The last time I took a photo of my game collection was 2016. For the past nine years I don't feel I have bought many games. My game collection has not changed significantly. I generally don't trade or sell games. Only in the past few years my game purchases increased a little. That is because I have now become a game publisher myself and I have been active in the local game industry. I go to boardgame fairs. I now buy games for reference and for collection, and not only because they are games I think I will love playing. I'm buying not as a gamer, but also as a designer and publisher.
If you compare the 2025 and 2016 photos, you will find many similarities. Now I am running out of space for boardgames. I think I need to initiate a purge. I need to find some opportunity to sell games. Probably I will give some away to friends. But first I need to decide on the purge list. I remember doing this some years ago and that purge list turned out to be much shorter than I expected. It is just difficult to part with your loved ones, even the ugly ones.
Jul 2025
My shelves are obviously pretty full now. Compared to 2016, you will notice that many games are still roughly where they used to be. However I do have some new games now.
I keep some empty boxes because I use them for my game design work.
It feels wrong to roll up the maps for Carcassonne Maps like this and stick them into the shelf in this unceremonious manner, but I cannot think of any better way to store them.
I bought Samurai Swords and Axis & Allies (1984 edition) before I became a boardgame hobbyist. I bought them when on a work trip to the USA. That was in the late 1990's.
I now leave a spot for my camera. I often take photos when I play games because I use these photos at my blog. So the camera is part of my boardgame hobby. Some games here belong to Han or Allen - Architects of the West Kingdom, Undaunted, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, and this version of Unlock which features popular boardgames.
I invested a lot into that box of Netrunner at the bottom right. I have packed many expansions into this box. I have been wanting to get into the game system, and I have made several attempts, but I was never able to persist. So I am still a beginner. Yet I cannot bear to part with it.
I have several Alea titles here. Also several games in the Mystery Rummy series. I am now desperate enough to squeeze games into crevices among my games. I quite like that small box game Seven! and I feel a little guilty sticking it in a crevice like an afterthought.
Here you see many small box card games.
My games fight for space with other household supplies. Daybreak is stuck under tissue paper. At the top right I still have several unopened Netrunner expansions, called data packs. I think I have only played the Food Chain Magnate expansion once. What a shame. It's a great game and the expansion comes with many modules.
These are the more recent games. Some are from the Essen game fair last year - 2024. I am buying more card games and small box games nowadays. I have also been buying party games. This would have been unimaginable for me 9 years ago.
My downstairs offshoot is still there. Many years ago I placed some games there which are suitable for children, so that I could easily pick one up to play with my children. At the time they were still in primary school. Now they are in university. These games have not yet migrated back to the main collection space, because I don't have enough space.
This is not my game collection shelf. This is my home office. When I work at home and I need to conduct online training or attend online meetings, I sit in front of this shelf. This shelf was deliberately arranged like this to be presentable. When having Zoom meetings I prefer to have a real background and not a virtual one. It feels more authentic and personal. I intentionally placed a few boardgames. They can be good conversation starters.
If the person at the other end of the online meeting says they have played Twilight Struggle, then I know this is a gamer. Not many people ask me about Twilight Struggle though. The game people ask me about most frequently is Lord of the Rings. Because they think it is the book.
My home office is just one of two new offshoots compared to nine years ago. The other new offshoot is this to-play pile. These are the games I need to remind myself to play and write about.
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