It Comes In A Box!

What's In A Box?
The Little Brown Books came in a box, a White Box! Well, maybe a wood-grain box with a white sticker if you happen to score one of the first three printings. (A fourth printing is the oldest copy I have been able to acquire.) There is some inherent joy about opening a box. Boxes contain things that are out-of-sight. Boxes are places of mystery. Boxes play a part in myth and legend, often containing things of great value. There is something special about a game that comes in a box.
There's a reason jewelers put rings in a box...opening the box is an event. Maybe not a huge event, but an event not to be entirely overlooked either. There is a moment of suspense before the box is opened and its secrets revealed when imagination soars and anything is possible. It seems fitting that the LBBs come in a box.
Did all this thought go into packaging the LBBs? A question not likely asked. My guess is "no, it didn't". Games often come in a box because it is a convenient method of delivery to the consumer. Breakfast cereal comes in a box for the same reason, and incidentally holds much less mystery! Retailers like the box. It sits nicely on the shelf, handles shrink-wrap well and keeps the contents together in one place. Most game boxes are of a uniform dimension, sized to fit on standard store shelving and can be turned with the big colorful side out to "feature" the product. When RPGs ported over to computers, they also adopted the boxed format for many of the same reasons.
Boxing the game allows the publisher to go with a less expensive rulebook format because it is protected by the box. It also allows for the inclusion of other game materials such as charts and tables, dice, character sheets, maps and counters/pawns/figures, and other play aids. Some boxed sets even include a cool pencil! The box (if big enough) is also an aid to players who have a ready-made place to store their game stuff and an easy way to transport same. The White Box has ample room for a few supplements and some dice.
Starting with the introduction of the Advanced Game Monster Manual, TSR started a trend in high-quality hard-cover game books. They are sturdy, hold up well to table use, set nicely on the bookshelf, in stores and at home, and lend the game an air of respectability as a real "book", not just a game. Yes, back in the 1970's a hardcover book imparted an inherent "worthiness" to its contents.
Today it is rare to find a paper and pencil RPG that comes in a box. Improvements in publishing have made big books, hardcover or soft, rather durable and inexpensive to produce (overseas). There are a few, notably beginner boxes and OSR retro products, that come in boxes, often including many of those play aids, dice and other extras a box makes possible. Regardless of how the game actually comes, there is some usefulness in the symbology of "opening the box".