You know you need an insert. You have read why in the first post of this series.
Now comes the part nobody talks about clearly enough: how do you pick the right one?
Not every insert is worth buying. Some look great in photos and fall apart in practice. Some fit the base game perfectly and leave no room for the expansion you already own. Some are sized for bare cards and become useless the moment you sleeve them.
This post gives you a checklist. Four things to verify before you commit to any board game insert, (including our inserts) for any game.
before you buy
thickness that matters
lid and box when closed
01 Sleeve compatibility
This is the most common way a board game insert fails in practice. The card slots are sized for bare cards, the insert looks fine in photos, and then you sleeve your cards and nothing fits anymore.
Before buying any insert, ask one question: were the card slots designed for sleeved cards? If the listing does not say explicitly, assume they were not.
Standard sleeves add a lot of space per side to a card. Even more when stacked.
A slot sized for a bare card will either not accept sleeved cards at all, or will accept them so tightly that you damage the sleeves every time you reach in.
At RCD, every card slot is sized for sleeves at 80microns (seldom 100 microns) by default. Playing unsleeved just means a more generous fit. Check our Scythe insert or Brass Birmingham insert as examples of how we handle card-heavy games.
02 Expansion support
An insert designed only for the base game is a short-term solution. Most heavy euro games have at least one expansion, and many have several. If the insert does not account for them, you will end up with a beautifully organized base game and a pile of expansion components back in plastic bags.
Check whether the listing specifies which expansions are included in the design. A good board game organizer will name them. If the listing is vague, ask before buying.
At RCD, we map the full component list including all known expansions before we finalize any tray layout. If we have them in-house or we can buy them before designing, we will do so.
Our Darwin's Journey Collector's Edition insert holds the base game plus Fireland and all mini expansions. Our Hegemony insert is built for the full expansion set to date. The insert is designed to hold everything, not just what ships in the base box.
03 Lid closure
The lid must close. With everything inside, no component left out. We try to have zero lid lift on every design. If not possible it means that the amount of components does not allow it.
04 Did the designer actually play the game or at least read the rules?
This one is harder to verify, but it shows in the result. A board game insert designed by someone who has played the game/read the rules will reflect how the game is actually used at the table: which components are accessed most often, which need to stay separated during play, which can be stored together without causing confusion.
An insert designed from a component list alone will be organized in theory and might be awkward in practice. The trays will be logical but not intuitive. You will find yourself reaching past the thing you need to get to the thing you want.
At RCD, we read the manual of every game before drawing a single line. If the game picks our interest, we play test it before and after the insert has been designed.
The insert reflects the game, not just the box.
The full checklist before you buy any board game insert
- Card slots explicitly sized for sleeved cards (our work with 80 microns)
- Expansions you own are named in the listing
- Lid closure confirmed, ideally with photos of the closed box
- Designer has played the game, not just mapped the components
- Tolerances tested across multiple printers (for 3D printed inserts)
- Return or support policy is clear if something does not fit
A note on material and print quality
For 3D printed board game inserts specifically, material and print settings matter. We do not make blanket claims about durability because the result depends on the printer, the filament, and the settings used. What we can say is that every RCD insert is tested across multiple print runs before it is listed, and the design accounts for the stresses of regular use: component weight, lid pressure, and repeated handling.
If you are printing from STL files at home, the checklist above still applies to the design itself. A well-designed file will produce a well-functioning insert regardless of your printer, within reasonable tolerances. Browse our full insert catalogue to see both ready-printed and STL options side by side.
Browse RCD inserts
Every insert in our catalogue is designed to pass this checklist. Sleeve-first sizing, expansion-first layouts, lid closure validated before listing, and a designer who has read the rules or played the game.
Some of our most detailed projects: Darwin's Journey Collector's Edition, Scythe + Rise of Fenris, Hegemony, Brass Birmingham, Caverna, Rebirth. Or browse the full Board Game Inserts collection.
Next in this series: The Details That Shape RCD Designs
Now that you know what to look for, you might be wondering how we actually build to those standards. The next post goes inside the RCD design process: the tolerances we hold, the testing we run, and the principles we never compromise on.
Read it here: The Details That Shape RCD Designs.
Not sure if we have an insert for your game? Send us a message.
We read every single one of them.
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