Paul Sudlow
United States
Mount Dora
Florida
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One of the great features of Carcassonne is its modularity. Add or drop a few tiles or play pieces, and the thrust of the entire game changes. For the real Caracassone aficionado, this leads to an ever-expanding set of tiles that eventual outgrow the game box.
My original solution, devised from the original game box and several expansion inserts, has served me well for years, but as you can see, it doesn't have room for much more!
Enter the Carcassonne Box ( www.carcassonnebox.com), the ultimate supplement for the Carc fan who has everything. This beautiful box readily accommodates all of the official expansions, and has room for plenty more.
The box arrives in a cardboard carton, with bubble wrapping and styrofoam blocks to protect it during its voyage from Europe to where-ever you are.
My Carcassonne box arrived in fantastic shape, but my Catan box arrived with destroyed hinges and latches. I've sent a polite letter to the folks at carcassonnebox.com documenting the damage; I'll let you know how that resolves. I'm just mentioning the damage issue now so you can take that risk into account when deciding whether or not to order.
The box is constructed of wood, with metal hinges and latches, and a flocked interior. Note the Carcassonne logo laser-engraved in the lid. This is a licensed product, so use of the logo is kosher.
Inside, there are slots for expansions of varying sizes, cloth bags for each color and a larger bag for general game pieces (dragon, Count, towers, etc.) There are also a number of plastic dividers that enable the owner to customize the slot to accommodate a number of tile sets, from as few as four to as many as the slot will hold.
There are spaces for the score board and tower as well.
To give you an idea of how much space for tiles there are, the tiles in the slots include all of the official expansions (including magazine inserts) except for the The Princess and the Dragon. The tower is filled with a variety of unofficial expansions. If you stick with just official expansions, you'll have space for at least another decade's worth of tiles!
The bags are as well-made as the box. The close-string for each bag corresponds to one of the player colors. The clasp that secures the string releases with the push of a button.
One of the slots comes with four plastic dividers you can arrange to accommodate smaller expansions or those with a non-standard number of tiles. These can be moved to constrain as few as four tiles.
Waiting for the other shoe to drop? Here it is: It'll cost you €49.95 plus shipping to net this beast. Not a bad price if you pick it up direct from a dealer or at, say, Essen, but that overseas shipping is a killer.
As great as the box is, there are a few things I might have done differently with the design. It would be nice to have space in the lid for rules like the Catan box has. I'd also prefer to have a series of long rows, each with dividers, rather than the slots sized for each expansion (like my original homemade box). This would permit more flexibility and fit more tiles in. Finally, it'd be nice to have a large and sturdy tile bag for those who prefer using it to the Tower (the official bag can't hold up once you add multiple expansions).
Bottom Line
The Carcassonne Box is without a doubt the finest home you can buy for your Carc game. You'll have to weigh its considerable cost against the desire to pamper your game, but if you plan to stick with Carcassonne for at least a couple of decades, it's a worthwhile investment.
You'll save on shipping by ordering more than one box at a time (if you'd also like a Catan Box), but I recommend not going with this option. My two boxes came taped together, and that's just that much more weight to come down on one box or the other when the shippers toss them around.
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Jonathan Apuan
United States
Shoreline
Washington
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Now I want to go out and get all the expansions so that I'll have a reason to own the Carc box!
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Yours Truly,
United States
Gainesville
Florida
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Great article, thanks for the photos and details! One hesitation I would have in buying this is that I don't have the tower, having bought carc piecemeal rather than the Big Box. Besides which I prefer the sack method for tiles anyway. So there would be a huge awkward wasted space for me. I suppose it might be deep enough for tiles, but I'd still have to customize it somehow. Too bad they don't offer a non-tower one with more tile rows.
As for the official sack not being big enough for multiple expansions, what do you recommend using? Is the Crown Royal bag big enough? I've only played with vanilla + rivers + T&B, but I just got I&C, so I might be outgrowing my official sack soon... especially now that I've got my eye on that new A&M one! Tempting...
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Paul Sudlow
United States
Mount Dora
Florida
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I bought my collection piecemeal as well. You might buy the tower expansion just to provide the storage space; it isn't that expensive.
My bag is in the process of developing a hole in the bottom, which has led me on a search for a replacement. Haven't found anything quite right yet.
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Daniel Feige
United States
Centreville
Virginia
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JohnnyDollar wrote:
As for the official sack not being big enough for multiple expansions, what do you recommend using? Is the Crown Royal bag big enough? I've only played with vanilla + rivers + T&B, but I just got I&C, so I might be outgrowing my official sack soon... especially now that I've got my eye on that new A&M one! Tempting...
I play with Vanilla + River I + River II + T&B + I&C with the official sack and it is definately the limit. I'll be looking for a replacement soon so I won't have to worry about it when I pick up another expansion.
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 And more reason for me to drool with jealousy. I am all the way over in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Unfortunately at present Carcassonne Box is not available here. They don't ship to Canada due to problems with shipping damage. I assume that is based on the shipping of Catan boxes as the Carcassonne Box is so new. That is so unfortunate as I am a newcomer to the game and enjoy it so much I am buying and hiding the game and expansion for a Christmas surprise. I was hoping to be able to have the Carcassonne Box as the ultimate in surprise. 
At present I am hopping a local dealer will stock the box soon or it appears on eBay soon.
James
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Ik ben een klein boefje
Spain
Villanueva de la Cañada
Madrid
2006/2011 (Amsterdam - Maastricht - Apeldoorn - Den Haag -Delft) Vijf jaar dat ik ga nooit vergeten.
Very handsome user.
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I have bought my Carcassonne box as a Birthday present last week and I have to say that I LOVE it. All my friends are a little bit jealous now I do like this piece of art and probably I will buy the Cataan one as well.
Have a nice sunday pals. 
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Jeff Dougan
United States
Urbana
Illinois
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Has anybody else had difficulties with a Carc box being shipped to the US? I have several relatives who tried to band together and get me one for Christmas, but it's still MIA.
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Todd Degani
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
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I have ordered one and am in the process of having the charges refunded to my credit card company because I have not received the product I have paid for.
They got back to me fairly quickly originally when I questioned about the status of the order. They told me it would take about another 1 to 2 weeks.
Once that period had elapsed I sent them multiple messages via their website and got no response. It is now over a month and a half since I placed the order with them. Maybe our experiences our isolated incidents but I somehow highly doubt it.
As well constructed and everything that the box looks, this looks to be a very low budget operation they are running there when they cannot even respond to questions about product but are more than happy to take your money.
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Jeff Dougan
United States
Urbana
Illinois
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Mine did eventually arrive, about a week after my original posting. I happen to love it, as for the first time I've got everything in one place. Since I don't know what the exchange rate was when they paid for it, I can't say whether the aggravation was worth the price.
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Todd Degani
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
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Just updating with some more detail as I still have not heard from this company.
Order date : 14/05/2009 19:26:41
Sent inquiry June 2 through website, received response June 4:
"Hi Todd,
Thanks for your message.
Your order is sent May 26th.
It will take a week or 2 to arrive.
Regards,
Sander"
Sent inquiry June 13 to Sander directly - No response
Sent inquiry June 16 via website - No response
Sent inquiry June 19 via website - No response
Sent inquiry June 22 via website - No response
Sent inquiry June 24 via website and to Sander directly - No response as of yet
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Todd Degani
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
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Another little update.
I contacted the Catan folks directly since the catanbox team is a licensee of their brand. Guido Teuber fairly promptly contacted me back and said he would bring it to the attention of the catanbox team.
Shortly there after Sander from catanbox who had not responded back to me all this time "found" my messages in his email and would consult their distributor.
What will come from this only time will tell. Although I was seriously impressed with the Guido getting in touch with me personally to help straighten out this situation.
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Christian Beijner
Sweden
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Unspecified
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Not quite in line with the thread subject....but with the last posts.
I have also tried contacting catanbox in the autumn of 2009. Would have liked to get my hands on a Cardbox, and tried contacting them twice (once through the contact form on the site and once through the e-mail adress posted), and no reply.
Guess I am keeping my money, as catanbox doesn't seem to be in operation.
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Todd Degani
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
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Forgot about this post, I did eventually get them to resend me a box. Although when it arrived they had gotten scotch tape stuck to the top of the card box when they bubble wrapped it. Unfortunately it was the cheap scotch tape that is really sticky when removed. Trying to carefully remove the adhesive worked but left a dull spot in the finish which kind of sucked.
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Br. K
United States
California
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Good news! Even while the folks in Europe are either no longer making or still out of the storage boxes for Carcassonne, there is a guy on eBay that makes them to order.
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=4&cam...
Pretty freaking awesome. They are much more reasonably priced than the ones out of Europe, are available in three finishes, and he will actually custom make them according to how much space you need. The default version comes with space for Big Box II, Tower, and Catapult. Since I don't use Catapult, he is modding it for me to fit the extra expansions that I do have.
The box measures 14x12, comes with color coordinated meeple bags, dividers, and a pocket in the lid for instructions.
Just thought folks around here would want to know, since I have been looking for a storage solution for over a year.
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Dmitri Gamer
United States
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Thanks for the info. That's a good news that someone with woodworking skills have made a nice box available here in US.
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United States
Norwood
Massachusetts
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Todd Degani wrote: I have ordered one and am in the process of having the charges refunded to my credit card company because I have not received the product I have paid for.
They got back to me fairly quickly originally when I questioned about the status of the order. They told me it would take about another 1 to 2 weeks.
Once that period had elapsed I sent them multiple messages via their website and got no response. It is now over a month and a half since I placed the order with them. Maybe our experiences our isolated incidents but I somehow highly doubt it.
As well constructed and everything that the box looks, this looks to be a very low budget operation they are running there when they cannot even respond to questions about product but are more than happy to take your money.
Out them. Who is the retailer?
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patox
United States
California
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Does anyone know what happened to the company that made the Carcassonne Box?
They appear to out of business. I wonder what happened to their inventory?
Does anyone have an extra they want to sell?
This box seems far superior to the one currently sold by the woodmaker on eBay.
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Connor Cranston
Netherlands
Nebraska
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Oh my...anyone know is this is still available from somewhere?
If I go to the website, it is not available anymore (the site, that is)
If anyone knows, it would be highly appreciated...
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Excelent box, just a couple of questions:
How do i get it? as carcassonebox.com dosnt work...
Also were do I get more deviders from?
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Andrew Wood
United Kingdom
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We did buy some boxes from them a couple of years ago, but sadly they went out of business middle of last year.
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VS Romero
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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Rats. I just saw this thread, too. Not sure how I missed this elegantly looking box before.
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Posted Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:20 am
