Before last year, game transport was really all about bags – what size, shape, durability would be best to traipse your games to and from events in? A suitcase, a large Ikea shopping bag, a fancy custom bag, or just a drum case in disguise – there’s a lot of options. For card games, most transport options have been deck boxes of varying quality or long boxes (usually a plain white cardboard). Nothing too fancy. So last year when Quiver card cases started popping up around cons and being shared on social media, it was exciting to see. A new realm of game transport possibilities opened up, with the potential of squeezing a number of fabulous games into the Quiver to sling over one’s shoulder and head out into the gaming wilderness excitedly with.
The Quiver’s a sturdy case with a polyurethane finish, and comes with a couple of different carrying straps. It zips up, and when you open it up, it’s got a soft fabric interior, and a little mesh pocket in the lid. Each case comes with dividers, too, which keeps things nice and tidy, and card sleeves if you want to keep the high use cards pristine. Recently, the company started offering pink and teal cases in addition to the black – and I believe that, after an initial wave of orders there will be violet cases ready to buy, too. A few of the DWP crew have been using Quivers (just in OG black – but Nicole loves to cover hers in stickers) for the last little while, and are starting to plan what to pack in theirs for the bulk of summer convention season. Read on to see their choices for regular game nights and packing for con playing!
Matt
I’ve been using my Quiver for just over a year, and it’s been more useful than I could have ever imagined. I still use a canvas bag for game night, but the Quiver has been clutch for every “should I bring a game, just in case?” situation. These are circumstances where the other potential players aren’t likely to self-identify as gamers. For them, the Quiver’s sleek look is a more intriguing proposition than a stack of board game boxes. Once I explain that the Quiver contains the best small games from my large collection, with a perfect game for every situation, people are ready to see what’s inside.
The first objective is to cover the player count bases. Hanamikoji is currently tough to beat as a two-player-only game, and occupies a shockingly small amount of Quiver real estate. On the other end, 6 Nimmt! and No Thanks! are my current large-group icebreaker games. It’s also good to have a stable of co-op experiences, and it just so happens that you can easily play The Game using the cards from 6 Nimmt! (sparing your group the garish skull artwork, to boot). Additional co-op picks include Hanabi and The Grizzled, as they are great examples of small games that push the envelope in mechanics and theme, respectively.
Moving past quick card games, I like to pack a few games in the 30-60 minute timeframe, in case a legit game name breaks out. These are also legitimately good games that often get overlooked at game night, in favor of their big-box competition, so it’s great to see some of these favorites on the game. Camel Up Cards and Age of War serve as my bridge to game night. Betting on races is one of the better hooks in gaming, and Age of War is a tight Knizia-designed dice roller. It’s always good to have one option for a dice-rolling crowd. For the 60-minute crowd, I pack Xenon Profiteer (a great deck builder), Isle of Trains (a masterful implementation of multi-use cards), and Oh My Goods! (a shockingly effective distillation of Eurogames into a small card game, albeit one that did not truly shine until major 2.0 rules revisions were posted online).
I’m due for a Quiver re-pack, and there are going to be some tough decisions ahead of me. I’ve rotated Sushi Go!, The Fox in the Forest, Hocus, and Capital Lux in and out of my Quiver, and some of those may return, along with new acquisitions I grow eager to play over the course of the summer.
Tim
I got my Quiver as a door prize at the Punch Board Media launch party at Origins 2017, and I’ve been using it as my primary TCG case since then. I’ve gone and swapped out the issued strap with a Tom Bihn strap, and it makes a lot of difference for me. It feels more secure – I’m not sure that it is, but more importantly the padding really helps.
I’m just going to guess that my answer here is going to be different than the other answers, as my Quiver is always loaded up with TCG / CCG / LCG (ALL THE CG) decks. Right now, I’m prepping for Origins, so there’s some stuff in there that wouldn’t normally be there. I’ve got a couple decks for the old Decipher Star Wars CCG – a great game that I rarely get to play. I’ve also got my classic Doomtown deck in there – currently Texas Rangers: Dixie Rails. I don’t get to play classic Doomtown as much as I’d like, but I always have a deck together. Oh, and of course there are Shadowfist decks in there, because there are always Shadowfist decks in there. Currently I’ve got a Dragon deck deck for classic and a Four Monarch deck for modern.
Of course, the thing that folks always comment is “um, why does he have for tubs of pomade in his Quiver? Is there a need for emergency hair styling at card tournaments?” Those tubs are the perfect size to store bits and bobs needed for CCGs – dice, counters, tokens, the occasional coin for a coin flip, they all fit right in there. I’ve got a drawer full of CCG accoutrements and it is chock-a-block with empty pomade containers. The three in there, right now, have Shadowfist tokens and some dice.
Since I’m writing this on the verge of Origins, I’ll probably try to find a way to slide both Love Letter and No Thanks into the Quiver. They make for good games between rounds of a tournament, or at the pub post tournament
Nicole
When I first got my Quiver, I was like a deer in headlights trying to choose what I’d put in there. For most of my needs, I take the Quiver with me for gaming with work friends, or to game days in Toronto — so I kept things balanced between things that would suit both those, to avoid swapping anything in and out too often. I decided on No Thanks, Sushi Go, Port Royal, Fuji Flush, The Game, Eggs of Ostrich, Cockroach Poker plus a couple of Anomia decks from my Anomia Party Edition. This left enough space for me to tuck a couple of Oink games in at one end, so I frequently had A Fake Artist Goes to New York and Startups with me, too! Interestingly, Cockroach Poker didn’t get taken out much, and despite my loving it to bits, I think Eggs of Ostrich is a little too niche and specific player-count-wise to keep in there. I’ll have a think about what will go back in there when everything’s back to normal after Origins game fair next week. For now, though, my Quiver is packed to the brim for convention gaming goodness!
Recent hotness The Mind is a given – and I’m excited to get more plays under my belt to really get my head around what’s going on with it. I’ve also got The Game in there for some more predictable team play. For larger player counts, in addition to the mainstay Fuji Flush, I’ve thrown in Broom Service the Card Game, Birds of a Feather, and Medici the Card Game – there’s a good mix of play times and weight among those. The best part is that they’re all reasonably quick to teach, too – when you’ve got a decently sized group looking for something between other events at a con, this is super helpful.
My picks for regular-sized groups for these in-between games is basically me picking what I love to play in those instances. No Thanks will probably never leave my Quiver, and the same goes for For Sale. Port Royal and Capital Lux both have a nice amount of player interaction that can be a refreshing change from some heavier games, or just to take your mind off the hustle and bustle of the con. Fortress hits that last point too, but it’s also a fun new experience being a “legacy” sort of game that changes as you play – I’m hoping to see how that works out with a number of groups.
Last of all, my favourite pile of roll & writes — now, i’ve had a little trouble with the size of some of the score sheets of these games once they’re laminated. Fitting them in the mesh sleeve is a little tough so I’ve taken to sitting them on top of the cards and sort of tucking their edges in when closing the Quiver. Honestly, it’s easy enough to just pop them in my notebook and keep the dice and cards in the Quiver itself. One of the first wave of roll & writes that I ever tried, Avenue, is coming with me (its reimplementation Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama is a little bulky to pack), as well as the sweet and swift Harvest Dice (yes, the piggie marker is packed). And, of course, my two favourite German-designed roll & writes are coming along and should see quite a bit of play – Castles of Burgundy the Dice Game, and Ganz Schon Clever. I can’t wait to introduce these to friends who haven’t had a chance to try them yet!
If you’re looking for a smallish way to cart around games for events small or large, you’re hard pressed to go past a Quiver. You can see from the above that it can suit all sorts of players, and you can put more in there than just card games if you’re creative. It’s a great, personal way to cart around the games you love to share them with friends. If you’re on the Quiver train, what’s in yours? We’d love to know!
Read this article and immediately bought one for my upcoming trip to Origins. Here’s my inventory:
Tiny Epic Galaxies (with expansion)
The Grizzled (with expansion)
Dale of Merchants 1 and 2
Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game
Oh My Goods!
Tybor the Builder
Coloretto
Kobayakawa
I was amazed at how much game I could pack into this thing. Thanks, DWP!
That’s an amazing list, nice!! I hope you got it all played at Origins 🙂 -n