Hello! I’m Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise, and I’m betting that you, like me, have encountered the following scenario:

Yeah, I’m up for a game of that. Let me just get it set up… c’mon box. Just a sec, I… come on game, open up! I wish to play you!

It’s a problem that each of us has come into contact with at one time or another: suction. Yes, suction! It’s the ally of pneumatic tube operators, but the bane of board game box openers worldwide. With no escape route for the air trapped within them, board game boxes can become virtually vacuum sealed.

But what can one do to address this problem? Well, if one happens to be me, one could make this video. Which I am, so I did. For the betterment of board game kind, I will perform an experiment to test a potential suction-reduction box augmentation technique that I’ve always wondered about. If you’ve ever wondered the same, then here’s your chance to see whether this idea will change the face of board game collections forever, without sacrificing your own collection in the process.

For this experiment, you will need a board game box, a cutting mat or piece of thick cardboard, a rubber mallet and a childlike curiosity… and a leather punch. These tools will be used to punch a small hole in the box lid, creating a vent, thereby potentially reducing the suction encountered when opening and closing the box.

Place the box on a raised block, over the cutting mat or cardboard, and, using the rubber mallet, tap the leather punch until it makes a clean hole in the lid.

When attempting this, make sure to place the lid face up. If the box is punched face down, it can result in tears around the punched hole, which is even more unattractive than, say, a hole in the lid of your box.

The result? Well, yes, you can feel air escaping through the hole when closing the box, which reduces resistance a little bit. There’s a slight improvement, but it’s minor. This is because most of the resistance is actually caused by the friction of the sides of the box sliding together. And to prevent that, somebody would have to invent an entirely new box design with shorter sides… and we all know how well that went.

So, in case you’ve ever wondered about the impact of suction on game box accessibility, now you know. And, to quote an 80’s cartoon based on a popular toy line, “knowing is more than meets the eye.”