Buy My Shelfie from Amazon.com
While I consider myself an avid board gamer, I also feel like that label is a bit of a conundrum. I prefer medium-weight (based on BoardGameGeek’s complexity rating scale) games, but my collection primarily consists of light to medium light-weight games. Many of those in my collection fall into the party category with simple player actions, and minimal scoring complexity.
This odd contrast between preference and reality stems from the groups that I typically game with, as they prefer lighter experiences. Unintentionally, this has led me to being somewhat of a gateway game connoisseur.
My Shelfie checks a few important boxes for what makes a great gateway game: connection to a well-known classic game, easy-to-understand mechanics, and a relatively short playtime. The big question is, does the rest of the game hold up, or does it teeter off the shelf and fall apart?
A Classic Connection
In My Shelfie, players compete to earn the most points by filling their ‘bookshelf’ with ‘items’. Each player’s bookshelf is a vertically displayed grid that holds up to 30 items. After seeing the bookshelf setup, some players will already see the connection to the well-known classic game Connect Four. While the bookshelf holds square items instead of circles and is a different size, the comparison is still hard to miss.
Once a player completely fills their bookshelf, they collect a one bonus point tile, and play continues until everyone has had an equal number of turns.
The items that players fill their bookshelves with are small tiles represented by six types of items—cats, books, games, frames, trophies, and plants—with each associated with a specific color.
The variety of tiles, even within each type, was one of the first things I admired. For each tile type, there are three different pieces of artwork, adding some visual flair. As the proud owner of multiple cats, how could I not appreciate the multiple colors represented? Avid gamers should pay extra attention to the game tiles, as there are some Easter eggs in the games depicted on the tiles.
There’s no difference in terms of scoring in choosing one artwork within a type over another. Nonetheless, it was still fun to have a little bit of personalization available as players built their bookshelves.
The second link to Connect Four appears in the actions that players take on each of their turns. On a player’s turn, they select between 1 and 3 tiles from the shared common board (the living room) and place them into their bookshelf through openings at the top. At the end of a player’s turn, if the living room board has four or fewer tiles remaining, the board is refilled with new tiles from the tile bag.
The tile selection and placement process took some players a few rounds to grasp, as there are a couple of key restrictions.
Up to 3 tiles can be taken as long as they are in a straight line, vertical or horizontal, and at least one of their sides is uncovered at the beginning of the player’s turn. Once tiles are taken, each tile needs to be placed in only one column in any order.
Still, the act of ‘take thing, place into stand through the top’ is highly reminiscent of the main gameplay loop of Connect Four.
I decided to do a little experiment when doing my review plays for My Shelfie. With about half of the people I played My Shelfie with, I mentioned the similarity to Connect Four when explaining the rules and gameplay; for the other half, I didn’t mention Connect Four at all. Within the groups I didn’t mention the connection, every person pointed out the parallels between My Shelfie and Connect Four. For me, this was the telltale sign that My Shelfie qualifies as a great example of a gateway game.
Connect More and Score
While the actions players take on their turns are fairly straightforward, the different ways that points are scored and the variety of options to do so arguably push My Shelfie away from being a gateway game.
Points can be scored in three ways:
-
- Completing personal objectives: Each player has a hidden personal objective that awards points based on the number of items successfully placed into specific spaces on their bookshelf. These can award up to 12 points.
- Completing common objectives: During each game, two common objectives are available for players to complete, with earlier completion awarding more points. These objectives ask players to complete different patterns on their board based on the tile types. The potential points that can be scored depends on the number of players. For example, in a 2-player game, point for each objective are eight and four, compared to eight, six, and four points in a 3-player game.
- Connected groups of tile types: The last, and in most of the games I played overlooked, way to earn points is by creating connected groups of the same tile type. Points depend on how large groups are, ranging from two points for a group of three, up to eight points for a group of six or more.
After a couple of plays, I quickly realized that the majority of points can be earned through the last option above, created connected groups of tile types. In all six of my plays, the player who scored the most points through this method, ended up winning the game.
This isn’t uncommon in most well-known modern games, like Wingspan’s common goals, personal goals, and base scoring, but for a game that seems to be geared more towards a lighter audience, it creates an odd scenario.
Strangely though, unless I told players which method had the highest point ceiling, most of them focused on gaining points through the other two methods. Maybe the puzzling appeal of completing their personal objective or the competitive rush to be the first to gain the higher point values on the common goals drove this decision.
Either way, I had multiple instances where players were confused at the end of the game, thinking they would be closer to winning than they actually ended up being.
In addition to the variety of scoring options being a bit off, some of the common goals were confusing. The cards show some general iconography aiming to explain what the objective is, but in most cases it’s not obvious. Even with an explanation at the beginning of the game what the objective of each common goal card was, there were multiple instances of players asking “How do I achieve this goal, again?”
Thankfully, the last page of the rulebook clearly explains each common goal card and how to achieve it. Still, it seems like some short ‘helper text’ could have been included on the common goal cards to help clarify each one.
Some Assembly Required
Even with the approachability mismatch between a player’s actions and how points are scored, My Shelfie seemed to have enough staying power to have a permanent spot in my collection.
But then the game started falling apart…literally.
In multiple playthroughs, different players’ bookshelf stands separated during play. This led to tiles falling through to the bottom and having to fix the bookshelf mid-game. Additionally, the first-player marker, a cute albeit flimsy chair, had started to peel and was barely held together anymore.
I’m not oblivious to the fact that games wear down over time, but multiple instances of parts breaking within just six plays is a bit concerning.
Despite the potential long-term fragility and odd scoring quirks, My Shelfie is still a worthwhile experience, especially if you’re using it as a gateway game to introduce people to the world of modern board games. After a few plays, there’s a good chance you can convince players to broaden their horizons and take on even more new board games.
My Shelfie details
- Designer: Matthew Dunstan, Phil Walker-Harding
- Artists: Sara Valentino, Shannon Grosenbacher
- Publishers: ADC Blackfire Entertainment, Broadway Toys LTD, Cranio Creations, Crowd Games, Feuerland Spiele, Gameology (Gameology Romania), Gigamic, Lord of Boards, Lucky Duck Games, Maldito Games, Well Designed Game
- Release Date: 2022
- Player count : 2 - 4
- Age range : 8+
- Time range : 30 minutes
- Mechanism(s): End Game Bonuses, Pattern Building, Set Collection
- BGG Geek Rating: 6.53128 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.5.
- More articles about My Shelfie.
