Carcassonne is life, according to Andrew Jensen, otherwise known as DrTRex on Reddit. After careful consideration and rewatching TableTop, we have to agree.
Carcassonne is a tile-placement game set in southern France in a famously fortified town called, you guessed it, Carcassonne. The game is easy to learn but remains dynamic and challenging every time you play it, as each player will have his or her own constantly changing strategy of how to best place tiles and meeples in order to maximize territories and points.
Jensen, an engineer and Illinois native, decided to make his own box to house and hold dear all of Carcassonne’s pieces from the base game and most of its expansions. After expressing his love of the game by purchasing multiple expansions, Jensen knew that the provided cardboard box was just not suitable for the endless tiles, meeples, and other various pieces. This dilemma led to the birth of his first Carcassonne box, which he describes in a post on his website.
After building a second new and improved box as a gift, Jensen ultimately built a third, completely unique Carcassonne box and took pictures to keep as documentation of how it was made. Using four different types of wood (and a buttload of clamps), Jensen created a complicated, yet very pretty herringbone pattern for the lid. He also added an special space for the scoreboard and acrylic dividers for the many, many pieces.
In mid-March, Jensen posted a DIY gallery of the pictures to Reddit detailing the step-by-step process of creating the box. Check out his Reddit post to see how he did it! Jensen received comments praising his talent and artistry, sharing in his love of Carcassonne, and offering recommendations for future improvements to the box.
On his website, Jensen talks about how Carcassonne specifically helped him through a transformative period in his life. Jensen’s love of board games as a uniting force as well as an enjoyable diversion paved the way for his interest to become a creative hobby.
Not only do board games challenge and teach, but they can also inspire. His unabashed adoration for this seemingly simple game brought about more and more pieces, which in turn brought about Jensen’s own creation. This stunning work of craftsmanship was born out of a love of board games, and that amazing fact makes us giddy as all get-out.
Has a board game ever inspired you to create something like Jensen’s box, or maybe stories or art? Share your creations with us in the comments!
Featured image credit: Andrew Jensen
Image credit: Hans im Glück/Z-Man Games, Andrew Jensen