Shelf of shame – Asking Fans

A week ago we have asked you, Portal Games fans, about your Shelf of shame… or which board game do you have for a very long time and have never played it? Which one is a must have in your inventory, but you’ve never actually played it? Which one is the source of your shame… or fear of defeat? Or just too complex or boring? The time has come to share your stories and see, what board games lies there in the dark, under layers of dust.

• Israel wrote: Krosmaster – I bought The game when my wife was pregnant as a gift for The baby when he grows enough to be introduced to the boardgame universe (kid is now 2 years old). At least, that was The reason I told her. Truth is that the minis were amazing and I intended to collect and play, but I was introduced to the elegant, tactical and stategic side of boardgames: The “euro games”. Poor game, has only seen table through the tutorial mini match and it has been closed since.
• Carl-Gustaf wrote: Magic Realm… too long rules, although I might replace them with 11 hours of youtube… but I won’t sell it until it’s played. I also have a game called something like “Journal Singapore”, which I bought in Singapore, but the rules seems to be a bit boring. All other never-played games are sold off and currently I have only “Roll Player”, which I just got and will play tomorrow 🙂
• Ania wrote: Struggle for the Galactic Empire – I’ve attempted to read the rulebook like 10 times already. I don’t seem to be able to pass through this one. I’m bad at reading rulebooks but that one one is just my nemesis. The worst thing is, because this is a solitaire game, there is no-one here I can ask to explain me those rules. This game looks like the perfect match for me, but the rulebook is just killing me. Help!
• Hampus wrote: I sometimes have imposed rules upon myself to not buy any more games until I have played all in my collection, but still Werewolf lies in the shelf unplayed. It requires too many players and takes too much time. I also got ONUW shortly after getting werewolf… It will probably never get played, but it is small and looks good so it will probably never get sold or given away.
• Jason wrote: I received Dead of Winter: Long Night for Christmas last year and still haven’t played it. Just never found e time with my group to get it played, but I’m thinking Halloween might be a good time to finally get it played.
• Michael wrote: Ugh, more than I want to admit to really. Shogun has been on my shelf the longest. Through a combo of player count, game length, and “cult of the new” tunnel vision, it has sat on my shelf unplayed for awhile. It will get done though!!
• Wojciech wrote: Antarctica. And it actully looks cool and the mechanics seem fine. There’s just something about this game that nobody was willig to play it with me. Shame. One day…one day!
• Hans wrote: Roughly 8 years ago I bought The Simpsons Monopoly with the electronic card reader toy instead of paper money. I checked that it worked and thought it looked cool but we never played the game. Few years ago we decided that we would try it out but unfortunately the reader was now out or batteries. So which is more shameful? To have the actual game in the first place or that we have never played it.
• Imre wrote: Capital Lux. I got it as a present, and it sits on my shelf for 3 weeks!!! But all my friends are on vacation, so I definitely can’t play it until next Monday. Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
• Page wrote: Risk was one of the games I played as a child that really sparked my interest in strategic, modern board games. Throughout high school it remained among my favorite games as I developed strategies to mitigate risk, fine tuned expansion strategies, and repeatedly got trounced attempting to conquer Australia (seriously, I have repeatedly had armies of 10+ soldiers stopped dead in their tracks by a single opposing soldier as I attempted to stomp them in to submission). Fast forward a few years and I found myself married and living hundreds of miles away from my closest friends. My wife, understanding my love for gaming and past obsession with Risk attempted to reignite that flame with Risk: Godstorm for my birthday one year. While she attempted to humor me one night by trying to learn the game we never made it past the rules explanation and setup. The game got put away for a rainy day and has sat, unplayed, ever since. I ought to have traded it away years ago but since her passing five years ago there just does not seem to be much likelihood of that happening without getting in at least a couple of plays first, just to make sure that I got at least some enjoyment from the game to honor her memory and do some justice to her original intent.

Thank you for all of your responses!