Gaia Project Wooden Storage Inserts - Compatible with Gaia Project Base Game

This is the second item we've purchased from this vendor, and I will definitely buy more when needed.

Arrived rapidly, excellent instructions for assembly

Pretty awesome, appreciated the small pieces of sandpaper and rubber bands that came with the insert.

I have to stress, follow the instructions and be patient. Otherwise, this is a great product to have for the game and my friends are always impressed when I bring it over for game night.

The Good:
Once assembled, this insert makes setup and tear-down much faster and less fiddly, with no baggies to hunt around for. The box still closes nice and flush, and all the pieces fit together and inside very well. You can tell that some serious design work went into this. The stacking/locking player boxes are particularly nice.

The curved edge of the misc token tray (power, QICs, Gaia tiles, etc.) was an unexpectedly helpful feature, as it makes it much easier to take individual tokens from during the game. No need for piles; just set the tray down next to the board and go.

The actual assembly was fairly straightforward, and the instructions covered everything with helpful exploded diagrams. Make absolutely sure that you test fit all of the pieces for a given tray before you start gluing, as the instructions aren't kidding around about similarly-shaped pieces. Also make sure to let the player boxes dry with the acrylic covers installed and rubber-banded, so that they will fit properly afterwards.

I used Gorilla wood glue with great results, but I imagine any wood glue would work just as well.

The Less Good:
There's no way on earth this can be assembled in 20-30 minutes by the average person. I think the only way that's achievable is if you've already assembled this exact kit before, or if you're very experienced with assembling these kinds of kits. I didn't time myself, but I put in a couple of hours per session over the course of three evenings. Between punching, test fitting, planning, applying glue, clamping, and cleaning excess glue off... it's going to take a little time. Heck, just the player boxes by themselves are 14 separate glued assemblies.

That being said, the fact that this is a bit of a project might be a positive for you! The insert is very functional, and it can be appealing to have invested yourself in the construction, if that's your jam.

My set came in good condition, with one piece a little bit warped (the base plate of the basic tech tile tray). The warping made assembling that tray a little tricky, but stacking some heavy books on it (thanks, Alton Brown!) while it dried made it set up pretty much flat.

The acrylic covers for the player boxes are very nice, and the kit is better for their inclusion, but the protective plastic covers are an enormous pain to peel off. They come off the flat size very easily, but the etched side will have an individual plastic piece to remove from every flat space between the cuts, -and- a tiny sliver of plastic to remove from every single cut. The trouble this plastic caused is the only reason I removed a star, but it was such a hassle.

The suggested method of scraping the plastic bits free with a spare piece of wood did not work well for me at all. However, I had good success with using isopropyl alcohol to weaken the adhesive, then scratching the plastic free with a fingernail. You'll be cursing the designers' names by the seventh cover, but it's ultimately well worth it.