Put Your Board Games on Display With This Easy Storage Solution

New Year’s is one of the best times to declutter and organize your games. All those puzzles, cards and board games can bring your favorite people together for some cozy hygge time this winter. But it’s hard to hygge if your games are all precariously stacked on top of each other.

Imagine pulling a game from the pile and then being forced into an impromptu round of 52 Pickup when three other games explode on you. That’s not hygge.

So if one of your resolutions is to have more game nights—without fear of a game explosion—I think you’re going to love this board game storage idea. Let’s get those games out on display.

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Modern Board Game Storage

My board games were stuffed in a closet for ages while I searched for a modern way to store and display them. Here’s what I was looking for in my ideal storage solution.

Game Storage Requirements:

1. Modern and pretty display
2. Easy to access
3. Fits all the games, with some room to grow
4. Affordable

A lot of organization methods involve ugly bins that hide the games away. To increase your game nights and show off your fabulous taste in board games, try displaying your games in a fun way instead of hiding them.

With a modern shelving unit or bookcase, you can turn your games into an artful display in your family room. This is perfect for games that come in beautiful boxes and/or are hilarious.

Finding the right bookcase to fit most games can be tricky, though. Many aren’t wide enough or deep enough for the bigger games.

I considered using my favorite organization standby, the IKEA Kallax cubbies you may remember from my craft room, but most games won’t fit in those squares.

But IKEA still came through!

Store Your Board Games in Modern IKEA Style

The perfect storage solution was actually sitting in my living room. IKEA’s Laiva bookcase is one of their unsung heroes. I’ve been using one to display my plants for years, but it’s also shaped just right for storing board games.

This sleek and modern bookcase will only set you back $19.99, and it’s easy to scale up by adding as many as you need.

If you have a family of hardcore gamers, you could fill a whole wall with a cool game display. (At some point that might become not-so-affordable, but I only needed two, keeping the costs under $40.)

Style Your Board Game Shelves

After you assemble your bookcases, the fun of styling begins. You might want to alphabetize your games, or sort by color or category. I mostly separated card games, board games and puzzles, and I arranged the row of puzzles by color.

Vertical storage is the most accessible, like with the puzzles, making each one easy to remove. But sometimes stacking two or three games works best to fit bigger games or add interest to the display.

You can also add a few knickknacks or plants to up the artsiness. And don’t forget to secure the bookcase to the wall for stability.

That’s all there is to it!

Now you can see your games and get inspired to host more game nights. Grab a game whenever you’re ready to destroy your loved ones in an un-friendly match of Exploding Kittens.

More Board Game Storage Ideas

If you don’t have access to IKEA, you might like these other storage options available on Amazon. The key is to find a bookcase with deep enough shelves to fit your games, or backless shelves so the games can extend over the back edge if needed.

And if you’re looking for a permanent shelving system, you might like my DIY mid-century modern wall unit tutorial.

Cat Games You Probably Need for Your Display

Still building up your game collection? Maybe you need a few cat-themed games.