About us
Seven friends, one table, far too many boxes.
Board Game Shelf started in March 2018, when Jonas and Lea moved into a flat in Leipzig-Connewitz with a kitchen table big enough for six and a shelf that was, at the time, mostly empty.
How it started
The first game night was four people, two games and a pot of chili. The second was a week later, because the chili had been good. By the summer it was simply what happened on Thursdays. Malte came for the chili and stayed for the arguments. Yasmin brought flatbread one week and has never been allowed to stop. Kofi spotted us playing in a café in 2019, asked what we were playing, and sat down. Rike and Dome joined through friends of friends.
We started writing reviews in 2020, when game nights moved to video calls for a while and we needed something to do with all the opinions. It turned out other people liked reading them, so we kept going.
How we review
Every game gets at least five plays before we score it, usually many more. We try it at different player counts, with newcomers and with veterans. We buy almost all of our games ourselves; if a publisher ever sends us a copy, we say so at the top of the review. Nobody pays us, and the site has no ads or affiliate links.
Our scores are out of ten and are honestly a bit arbitrary. A 9 means “we will be playing this for years”. A 7 means “good, but we would rather play something else”. Below that, it probably did not make it onto the shelf, so you will not find many low scores here.
The regulars
Plus Würfel, the cat, who has opinions about cardboard.
Jonas
Rules explainer, co-founder
Owns a label maker and is not afraid to use it. Has never won Ashen Crown.
Favourite: Lanternfall Harbor
Lea
Score keeper, co-founder
Keeps every score since 2018 in a spreadsheet. Wins roughly a third of everything.
Favourite: Moss & Mortar
Malte
Chaos agent
Brings a new excuse for losing every week. Has never repeated one.
Favourite: Paper Zeppelins
Yasmin
Baker, liar (in games)
Undefeated at social deduction in 2024. Bakes the best flatbread in Leipzig.
Favourite: The Velvet Heist
Kofi
Engine builder
Joined in 2019 after spotting us playing in a café. Thinks in combos.
Favourite: Orchard of Echoes
Rike
Two-player specialist
Bike courier, quickest turns at the table, keeps a sourdough starter called Brot Pitt.
Favourite: Owl at the Archive
Dome
Late arrival, snack supplier
Has arrived on time exactly twice. Both times the game had already started.
Favourite: Sunken Bazaar
What the score bars mean
- Theme & artDoes the game feel like what it says on the box, and do we enjoy looking at it for an hour?
- Rules clarityHow quickly can we learn it from the rulebook, and how often do we need to look things up?
- Meaningful decisionsDo our choices matter, and do we feel clever (or foolish) because of them?
- Replay valueIs game twenty still interesting? Does it change with different groups?
- Table talkHow much laughing, groaning and arguing does it produce? Higher is better.
- ComponentsQuality, insert, readability, and whether it survives the cat.
Say hello
Want to recommend a game, tell us we are wrong about one, or share your own house rules? Write to us at hello@boardgameshelf.xyz. We read everything, usually on Friday mornings with a strong coffee, and we answer most messages within a week or two.
We are a private group, not a shop or a club, so we cannot sell games or invite strangers to our table. Sorry. But we are always happy to point you towards the local game cafés.
About & privacy
This is a personal, non-commercial hobby site. The short version of our privacy policy: we do not want your data.
- No cookies of any kind.
- No analytics, no tracking pixels, no ads, no social media widgets.
- No fonts, scripts or images loaded from anyone else. Everything you see is drawn by this page itself.
- The tools page runs entirely in your browser and forgets everything when you close it.
- If you email us, we use your address only to reply, and we never share it.
The games reviewed here are described in our own words. Box art on this site is our own doodle-style illustration, not the publishers’ artwork.