Arkham Horror the card game storage solutions

Every seasoned investigator knows that finding a way to store the ever growing mountain of cards in the ever changing game which is Arkham Horror the card game is harder than fighting the Ghoul priest with a blunt spoon. But which solution is best? How do you decide the best way in which to display your collection? Do you go for practicality? Visual appeal? Thematic integration? Well today we are going to explore just a few of the ways in which you can store your cardboard luxury rectangles while making it easy to both access and view them. 

1: FFG box storage

Perhaps the most cost effective approach the sue of the box in which the cards themselves come in may work the best for you. With the release of the new revised core edition of the base game, along with the reprinting of all the past campaign cycles in new flash packaging it has never been more practical to store your cards in the box they came in. I find only one small problem with this method of storage. How on God's green earth do you find anything? I may be biased as I both manufacture and sell storage solutions for AH but in all honesty when I first started this amazing immersive game I was never more frustrated than when I had to look through and find all the encounter cards, extra cards, location cards and player cards I needed before I even began to play the scenario I wanted to. Let's explore what is in the box for the new reprint cycles. As you can see each box allows for the storage of cards in 2 distinct rows with 4 sections total. While this is miles ahead of the old flimsy deluxe expansion boxes that were once supplied and were basically a glorified paper bag there is still much which could be done to improve the design. The inclusion of divider cards for the encounter cards at a minimum should be seriously considered by FFG as sorting through these cards alone takes up 80% if set up time. Good on you FFG for making at least one good storage solution to make some form rudimentary sorting possible. 

2:  Return to boxes

Once seen a luxury product return to boxes provide ample storage in a neat and formulated manner. This product was once printed and sold by FFG as a way of fixing some old player cards, making old scenarios more interesting and as a method for compact storage for your cards. These boxes were once the gold standard for keeping your cards together and neatly organized but now due to many return to boxes being out of print and their cost skyrocketing they are not the greatest investment for storage. 

3: Inserts and external storage boxes 

Perhaps the most visually appealing and indeed the most robust in terms of durability, inserts and external boxes made from wood are perhaps at the top of most investigators storage solution lists. There are two main types of wooden storage box available on the market with other types also being found. The first is that of an insert which is for a lack of a better word inserted into the original box the game comes with and allows for all the player cards and encounter cards to be sorted into their relevant groups. This allows for easy set up and tear down of your games to allow for more time investigating and less time with admin. The second type is a box which is totally separate from the original box the game comes in and can be designed to store either player cards or encounter cards or both. These products usually have dividers allowing for easy set up and tear down. The greatest benefit to an entirely separate wooden box allows for better and safer storage of your cards as the box will withstand almost anything in terms of damage when compared with the original cardboard box. 

4: Folders and Boxes 

Now for what I have found is the best solution for card storage for both player cards and encounter cards. Like many others I use nine pocket pages and simple coloured binders to store my player cards. This allows for any player card to be found with relative ease and without the headache of searching through countless boxes. This method of storage is used by most serious AH players who have large and ever expanding collections. The ability to browse through a set of upgrade cards in the order of XP level allows for greater deckbuilding potential. All in all the storage of cards in such a manner is second to none for player cards. In terms of encounter cards as you can see I store them in the boxes that they were supplied in but I will soon be moving to external wooden storage boxes for all my encounter and campaign cards just due to the ease of set up for each scenario. 

Anthony 

Gaming Haven

Lets hear what you think comment down below with your storage solution!