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[Young Nick]

But yeah, that's exactly what this is. I need to efficiently store Dominion. I've decided that BCW baseball card boxes are my best bet. I figure I have a few options and would like some help in terms of deciding my best bet.

Option A) 5 660-card boxes. The lay-out would be as follows:
  1. Base, Cornucopia
  2. Intrigue, Alchemy
  3. Seaside, Prosperity
  4. Hinterlands, Promos, (Base Cards)
  5. Dark Ages, (Guilds)

Pros: Lots of boxes make set-up/clean-up faster. I can only bring one or two boxes if I so desire.
Cons: 5 boxes is kind of hard to carry. It's just awkward.

Option B) 2 1600-card boxes. The lay-out is as follows:
  1. Base, Seaside, Hinterlands, Promos, (Base Cards)
  2. Intrigue, Prosperity, Dark Ages, (Guilds)

Pros: Only two boxes.
Cons: Boxes are heavy. Top can fall off during transportation (doesn't do well when inverted).

Option C) 1 enourmous 3200-card box.

Pros: Well, it's hard to forget and leave some of the cards behind.
Cons: It's huge and heavy. You have to take all of the cards. It has a top, and thus the same issues as the 1600-card boxes.

Option D) Several smaller boxes. Each expansion would get it's own box, possibly with Base's and Intrigue's Base Cards separated into their own boxes.

Pros: With 3+ players, set-up and clean-up are much faster. You only bring what is necessary, nothing more.
Cons: Like with the 5-box option, it might be awkward to transport, and easy to inadvertently leave something behind.

Also, is it worthwhile to purchases official dividers, or would index cards be sufficient?

I acknowledge that no matter what I do, transportation will indeed be heavy and awkward. Right now, I'd say that I would rank them A, B, D, C from best to worst. What do you think? I'd love to hear what everyone else has to say.
 
Thanks it advanced, fam.

[Beyond Awesome]

Option B or C is probably your best bet. With B, you can stack the two boxes on each other and that might be easier to carry than one big box. But, I have a 5000 Count box, and really, I don't think it is that big. A little heavy, maybe, but it really isn't that bad.

[agrajag]

I have 660 card boxes, using index cards as dividers. I have everything currently released except Alchemy with sleeves and they fit into only 4 660 boxes with room to spare (although I don't include the randomizers in my boxes so that saves some space). I think it might be possible to get away with only 4 boxes even with Alchemy and Guilds, especially if you don't sleeve them.

I also am considering putting the common cards in their own box. That way I can grab just that plus whichever expansion(s) I want to play with if I don't want to carry everything. If you plan on carrying boxes around a lot (to other people's houses for example) it might be beneficial to buy a bunch of smaller boxes for each expansion instead of putting multiple expansions into a 660 box so that its easier to just grab one and/or fit things into a bag. Even 660s are better than 1600 or bigger for bag-fitting purposes (I used to have everything in the base Dominion box and this is way better).

Also separating into multiple boxes helps with weight and cleanup. It's easier to carry multiple smaller boxes rather than one big one, even though it would weigh the same total amount. And when you're putting cards away or taking new ones out, multiple people can help if the cards are spread out amongst several boxes.

[Young Nick]

Funny how two responses can have such different pieces of advice. The thing with option D is that having at least 7 boxes is worrisome, though, I guess I am leaning towards A or D at the moment. Even if you don't employ the BCW storage solution, please weigh in!

[clb]

I did option C. The box isn't unwieldily large or heavy. Sure, it is big. Sure, it is heavy. But not excessively. I find it incredibly convenient. I play at friends' houses almost as often as at my own, and this is just the easiest thing - I know I never have left something behind. It did initially slow down clean up and set up, as only one person can be getting at the box, rather than one person per expansion, but once we got used to it, we can now set up and take down about as easily as before. We can usually clear the deck in the time it takes for the next deck to be selected (choose which expansions, shuffle blue decks (we keep the expansion randomizers separated), and draw X cards from each chosen expansion).
Having the dividers in there, marking the end of one expansion and the beginning of the next helped a lot more than I thought. Having the dividers in there that mark out each individual card are a necessity.
End of the day, the 1-box solution for me was easiest because it reduced the risk of me dropping the box. The weight is the same whichever way you go (many boxes might be slightly more heavy), and there is, for me, the risk of not grabbing all my boxes.

As an aside - does anyone know if the guy who put up the dividers for the other expansions has them up yet for Dark Ages? I need to get them printed out so my DA box isn't a dreaded second box. 

[philosophyguy]

Option C is not bad: http://i.imgur.com/8uwVZ.jpg is that option sitting inside the Big Box.

Unless you're trying to juggle the box, losing the lid is not a serious concern. The Big Box lid is deep enough to cover and stay on the cards. The solution to not turning it upside down is, well, don't. It's a big box, it has a clear top and bottom; this is not rocket science.

As for weight, the whole thing is about 15 lbs according to my bathroom scale. I don't want to carry it for a couple of miles, but for walking from the car to a friend's house it works fine.

Edit: this includes all the Dark Ages cards but only 1 set of the basic cards (in this case, the Base set copies  of Copper/Silver/etc. but not the Intrigue or Base cards). The sumpfork file on BGG has been updated to include DA cards.

[dondon151]

What you can do with option A is to just make your own box that contains those 4-5 boxes...

[agrajag]

RE: the weight

Obviously it comes out to be the same weight no matter which you do (with multiple smaller boxes maybe having slightly more total weight since theres extra cardboard). But having done it both ways, I think carrying smaller boxes that each weigh less is nicer than one big one one. During transport I guess it makes no difference, but carrying around while you're playing or at your own house I find it easier. Plus with smaller boxes I find it easier to reconfigure in a way that fits in various bags (the giant 3200 would not fit in the backpack I use to transport four 660 boxes). In my mind using smaller boxes gives you more flexibility with no downsides.

I should also mention that I don't include any of the game mats (islands, pirate ship, etc) in my boxes which also lets me fit more in fewer boxes.

[Dubdubdubdub]

Option E!

I've wanted a good storage solution for a long time, and a good friend of mine just figured it out. He's a long time Magic player, and he's got all these large ring binders with card slot folders like these:
.

And one day it just clicked for him. Now he's got one of these binders with the following sets: Base, Intrigue, Seaside, Cornucopia, Hinterlands.
He would need a second binder for Prosperity, Alchemy, Dark Ages and Guilds, but well - that's not a problem. These folders are really easy to move and to use and don't weigh a ton. He made a kind of belt out of duct tape to keep it close when moving. The fat stacks of basic treasure are kept underneath the binder rings. 

[philosophyguy]

Re: the weight for option C. My bathroom scale gives me a rough estimate of 15 lbs. Not great for walking across town, but very manageable for going from home to car to friend's house.

[Geronimoo]

I'm using option E as well. A big Magic binder stores all sets. And I have a separate Magic box for the common stuff (Randomizer cards, Provinces, Coppers, Embargo tokens...). I'll have to get a second binder to fit in Dark Ages, but I'm pretty happy with this solution.

[loppo]

I play IRL a lot, and since i own the cards, i have to bring them to the party.

I use card protector sleeves. You can easily fit 10 Kingdom cards in one sleeve. Money, Curses and Ruins cards are split in groups of 10. victory cards, Potions and Platinum go in one sleeve as well.

That leaves you with a lot of packs that you can be put upright in your favorite Dominion box (the platic inlet has to go). Putting them upright in sleeves makes them really easy to sort, and the card protectors mark the spot to put them back in. There is a place at the side of the box for the mats, and just enough space to fit in guilds as well.

Voila: all expansions in one box, but boy is it heavy.

[Young Nick]

See the reason that I am ruling out options B and C, I guess, is that I want to, if in a pinch, be able to grab just one or two sets and go. By having everything together, that's not possible. Also, when teaching someone, bringing all 3000 cards will terrify them. Just bringing 800 or so is much more reasonable.

I guess that kind of eliminates E as well, which I had considered a few years back. I used it for the Base set and some of the slots in the pages broke. Admittedly, they were old pages, but, boy was it annoying.

I'm still unsure about whether I am going for A or D, though. Feedback appreciated!

[Octo]

I do something like A, but using 800 card boxes (I think that's what they are) that exactly the same as those linked. I get Base, Intrigue, Prosperity, Seaside, Hinterlands and Cornucopia into 2 boxes with a piece of foam at each end. box 3 has the card mats, the randomizers, the spare set of money, and the tokens etc. (No alchemy)

I group mine by card type with home-made, colour-coded dividers, then just chuck them into those types in no particular order. It can take a while to find the actions, these days, but it means that pack-away time is less.

Ups:
- flexible - I can easily take a curated selection on holiday
- has no finite size (imagine if all + guilds only just fits in to one massive box and then another expansion comes out....oh dear, now 2 massive boxes)

Downs:
- bit more hassle to take (they can fall off the top of the games pile when I'm carrying them)
- can spill over into another box and so it's relatively empty

Are you going to divide them up by expansion for sure? What's your main reason for that?

Personally I would (and did after some thought) go for the smaller boxes. It's worked out fine for me, but you might need some foamy bumpers to pad them out.

PS - consider getting the ones where the lid lifts right off. Having the lid still attached if much better for transport as it won't come off, but less good for play as it's more fiddly to get the cards out and less easy to browse. I'm not sure which is better to be honest. I use rubber bands to keep the lids on and my lids come right off. (randomly both types arrived in the post, but I still chose the lid-off type)

[Young Nick]

Ah, the order must be submitted today! I have not yet decided, for I do not like to make decisions like these. I will always wonder about whether one of the other boxes would have been better, but will never be able to know for sure.

What I didn't tell people was that I intend on flying these Dominion cards, so I do think that having a built-in top, instead of one that can be removed, is necessary. Regardless, I am either going for 660's or 300's. I just wish I had one of each in front of me for experimentation purposes.

I'm still leaning towards option A. I mean, I know this isn't a very big deal, and that no matter what I do, it'll be better than the original boxes, but for some strange reason, this feels important to me.

[Octo]

Dude....the boxes are cheap as hell. So cheap that when the company sent me the wrong ones they didn't bother asking for them back, they just sent me 10 more of the right ones. Buy both types (small/large) and just stop worrying!!

[pingpongsam]

I'm looking for a local supplier for the 5,000ct bcw box. Shipped from bcw one is going to run $15 which isn't crazy but I'd like to land one for under $10.

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting is to find out if anyone has a line on a template for the dividers in vertical aspect. It seems all the ones I'm finding at BGG are for horizontal aspect. I suppose I could alter the horizontal ones to work vertical but it would be about as tedious as redoing the whole thing from the ground up.

[D Bo]

These are the tabs that I've been using, and he just updated for Dark Ages.

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/64399/simple-clean-black-and-white-dominion-dividers

Very happy with them personally. I just use card stock and then highlight the names with their respective colors for treasure, reaction, duration, etc.

[GendoIkari]

These are the tabs that I've been using, and he just updated for Dark Ages.

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/64399/simple-clean-black-and-white-dominion-dividers

Very happy with them personally. I just use card stock and then highlight the names with their respective colors for treasure, reaction, duration, etc.

I use those tabs as well; they're great.

[pingpongsam]

Thanks, tagged that submission to be grouped with all the other "dividers"

[Beyond Awesome]

I'm looking for a local supplier for the 5,000ct bcw box. Shipped from bcw one is going to run $15 which isn't crazy but I'd like to land one for under $10.

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting is to find out if anyone has a line on a template for the dividers in vertical aspect. It seems all the ones I'm finding at BGG are for horizontal aspect. I suppose I could alter the horizontal ones to work vertical but it would be about as tedious as redoing the whole thing from the ground up.

That's way too much. I think where I live they cost like $2 or $3. That's around what I've paid for them in the past. Try calling card shops that sell sports cards. They tend to have them, and they will sell them to you for a good price.

[agrajag]

Yeah try to find a local card or game store. Most of them will sell boxes in various sizes for around $2 bucks or less each.

[aaron0013]

This is completely beside the point, but we're all fam right?
Just wandering how you(dubdubdubdub) got a photo to show up on the forum.  I tried copying it from my pics and nothing happened.  Maybe need to have it online first to copy URL?
Thanks guys!

[theory]

Yeah, you need to upload it somewhere online.  I usually use http://imgur.com

[michaeljb]

This is completely beside the point, but we're all fam right?
Just wandering how you(dubdubdubdub) got a photo to show up on the forum.  I tried copying it from my pics and nothing happened.  Maybe need to have it online first to copy URL?
Thanks guys!

I take it you haven't seen the meme thread

[Octo]

Just a small note:

if you intend on using dividers Young Nick (or sleeves for that matter) - and it'll be a pain in the ass if you don't use dividers - then the 660s won't fit base + cornucopia (same for intrigue). 10 cards worth of space won't be enough for 40 odd dividers. Same issue with the 300s.

A second point - as mentioned, I have a wodge of foam at each end. This is because if you fill them right up then getting any of the cards out is actually really difficult - there's nowhere to get your fingers in to get some purchase. With the wodges, I just pull one out easily and so have some space to play with. So that's another size consideration.

[aaron0013]

Ah, thanks. This will help a lot!  BTW I actually do have several memes up, just didn't know how to post my own

[Young Nick]

Just a small note:

if you intend on using dividers Young Nick (or sleeves for that matter) - and it'll be a pain in the ass if you don't use dividers - then the 660s won't fit base + cornucopia (same for intrigue). 10 cards worth of space won't be enough for 40 odd dividers. Same issue with the 300s.

A second point - as mentioned, I have a wodge of foam at each end. This is because if you fill them right up then getting any of the cards out is actually really difficult - there's nowhere to get your fingers in to get some purchase. With the wodges, I just pull one out easily and so have some space to play with. So that's another size consideration.

Well, I don't intend on using sleeves and I only need index-card dividers. I know that it's still 650 cards + dividers, but from what I can tell, Dominion cards do seem thinner than your average baseball card. So hopefully that will give me enough space.

[Dubdubdubdub]

Just wandering how you(dubdubdubdub) got a photo to show up on the forum.  I tried copying it from my pics and nothing happened.  Maybe need to have it online first to copy URL?
Thanks guys!

That's right. Just add [ img]image URL[ /img] to your post (without the blanks) and it will show. I got that image from Google Image search, btw.

[greatexpectations]

Ah, thanks. This will help a lot!  BTW I actually do have several memes up, just didn't know how to post my own

it seems like the others have got your back. but i would add that you should check out our FAQ if you get a chance. i cover some general forum help and posting tips/tricks in this post.

[aaron0013]

Cool!  I was looking over the FAQ before asking the question, but must have skipped right over that part This is really helpful though, thanks for all your work!

[greatexpectations]

Cool!  I was looking over the FAQ before asking the question, but must have skipped right over that part This is really helpful though, thanks for all your work!

i did beef it up and slightly reformat it hoping to clear things up so it might have been easier to miss before.

[Young Nick]

Alright, so just to update all because I appreciate your feedback and future visitors might like to know how it turned out: I haven't gotten very far, because I am looking for dividers. I have tried to go through some of BGG's file lists for Dominion and Dark Ages, and that site is too scary for me. The ones posted earlier in the thread were elegant, but also were vertical.

I think the stumpfork Dominion tabs are the way to go. I'm getting cardstock tonight to print them out on. More updates to come later.

Edit: Link included.

[pingpongsam]

I made some color coded header tabs and some carefully photoshopped repeat tabs for the base cards.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92299815/Combined%202-3.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92299815/Dominion%20Tab%20Header%20Cards%20A.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92299815/Dominion%20Tab%20Header%20Cards%20B.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92299815/Extra%20Base%20Cards.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92299815/Extra%20Tabs%20by%20PPS.pdf

[Young Nick]

I have 660 card boxes, using index cards as dividers. I have everything currently released except Alchemy with sleeves and they fit into only 4 660 boxes with room to spare (although I don't include the randomizers in my boxes so that saves some space). I think it might be possible to get away with only 4 boxes even with Alchemy and Guilds, especially if you don't sleeve them.

I can also confirm this. With my rough estimates, the 660-card box holds closer to 1000 Dominion cards (not including dividers or sleeves). I expect to fit all of the cards in three or four boxes. No guarantees yet, but if you are looking to do what I described in option A, maybe the 400-card boxes would be better. If the same proportions are true, each of those boxes would allow around 600 cards.

[mischiefmaker]

I downloaded sumpfork's code for producing tabs and made some modifications of my own; specifically:

 - made some changes and additions to the FAQ text based on rulings Donald X has made on boardgamegeek and dominionstrategy; added other rules from rulebooks (e.g. for Potion, Ruins setup, Shelters setup, etc.)
 - removed the description text and split several cards' FAQ text (Possession, Knights, etc.) -- I figure I don't need the tab to know what the card does since the card already has that text, and I'd rather have the FAQ text in its entirety and more readable instead.
 - add support for drawing Potion symbols in the card text.
 - add support for vertical back offset (which my printer requires to get things to line up)

I'm intending to submit my changes to sumpfork for inclusion, but I'm a little busy right now (although apparently not too busy to be browsing f.ds). If you want a copy of the pdf with these changes, or if you need a tweak or two to get things to line up right, drop me a PM and I'll send you the file.

Also, I strongly recommend printing them double-sided, so that you can make sure your tabs can always alternate left-right. This makes it significantly easier to find the right divider when you want to put cards in/take cards out.

Also also, I didn't post earlier since it sounded like you were set on baseball card boxes, but my storage solution uses one of these boxes: http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm/terms/10684. I put Base set in its own box (because if I'm going to a gamer's house, they'll have Base, and if I'm not going to a gamer's house, I don't want to scare people off with my giant case of cards), and I think that case will fit everything else including Guilds, with dividers.

[Young Nick]

I like the box, and the reason for keeping Base in its own, but yeah, I explained my reasoning for something not that big. Would love to see your version of those dividers, though. Especially if you can mark where you made changes.

[mischiefmaker]

I like the box, and the reason for keeping Base in its own, but yeah, I explained my reasoning for something not that big. Would love to see your version of those dividers, though. Especially if you can mark where you made changes.

The PDF with all the cards is 1.5M, so can't be posted here (256k limit). Can you use this link at Dropbox?

I think all of the changes/additions I've made are either direct copies from the general rules (Potion, Ruins, Shelters, Colony/Platinum) or they're tagged with "Reference:" to indicate where on the web I saw Donald X making a ruling.

[pingpongsam]

My box with all cards is loaded in the car on the way to the beach for a week so I'll find out how well it holds up.

[Drab Emordnilap]

I like the box, and the reason for keeping Base in its own, but yeah, I explained my reasoning for something not that big. Would love to see your version of those dividers, though. Especially if you can mark where you made changes.

The PDF with all the cards is 1.5M, so can't be posted here (256k limit). Can you use this link at Dropbox?

I think all of the changes/additions I've made are either direct copies from the general rules (Potion, Ruins, Shelters, Colony/Platinum) or they're tagged with "Reference:" to indicate where on the web I saw Donald X making a ruling.

I bet theory would upload the file here if someone asked nicely.

[Young Nick]

Update: Everything is pretty awesome so far.

It all fits in four boxes, and I think Guilds will fit, too. Settlers of Catan and Cites & Knights fit pretty well in the 5th box. I will take pictures if anyone is curious.

I would suggest laminating the dividers before cutting them. I didn't, and it's fine so far, but I am unsure about how long the cardstock can last on it's own.

Without sleeving the cards, I can fit a 500-card set (think Intrigue) and a 300-card set (like Prosperity) pretty comfortably with enough room to grab cards. For the last box, the Randomizers fill it up enough to make a good fit.

The dividers from BGG don't have a second set of Basic Cards for Intrigue. So watch out for that.

tl;dr: it's all good in the hood.

[pingpongsam]

Card sleeves collect sand; I suppose it's a static electricity thing, it gets on the inside of the sleeve. We've been careful to wipe off the table before and between games but the sand still collects.

[Morgrim7]

I actually fit every card (+the chips and tiles) in one Dominion box. It wasn't that heavy.

[Polk5440]

I would suggest laminating the dividers before cutting them. I didn't, and it's fine so far, but I am unsure about how long the cardstock can last on it's own.

Laminate AFTER cutting and then cut AGAIN. Always. Otherwise it will just peal off.