Sticking To It: WALLZAP Accessory review
Every board gamer dreams about the perfect board gaming room. Comfortable seats, sturdy table with a beautiful game mat, and gorgeous artwork on the walls celebrating the hobby. Am I right?
The Gumbo Pot is our home space for gaming, as you have seen on our Twitch Tuesdays channel, but one thing it is lacking is some beautiful board game artwork. I’ve looked with a jealous eye toward the game rooms that have the stunning art posters from BGG, for instance, in their board game art series.
But you know what? Some of the most beautiful art we own in this house can easily be found right on the box covers of our game collection. Games like Aquatica and Scythe and Sleeping Gods all have art I would be proud to hang on the walls of my game room.
I guess that I could take the box covers off and hang them on the wall, but that leaves the boxes exposed. Or, I could do what I am doing now — recycling expansion boxes into artwork on the wall. It’s nice, but let’s face it, most of the expansion boxes are either not as pretty or not as recognizable or memorable. What would be really cool is if you could hang up the ENTIRE box on the wall, ready to play at a moment’s notice but acting as beautiful art when not being used on the game table.
What if there was a way to do that? Well, the folks at WALLZAP have figured out how to do it. We were lucky enough to be sent a review copy to try out on our wall. What they sent me was the BASE Wall Mounting Kit — which is made for games weighting 2 kgs or less, although they have a DELUXE model for heavier games.
Here is what came inside the package: We received one wall mounting kit, that included one BASE wall magnet to hang up the games; two box plates to put inside two different games that I wanted to hang; some protective box tape and magnets, and the equipment to hang up the wall magnet. Plus, they also sent me enough BOX LOCKS to safely lock five game boxes. I’ll explain that part later.
After opening the box, I quickly installed the WALL MAGNET:
• It is covered with an anti-slip rubber coating to prevent sliding and to soften the magnetic impact.
• The Wall Magnet is also the foundation of the company’s other product lines: Metal Posters and Collector & Miniature Displays. The same magnet is therefore compatible with all of their product lines.
Next, I started installing the magnet plate for each of the two games using the protective tape in the package, as well as the box locks to keep the box lid from accidentally opening. The magnet plate was an easy install — just empty the box, measure the center, and then use the tape.
The box locks were even cooler — once you had one set installed on one part of the box, the other set easily dropped in like magic. Now, when the boxes are displayed vertically either on the wall or on the game shelf, the components won’t shift around — no more box lids leaking open!
The note they sent me in the email had a picture that was easy to understand. Unfortunately, the instructions are not included as paper product in the package — instead the package directs you to a QR code that opens up the instructions on a Google drive, and those instructions were not the easiest to follow. Through trial and error and watching a couple of videos, I finally figured it out, but I wish the simple explanation from the email was printed in the box.
All in all, I am impressed with how easy it was to set up the system and get two boxes ready for display. They look great. I’ve had a couple of issues where one side or the other droops a bit, and it is not clear ot me if that is a bad install job on my part or just an inherent weakness in using magnets, but these magnets are some of the strongest I have ever handled so it might be a me thing.
If you want more information about WALZAP, you can click right here:
I would love to know if you have tried the product or if you have any interest. And next time you join us on the Twitch Tuesdays stream, ask me to demonstrate switching out the boxes I have. I’d love to show you how easy it is!
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo
** A complimentary copy of the box display system was provided by the manufacturer. **