TikTok's Genius Trick For Tidy Board Game Storage You'll Wish You Tried Sooner

There's nothing quite like a board game to make family time more fun. The playful banter, inside jokes, thrill of winning at Life, and puny revenge plans ensure you keep coming back for more — if only to throw shade at your Scrabble-winning sibling and show-off all the new Q- and Z-letter words you desperately mugged up. But before the fun can commence, you must finish a Herculean task: slide out the game box without triggering the carefully-balanced Jenga of board games. If you often find yourself in this predicament, TikTok creator @brookes_buys has a genius trick for you. She recommends using a pan rack to tidily organize your board games.

Although the trick won't save a lot of space in your closet, it will help you quickly grab the board game you want without disturbing the other boxes stacked on top. Better yet, you won't have to worry about the box underneath the game sliding out and crashing onto the floor. The scattered bits and bobs would force you to get on your hands and knees and scramble for the tiny pieces while your partner clicks blackmail-worthy pictures. If you'd rather not deal with the embarrassing photographs, replicate the TikTok-er's hack and get your empty pan rack out. If you don't have one at home, Cuisinel's 12.2-inch five-tier heavy-duty pan organizer costs about $21 on Amazon. However, measure the height of your game shelf prior to ordering one to avoid unwarranted issues later on.

The first step is to empty out your game shelf or closet and give it a clean. Afterwards, count the number of game boxes you're left with and divide that with the number of games a single pan rack can handle. This will inform you of the number of pan organizers you need to neatly stack all the colorful cardboard boxes. Alternatively, use a two-sided pan organizer if you have the vertical and horizontal space to fit one in. We like ORDORA's eight-tier adjustable pan organizer rack, retailing on Amazon for about $30. Once you have the desired number of racks, start adding the games one-by-one. If you have ample vertical space, slide in a thick box atop the organizer to make the most of the racks.

Individuals who don't have a lot of vertical space to spare can lay down the pan rack horizontally and just file the games in each slot. Also slip a large rubber band on the boxes to keep them from opening up. Now, for the hard part. You might have to part with a few games if you don't have ample space to house all of them comfortably. But don't worry. You don't have to throw, sell, or donate a few select from your prized collection. You can simply employ a few unique ways to repurpose old board games as home decor to give them a new lease on life.

If you'd rather not turn your board games into mere home decorations, get the best of both worlds with this picture frame trick to declutter your game cabinet. Another neat option is to reuse this closet essential for simple board game storage. All you have to do is hang a closet organizer in your game wardrobe and stack three to four boxes, depending on the space available, in each tier. Group the games following a theme, and be careful while pulling one out — you don't want to jostle the organizer needlessly, causing the boxes to fall out.

If the boxes are past their prime, you have two options. Either get dedicated transparent game boxes or put them in mesh bags to maximize the space you have. To enact the first option, you'll need IRIS USA's portable game board plastic cases. The 10-pack costs about $55 on Amazon and can fit 8.5 x 11 inch boards. Then, empty your tattered box's contents in each case and stick a label on top for easy recognition. You can even cut out the box's face and stick it on top to get the same feel. As for the cards, get Blulu's 12-piece card deck plastic boxes from Amazon for under $15. Alternatively, NZNDB's 10-piece clear mesh bags with a basket cost about $24 on Amazon and will keep your board games neatly organized. Alternatively, keep the bags in a lift-top ottoman for easy retrieval.