have to.

That’s not to say it was easy!

For such a small insert, this was one surprisingly difficult for me.

So how does the insert look?

Let’s take a…(don’t want to repeat words….) gander.

As with all Folded Space inserts, it comes with a series of Evacore sheets where all of the pieces are punched and ready for assembly.

In this case, there are only two of them (I’m used to 4-5) but everything is punched really nicely and the instructions (as usual) are crystal clear in exactly what you have to put together for each tray.

I love the new inserts trays where they use artwork from the game.

That is inspired and I’m glad they are doing that, apparently for any inserts going forward (or if they aren’t, they should consider it).

It also helps you keep the pieces of the trays facing the right direction!

On the bottom and off to the side is a tray for the Sabotage markers from the Subterfuge expansion and the vitamins, as well as the symbol tokens for the four columns in the card tableau (though if you use the playmat that came with the Kickstarter, you don’t use those anymore).

Next to those are the corporations from the Manufactions expansion.

In the middle of the box are two layers of token trays for the power/steel counters and the goods tokens.

The goods tray has the only “bad” thing (and it’s not really bad, it’s just unfortunate).

The two sides of the tray are labelled for the “1” good tiles and the “2” good tiles, but if you follow the labels, there’s no way they will fit.

You have to put the 2-goods tiles in the “1” compartment and vice versa.

Again, not a big deal!

On top of all that on that side is the dice tray, holding oh so many dice!

To the right of all that was the bane of my existence while I was putting this together, though I chalk that mostly up to my own incompetence so you probably wouldn’t have any problem with it.

The card tray has no bottom, and slanted tabs.

Yes, no bottom, so you have to free-form putting the tabs for each divider into the side piece, and then try to match it up with the other side piece.

With no guide on the bottom!

Wow, I really found that difficult.

I managed, and it looks great!

But there’s no bottom on this piece, so don’t try to lift it out of the box.

Just take the cards out as needed.

There’s a slot for the player aids, a slot for the employees, and then two slots for all of the building cards that you will have if you have both expansions.

Overall, it looks great in the box, and there is literally no lid lift whatsoever, even with the instructions in it.

You can see the dice tray in the picture above too.

This will make the game so much easier to play, and I like how things are divided enough that you can just play the base game if you want to.

With no extra baggies!

You can finish things off with the player boards on the left side. There is a space between the player boards and the corporations, but considering how tight the box is, that won’t be an issue.

This is another great insert from Folded Space, the masters of the boardgame insert field.

Yes, some assembly is required and you have to buy some glue, but it is well worth it for how good they are.

I look forward to getting Fantastic Factories to the table again soon so I can try it out!

And get the expansions played enough to review them.

That too.

What do you think of all this?

Let me know in the comments.