I lost track of many of my childhood games along the way to adulthood. Only a few titles remained in my board game collection when I returned to the solo board gaming hobby about a decade ago (About Paul details my gaming history).
The games that I’d managed to hold onto could easily fit on a couple shelves in a closet. No dedicated storage needed.
A dedicated play area also seemed unnecessary. For many years, our dining room table performed double duty as my gaming table (typical in many households, I suspect).
Thankfully, our family usually only needed one end of the table to eat. I could leave games with small footprints setup for a day or two.
Still, that was not ideal. Some games tend to spread out and some take longer to complete than whatever time I had available during any given play session.
And some games both spread out and take a long time to play!
I’m fortunate now to have a dedicated gaming space but, as a solo gamer, no one sits across from me at the table.
I face my board game shelf.
So, instead of sitting across from an opponent, I face my board game shelf.
Anthropomorphism is the tendency to assign human characteristics to inanimate objects (and animals, apparently).
I tend to anthropomorphize my board games, game components, and, yes, sometimes my game shelves. I’m usually not aware I’m doing it but, thankfully, it seems relatively common in this hobby.
Certain games “call out” to be played.
Sometimes it feels like dice “hate us” and roll poorly on purpose.
We may even have a “Shelf of Shame” (or “Shelf of Opportunity“, if you prefer) of unplayed games. Are those games actively feeding our shame? Are they sad that they’ve not seen the table? Have I taken this metaphor too far?
If it makes sense that you play solo games against the game itself, then it’s not much of a stretch to look across my gaming table and see my shelf as my eternal opponent for all my games.
“Losing To My Shelf” seems a perfect description for my solo gaming journey!
And, given how often I fail to win the games I play, “Losing To My Shelf” seems a perfect description for my solo gaming journey!
Besides, the name “Me, Myself and Die” was already taken and Trevor is pretty good at what he does…
Sure, this guy will occasionally join me for a solo gaming session…
…but he’s easily distracted by squirrels and people walking down the street.
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