Plastic in board games

We opened a game purchased as a Christmas present last night, called Bafflegab. The game itself was not wrapped in plastic, so it seemed like a good start. Unfortunately, when I opened it, most of the pieces inside were wrapped in Cellophane. Four packs of cards were individually wrapped then placed in a box which was also wrapped. The pencils and the pads of paper were all wrapped too. All the game pieces were placed in a plastic form which filled the box, and another thick plastic sheet was placed over them to keep them in place. The cards were all plastic coated, the timer was plastic, and there was a plastic carrying handle.

Now I would accept the plastic timer, since it would be difficult to make it out of other materials, and we will use it for years. There was no reason to have anything else plastic in that box. The play money which came with the game came wrapped in a thin strip of paper, just enough to keep it in place. Why couldn't the rest be wrapped like that? Or not wrapped at all?

The old games did not come like this. The only wrapping was a strip of paper tape along the bottom of the lid to seal it to the bottom of the box. The things inside were wrapped with a rubber band and placed in cardboard boxes.

Maybe we should be writing to these companies to encourage more sustainable packaging.