Gamers often sort their libraries by genre, play status, or even “backlog shame” priority lists—who hasn’t made a someday pile? Digital tools like Playnite, Steam tags, or plain old spreadsheets wrangle unruly collections, letting you group by RPGs, FPS, or “runs on nostalgia.” For board games, shelf space and box size become the ultimate puzzle. Pro tip: always back up your lists and digital data, because no one wants to re-tag 300 games twice. Want some sharper tricks?
For many gamers, organizing a game library can feel a bit like herding digital cats—or, for the tabletop crowd, playing a never-ending game of shelf Tetris. There’s always one more title to add, one more box to squeeze in, and the question of “where did I put that game again?” never quite goes away.
Luckily, several methods exist for imposing order on chaos, whether your collection lives on a hard drive or a crowded shelf. Categorization methods can include using search bars, organizing by genre, and creating collections based on themes, which help streamline your browsing experience. Organization creates a sense of order, making it much easier to find and retrieve your favorite games when you want them.
Priority-based organization is a solid start. Some players sort games into high, medium, and low priority: high gets played right away, medium is for soon-ish, and low is for those “someday” moments. Steam’s dynamic tags, like “unplayed” or “installed,” help filter the digital clutter, but nothing beats a good manual list—especially if you like numbering things from “play now” to “maybe next year.” Regular backups of these personalized lists ensure you never lose your carefully prioritized gaming queue.
Sorting your backlog by priority turns chaos into order—just don’t be surprised when your “play now” list grows anyway.
It’s a little like a video game backlog bucket list, but with more guilt.
Genre-based collections are another classic strategy. Grouping games into genres—FPS, RPG, and so on—makes browsing easier, and subgenres like “Strategy Real Time” versus “Strategy Turn Based” offer even more nuance. Some genres hog more playtime, like sprawling RPGs, while others, say, puzzle games, are perfect for bite-sized sessions.
Chasing genre-specific achievements is a nice bonus for completionists.
Tabletop gamers face different logistical challenges. Themes (horror, family-friendly) and mechanisms (strategy, dice rolling) can guide arrangement, or perhaps games are sorted by playtime—so you don’t accidentally start a two-hour epic when you only have twenty minutes.
Box size matters too; shelf space is precious, and nobody wants their big-box games squished. Some collectors even sort by designer or publisher, just in case someone wants to compare all the Reiner Knizia games in one go.
Digital tools like Playnite or GOG Galaxy 2 simplify cross-platform management, and spreadsheets or tagging systems give even more control.
Ultimately, the best system is the one you’ll actually use—just don’t forget to back up your data. After all, nothing’s worse than losing a meticulously curated library to a rogue update or gravity.