Boxed sets that make creative use of the box

[Quickleaf]

I'm curious about game boxed sets which put the actual box itself to use (besides storing stuff). The only one I'm aware of was a dungeon tile set where the box became an elevated platform, but there must be better examples out there.

 

[Huw]

Not sure if this counts, but weren't some box sets designed to be big enough to hold expansion sets as they came out? I know Harn and the 2e Monstrous Compendia did this with ringbinders, but I can't think of any box set examples.

I also vaguely remember a CCG (possibly Battletech) where each player had to have at least one "base" card in play at the beginning of the game. If you had no base cards, appropriate stats were printed on the back of the box the deck came in.

 

[thedungeondelver]

There was a WH40k game called BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC. Your spacecraft in the game were pushed by solar winds, IIRC. To determine where the wind was pushing you at the beginning of the turn, you took the lid of the box, flipped it over, and printed on the inside of the lid was a results matrix.

You held a die up over the box lid and dropped it inside; whatever square in the grid it landed on you used the result noted in that square, and moved your ships accordingly.

That's about all I can recall at the moment.

 

[the Jester]

That sounds cool, I'd like to see that! But I'm guessing it's long out of print?

 

[MerricB]

There are several boardgames that do this:

In Cleopatra: Society of Architects, you build the palace around the box.

Niagara puts the board on top of the box lid and bottom, so that the waterfall can go off it.

The Dune CCG and original Legends of the Five Rings had your home planet printed on the back of the box.

Cheers!

 

[Nifft]

Not sure if this counts, but weren't some box sets designed to be big enough to hold expansion sets as they came out?

The box for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3e seems large enough to hold at least three supplement boxes.

Cheers, -- N

 

[grodog]

The big box from ~1982 for Eon's _Cosmic Encounter_ board game was sufficiently large to hold all of the nine game expansions released.

The original boxed sets published by Chaosium for RuneQuest and Stormbringer (and perhaps CoC too??) were 2" thick instead of 1" thick, so they would definitely hold more books.