GameChest, A board game collection app, in your browser
Your board game shelf, and your friends' next to it.
Add games from your phone: search BoardGameGeek and tap the one you mean, or photograph a shelf and tick the titles read off it. Or bring your whole BGG collection in at once.
- 1+ players
- Seconds to add a game
- Free
- Ages 13+
Anyone can create an account. It's free, and there are no ads.
Can't decide? Tap the die: it picks one of the boxes on the table, the way game night does.
The games are invented; the app under them is real. Or see a real shelf: Nuno's, as anyone with the link sees it
Lift the lid.
In the box
- shelf, every box standing in its own shape
- sort by colour, read off every cover, for the photo
- game night that reads every shelf at the table
- friend, Ana, whose shelf sits beside yours (bring your own)
- list of what to play first, sorted two at a time
- BoardGameGeek sync, both ways, every change shown first
- CSV of every game on the shelf, for whenever you want to leave
- invented games to try it on (yours will be real)
- ads, analytics scripts or trackers
- rulebook. It's short.
Adding a game.
Find the one you mean
Type a title and tap the one you mean: the game, not its expansion. Have is already picked, so that's usually two taps; the edition and the price can wait. Or photograph a shelf: Claude reads up to 40 titles off it for you to check, and the photo isn't kept.
The shelf.
What you have, and what you're doing with it
Want to buy is the wishlist; Radar is what you're keeping an eye on. Tap a word and the shelf narrows to it. It opens on what you have, as yours will.
Arranging.
In its own shape, or by colour
Boxes keep their real proportions, square ones square and long ones long, like a real shelf. Or sort it by colour, read from each cover: the shelf you'd take a photo of.
Mostly blue: 4 of 16 covers, across 9 colours. On your shelf it's an order: By colour, the last choice.
Game night.
What should we play tonight?
Tick who's here and how long you've got. A friend you tick brings their shelf, so the answer comes from every box at the table, not only yours.
How many of you
How long
9 of 15 fit.
Saltmarsh is at Rui's, so it isn't offered.
Friends.
Your friends' shelves, next to yours
Friends see the games you have and want, and what's for sale; never what you paid, your notes, or who was at your table. When one of you is selling what the other wants, you both hear about it.
Your shelf
Ana's shelf
- You're selling Night Harbour for £48.00, and Ana wants to buy it.
- Ana is selling Stonewright for £32.00, and you want to buy it.
Ranking.
Which do you want to play first?
Mark the games you want to play, then pick one from each pair; the list sorts itself. Any ranking works the same way: the whole shelf, this year's plays, the wishlist.
Which do you want to play first?
Want to play, in no order yet
- –Drovers
- –Meadowlark
- –Paper Comets
- –Quiet Moon
- –Tidewater
Under the insert.
And the rest of the shelf's life
- Selling
- Listing text for eBay, a Facebook group or Vinted, ready to paste, or a listing published to eBay from your own account. A game that's gone keeps how it left and when, and for how much if it sold.
- Deals
- Set a target price on a game you want, and an email comes the morning an eBay UK listing turns up at or under it, postage included when eBay states it. Asking prices and current bids, never sold prices.
- Curate
- Points at what the shelf might be better without, a duplicate or a stranded expansion, and says why. Nothing is decided for you.
- Numbers
- What the shelf holds, what gets played, and each year counted.
- Plays
- Log a play in a tap, or bring your plays in from BGG. When and with whom stay private to your shelf; friends see only whether you've played a game.
- Pre-orders and pledges
- Kickstarters and pre-orders have a place before the box arrives, with the pledge manager's link.
- A shared shelf
- Live with another gamer? Share one shelf, and still know whose copy is whose.
- Lending
- Lend a copy and the shelf remembers who has it, and since when.
Setup.
How it starts
Make an account
Your name, an email and a password. The email has a link to confirm it. Add a passkey once you're in.
Bring your games in
Your BGG username brings the whole collection in, usually in under a minute. No BGG account? Photograph your shelf, or paste a list of names.
Add friends, if you like
Swap friend codes and see each other's shelves. It works just as well on your own.
Is it free?
Yes. No ads, no subscription, no payment taken, and nothing sold about you.
The full answer: Is it free?Do I need a BoardGameGeek account?
No. Search BoardGameGeek's catalogue and add games without one, paste a list of names, photograph a shelf, or add a game by hand. If you have one, your collection comes in from your username and can sync both ways.
The full answer: Do I need a BoardGameGeek account?What do my friends see?
Part of your shelf: the games you have, want to buy or have on the way, with an asking price on any you're selling or trading, which ones you want to play, and whether you've played a game. Your recent changes show on their Home and at the top of their Friends page, and you can switch that off. Never what you paid, your notes, your photos, or when and with whom you played.
The full answer: What do my friends see?Can I take my data with me?
Any time: Settings has the whole shelf as one CSV, every game with your answers, prices, conditions and notes. You can also delete your account from Settings.
The full answer: Can I take my data with me?Is there an app?
It's a website that works like one; there's no App Store or Play Store version. Added to your phone's home screen, it opens on its own, without the browser's bars. Your own shelf can open without a signal, too: see Does it work without a signal?
The full answer: Is there an app?Who makes it?
One person in Edinburgh, with a few friends who use it and say what's wrong with it. More on who makes it, and why.
The small print, in large print.
Yours to take
Your games leave whenever you want: the whole shelf as one CSV, every game with what you paid, asking and sold prices, conditions and notes. Plays, photos and rankings aren't in it; the FAQ says exactly what is.
Your BGG collection can sync both ways, and the sync shows you every change before it makes any. Sending changes back means signing in to BGG from here; the password is used once and never stored.
No ads, no analytics script, and nothing sold.
Anyone can create an account. It's free, and there are no ads.