Have you ever thought about making your board games take a “vacation?”

You’ll see recommendations all over the web from parenting experts (whatever those are) and mommy bloggers suggesting that you can add value and life to your children’s toys by simply putting them away for a while. They often refer to this as a toy vacation. Many of those articles will say that a vacation will prevent wear and tear on the toys and that when the toys”come home” it will be like they are brand new again.

I agree with a lot of their reasoning and I think that it applies to board games as well. There is no reason that we could not take some of our games, put them in a plastic bin or something similar, and put them out of sight for a while. These games can rest in our attic or remain hidden in our closets while we enjoy some of the other games in our collection.

Just about everyone who has caught the board game bug will have a vast collection of games lying around. We may have stumbled upon games at tag sales or thrift shops, sales on Amazon, or even a bunch of Kickstarter campaigns. The reality is that it is very easy for a game collection to get so out of control that a player might have games sit in their shrink wrap for years. Some families might have a room full of games that never sees play because of a handful of family favorites.

This is where the vacation comes in. There are really only three things to consider.

Time

You need to decide how long to leave your games in storage. You can’t just be arbitrary about it though. You need to make sure you give yourself enough time to play your other games. Take into account how often your family plays games and give yourself at least a handful of family game nights with the games out of sight.

Storage

You know your house better than I do, but it is super important that you keep the games in storage without risking damage from the elements. This means you should leave them in a sealed bin in a cool dry place as opposed to an attic, a garage, or the trunk of a car.

Play New Games!

This might seem like it goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyways. There really isn’t any point in putting your favorite games away if you aren’t going to play anything new. This is the part that will take the most discipline (especially if you have younger kids). You have to pull out those unplayed games and put the effort into punching out the pieces and learning how to play those games!

What do you think? Have you ever given your favorite board games a vacation? Sound off in the comments!

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By Stephen Duetzmann

Editor in Chief Founder/EiC EngagedFamilyGaming.com Blogger, Podcaster, Video Host RE: games that families can play together. Editor@engagedfamilygaming.com

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