When I travel to game nights, my past method of choice to haul games used to be a tote bag. Game companies would give them out freely at Gen Con and each could hold a couple of games. Recently though, many companies have been attempting to fill an obvious need for the gamer on the go. One such company is Level 3B, who introduced The Game Canopy awhile ago. It’s a padded bag the holds many of your games for easy transport.
Yet a problem not unique to the Game Canopy system was how to transport large box games. Most gaming bags were designed around square boxes, which makes sense, the majority of games fit into that size. Yet what about when you want to bring your copy of The Reckoners, Cthulhu Wars, or maybe Claustrophobia 1643 on the go?
To service that need, Level 3B has designed the Game Canopy Deep Space Bag. They sent one of the bags over to BGQ HQ for us to test out and we put it through the paces.
I was able to comfortably fit two big box games into the Deep Space Bag. Cthulhu Wars, The Reckoners, Star Trek Ascendancy, and Claustrophobia 1643 all fit in the bag (only 2 games at a time though). What I liked is that games could be stored either on their side or flat in the bag. So If I have a game that will have tokens spill all over the place if placed on its side, I can store it flat. That’s one improvement over just jamming the game on its side into a smaller bag.
The walls of the bag are padded, so it should be able to take a decent amount of abuse without damaging the precious cargo inside. Speaking of, the Deep Space Bag also had 2 pockets inside for smaller game or expansion storage. I tossed a copy of Lotus in the bag with Cthulhu Wars and Claustrophobia 1643 and it fit fine. It also has a pocket on the outside on the front and back for even smaller games or other gaming materials.
According to Level 3B, the Deep Space bag is designed to work with a variety of hand carts (such as this one), which is a good thing, because this bag got heavy pretty quick with two big box games in it. As I don’t have a hand cart, I wasn’t able to test out this feature though.
If you decide to pick this one up, I’d recommend getting a shoulder strap for it. One wasn’t provided with my review copy and it was a pain to lug around just holding it by hand (Cthulhu Wars and Claustrophobia are HEAVY combined).
Finally, I also tested the bag using a couple of square games. While they fit, this was a less than ideal solution for them. Unless you fill the bag like a Tetris puzzle, they will be sliding around during transport. You are better off with one of their standard bags for that and saving the Deep Space bag for when you need to transport big box games. For me, that means that the Deep Space bag is best for a second bag, after having already acquired one of the standard size ones.
If you are interested in getting a Deep Space bag, Level 3B launched a Kickstarter on May 14th. So head over to the campaign page for more info or to become a backer.
