My wife and I pack as light as we can whenever we travel. We traveled internationally for two weeks on our honeymoon and between us shared a single small suitcase and a backpack for day excursions. In the time of COVID-19 however, my wife and I have relocated a couple times to stay with family for a few months at a time and I have reviews to write. That means hauling game consoles and board games with me so I can keep momentum going. Not that long ago I received my SpacePak board game backpack from GeekOn! and it has been an absolute life saver.

The SpacePak from GeekOn! is a large collapsable backpack perfectly designed to carry even some of the largest board games like the twenty pound behemoth, Gloomhaven. Unlike the Cajon carrying case that I’ve been slowly destroying with the weight of big box games, the SpacePak is incredibly durable. I was able to fit a good forty pounds of board games in it without putting much of a strain on the bag (or myself). Even when full, the straps are pretty comfortable and have great range for adjusting. making it easier to rest comfortably at the waist as opposed to placing all of that weight on the shoulder blades.

What impresses me the most about the bag is how small it is in comparison to how much can fit inside. In addition to the main compartment for games, there are large side pockets on either side of the bag, as well as two mesh pockets on the inside of the bag that are perfect for holding other gaming essentials like notebooks, writing utensils, etc. I imagined that a bag able to store as much as this one would be bulky unwieldy thing that would take up an unnecessary amount of space, but it’s surprisingly compact.

But more importantly, it holds all of the little bits I got with the SpacePak. When we’re traveling, I never know what time of space I’ll have to spread out and play games to write about. It makes it a lot easier to keep everything together with the added component cases. Along with the SpacePak, GeekOn! offers dice and token containers, and a collapsible dice tray, all of which fit inside the bag’s inner and outer pockets.

The set of four taco bit containers are all soft fabric token holders that can be zipped up into a compact taco shape to carry any little pieces you need. Full or empty, they slip right back into the bag’s pockets for travel. When you’re ready to play, you just unzip each pouch and set it in the play area to keep all of the small loose bits in the same space. Similarly, for the Dungeons & Dragons players who have a lot of dice, the dice case and tray are a great option. The hard dice case holds up to thirty seven die and seals up with a zippered lid. Once closed, the entire case sits in a slightly larger base that serves as a dice tray. 

While it’s a small portion of the set my favorite part is by far the dice tower. Honestly, I’ve just always wanted a dice tower. I think they’re a great way to flair up a playing area when you’re hosting. Moreover, dice towers are a great way to increase the randomness of a die roll and get ahead of any overly competitive players trying to dice drop or game their dice rolls. It’s a situation I’ve only run into once or twice, but the accusations of cheating are a surefire way to spoil a game night and put everyone in a poor mood.

At the same time, dice towers are just too loud. Hard plastic ricocheting off hard plastic is loud and obnoxious. Like the loud toys with flashing lights meant to distract toddlers and grate in parents’ remaining nerves, dice towers are just too loud to justify them ever, let alone when you live in Brooklyn with roommates you respect.

But that’s what makes GeekOn!’s new tower so great. It’s made of a soft fabric with a rigid frame and padding on the inside to keep each dice rolls quieter. With this dice tower, I can get the same benefits of a tower without the noisy disruption to others. If I want to bring the tower with me anywhere, it folds flat so I can get the benefits of a dice tower anywhere I go (even though they are almost entirely aesthetic).

Altogether the set is a great way to keep games and game accessories together and take my favorite games on the go with me. However, it’s worth noting that this bag is way too large to take on most buses or planes. As soon as it’s full of games, it’s a bulky mass that makes me look like even more of a tool than I normally do. I spent some time yesterday at a friend’s apartment playing some Arkham Horror: The Card Game, but after I put all of our game options into the bag, I immediately felt like I was back in middle school with five or six hardcover text books in my bag. It was bulky, heavy, and rested lower on my back more than was comfortable. If anything, my advice with this bag is that while it’s incredibly durable, the contents of the bag and how you arrange them can make it too uncomfortable to walk around with. It only really works when the bag is filled with uniform game boxes or boxes that can be Tetris-ed together to fit the whole space. Any vacant space or oddly shaped boxes just make it an unpleasant experience to wear.

I don’t feel that I can recommend the GeekOn! bags and cases to everyone, as its best serves city dwellers who would like to take some games with them on the subway on the way to a friend’s apartment or on a cabin weekend getaway. The very nature of transporting big box board games is impractical, but if there’s any tool out there that makes it easier to do, it’s this bag.