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The Game Shelf

Building, sharing, and organizing a game collection worth playing. Six series and 34 short articles, in an order that builds. Read them here, or get one per email on Tuesday and Friday mornings.

Six series, 34 articles

Start with the first one

Series 1 · 8 articles
The Shared Shelf
Turn your group's separate collections into one shared library, with more games for the same money.
1. The One Copy Rule: Why Your Play Group Only Needs One Catan
  Why duplicate copies add cost but zero plays, and a plan to pool your group's games.
2. When a Second Copy of a Board Game Is Worth It
  One test settles every case, plus a checklist and the excuses that only sound like reasons.
3. Claim a Lane: How Four Friends Build a 20-Game Library
  Six lanes, who should take each one, and how to rebalance when someone joins or leaves.
4. The Shared Shelf Social Contract: Storage, Spills, and Splits
  Fair answers for the friend who never hosts and the one who always buys, plus a charter to copy.
5. Gifting as Library Strategy: Expansions Make the Best Gifts
  Why one person's gift improves everyone's game night, plus the etiquette that keeps it easy.
6. Two Groups, Two Years, Same Money: A Shared Shelf Case Study
  One group buys the same hits, the other coordinates, and ends up with double the library.
7. Why a Magic Cube Is the Perfect Shared Library
  No Magic needed: three habits from Cube drafting that any shared game shelf can borrow.
8. How to Audit Your Group's Game Shelf (With a Template)
  Price your duplicates, spot the empty lanes, and turn the gaps into a group wishlist.
Series 2 · 6 articles
Building Your Library on Purpose
Grow a board game shelf in stages, from free plays to a lifetime library your table loves.
1. Play Before You Pay: The $0 Start to a Board Game Collection
  Free places to play, a 90-second taste log, and three signs you are ready to buy.
2. Your First $40: How to Choose Your Anchor Board Game
  Score games on four qualities, see picks for couples, families, and parties, and what to skip.
3. The Starter Shelf: A Board Game Collection From $40 to $300
  Six roles, one game each, a buying order, and how to split the shelf with your friends.
4. The Core Library: Growing Your Collection From $300 to $1,000
  Let your play log steer spending: when to expand, when a role earns a second game, who to buy for.
5. The Curator: Managing a Board Game Collection Past $1,000
  Set a cap, name the game that leaves before you buy, and hold a yearly keep-or-go review.
6. The Lifetime Library: Games You'll Still Play in 20 Years
  Four traits that make a game last, and how to keep, note, and hand down the ones that do.
Series 3 · 5 articles
The Math of Game Night
Use one formula to see what game night really costs, then make every dollar buy more play.
1. Cost Per Play, Explained: The Only Board Game Math You Need
  Divide price by plays, players, and hours, and see why your group is where the value lives.
2. The Shelf of Shame Has an Infinite Cost Per Hour
  Why games stall, a quick shelf audit, and a no-guilt plan: schedule it, trade it, or admit it.
3. Board Games vs. Everything Else: Cost Per Hour of Fun
  Ballgames, movies, and concerts run through the same formula. The table wins, if you play.
4. How Much Do Board Gamers Actually Spend Per Year?
  Where hobbyists land, plus a short method for setting your own yearly budget from hours played.
5. Why Board Games Cost More Now (And What to Do About It)
  Tariffs and thin margins explain the price tag. Plays, players, and hours are still yours to set.
Series 4 · 6 articles
Smart Buying
Buy used, weigh expansions and campaigns, shop cons, sell what sits, and cap the shelf so every box gets played.
1. How to Buy Used Board Games Without Getting Burned
  Where the good boxes turn up, what to count before you pay, and which games to skip.
2. Board Game Expansions: When They're Worth It and When They're Not
  The core test: has your group seen the edges of the base game yet?
3. The Kickstarter Question: Should You Back Board Games?
  Ask if you'd buy it at retail, usually skip the deluxe tier, and pick one backer for your group.
4. Trading and Selling Board Games You Don't Play
  Know when a game is done, let your group claim it first, then list it with honest photos.
5. Convention Buying Without Regret: A Board Game Con Plan
  Shop from a gap list, demo first, sleep on big buys, and pick one buyer per game in your group.
6. One In, One Out: Living With a Board Game Shelf Cap
  Choose a limit that fits how you play, then make every new game beat your weakest one.
Series 5 · 5 articles
Running a Play Group
Start a game group, share the hosting and the shelf, and keep it going for years.
1. How to Start a Board Game Play Group That Actually Lasts
  Who to invite, which night to protect, and what to play the first three times you meet.
2. Rotating Hosts and Rotating Shelves for Your Game Group
  A schedule anyone can recite, who brings what, and a real job for the member who can't host.
3. Match Games to Your Actual Group, Not Your Fantasy Group
  Before any purchase, name who will teach it and which night it will hit the table.
4. The Teacher's Shelf: Board Games You Can Teach in Five Minutes
  The games that rescue a night, and a teaching order that works: goal, turn, example, go.
5. Keeping a Game Group Together for Years, Not Months
  Small rituals people would miss, and a simple plan to revive a group that went quiet.
Series 6 · 4 articles
Library Science for Gamers
Borrow a few habits from libraries to shelve, code, and track your games so the whole group can find them.
1. Organize Your Board Games by Role, Not by Box Size
  Seven roles and a doorway test, so a friend can pick tonight's game without asking you.
2. The Ludarium Classification System for Tabletop GamesComing soon
  Five facts in one code on the spine, so friends can compare shelves by text message.
3. Tracking Your Plays Changes What You Buy
  Five fields per play add up to a report: your real top five, real play time, and what to trade.
4. The Group Shelf: Tracking a Shared Library With Your FriendsComing soon
  One shared sheet spots duplicates, tracks loans, and routes expansion wishes to the right friend.

Want the newest first instead? Browse the Game Shelf category.

The Game Shelf

Six series, 34 articles

The Shared Shelf

Building Your Library on Purpose

The Math of Game Night

Smart Buying

Running a Play Group

Library Science for Gamers

Read them in order, by email.