Shelf Toad of the Year

A Shelf Toad is a board game that squats in your collection (usually on a shelf) and gathers dust because nobody wants to play it and you can't or don't even want to solo it. But I think that it's often hard to spot a Shelf Toad when initially evaluating a game purchase. Some Shelf Toads have probably even gotten great reviews here at F:AT. With that in mind, lets look back at past years and try to identify the obvious Shelf Toads, especially the AmeriTrash Shelf Toads. Maybe we can come up with a list of Shelf Toads of the Year for each year that F:AT has been around.

When I first saw the term Shelf Toad here, one game that immediately came to mind was Marvel Heroes. I am old school Marvel Comic fan and have been hoping for a great Marvel board game ever since I stopped running my Villains & Vigilantes campaign around 1982. Marvel Heroes had great minis, a colorful board representing Marvel's version of New York City, and seemed to check a lot of other boxes for what I wanted. But deep down, the reviews seemed to indicate that this was going to be a tough game for me to get on the table. Very limited player count (2 to 4), long, unnecessary complexity, and probably some imbalance between the teams. I think I made the right choice when I decided to not buy Marvel Heroes.

Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition - I know some people here do play it a lot, but its length probably makes it a shelf toad for most others. It was certainly one when I owned it back when it was released.

We'll give TI4 the benefit of the doubt...for now.

Mad Dog wrote: We'll give TI4 the benefit of the doubt...for now.

A "shelf tadpole", just waiting to grow?

While I do intend to play it in the next few weeks, Earth Reborn has been quite the shelf toad for me. A shame, since I love the game.

For me its Star Trek: Ascendancy, which is a shame because I really have enjoyed it when I play it. Problem is when people find out we are doing a long game more than 3 people want in on the action. So usually TI or Dune happens instead. I guess I could cap the group at 3, but honestly games are for social interaction and the more the merrier so I don't see myself ever doing that.

Earth Reborn is the ultimate shelf toad.

Ascendancy is displaying some toadlike tendencies, which is concerning. The expansions didn’t help because adding players makes a long game longer. I’ve been thinking about selling, but man, this one hurts. It’s such a great game and it is the definitive Trek game. But yeah, 5 hours...I let Rebellion go without batting an eye but this one is clingy.

Protip- I think the expansions will be valuable. I doubt GF9 is doing big runs on them, and wouldn’t be surprised if they were only 1 printing. Especially the Borg.

Looking at my shelf that is really the only toad I am harboring right now. Dreadfleet qualifies I suppose, but that is also a modelling concern.

Mad Dog wrote: Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition - I know some people here do play it a lot, but its length probably makes it a shelf toad for most others. It was certainly one when I owned it back when it was released.

We'll give TI4 the benefit of the doubt...for now.

Hell, do any of those old coffin box games see play any more? I know I have a copy of StarCraft that probably hasn't even been opened in like 5 years.

Probably the shelf toadiest game I have right now is Chaos in the Old World. I like it well enough but most people I play with are ambivalent towards the theme and it's a bit too methodical and "euroy" with all the dials and VP tracks. I keep it around because I personally love the theme and it consistently ranks high among st F:ATies top whatever lists but I'm not sure if I'll ever play it again.

Duel of Ages II was skirting pretty close to that edge, but two terrific games in two weeks earlier this year saved it. Now it's one of those games that I fully intend to will to the table. We'll see how that goes.

I don't like to admit it, but Clash of Cultures is definitely in this realm for me. Merchants & Marauders too, sadly, although I think that might be more the result of changing game groups twice in the last four years. It was played a LOT by my KC group.

I gotta few:
Zombicide
Earth Reborn
Arkham Horror
The Others

I have one, and only one: Redacted. Not sure why. Every other game on my shelf sees time.

I bet the number of sessions that Earth Reborn has actually been played worldwide since its release is only in the high teens.

Nah, when it came out I played the shit out of it. I was tempted a year later when it was on fire sale to get 3 copies and make as many maps as I could, glue them to some foamcore or something. Setup hunting for tiles murdered it for me.

Michael Barnes wrote: I bet the number of sessions that Earth Reborn has actually been played worldwide since its release is only in the high teens.

Michael? YOU told me to buy Earth Reborn. It was your GAME OF THE YEAR.

Michael Barnes wrote: I bet the number of sessions that Earth Reborn has actually been played worldwide since its release is only in the high teens.

I brought it to a game store, and met a friend. I also brought my son along It took an hour to set up the map, and I looked over at my son and he was sick and feverish, My friend said he was going to play Android instead. This is the guy who told me to leave my Wings of War at home and he would bring his massive collection to the local convention, then didn't. I sold mine shortly after that.

drewcula wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: I bet the number of sessions that Earth Reborn has actually been played worldwide since its release is only in the high teens.

Michael? YOU told me to buy Earth Reborn. It was your GAME OF THE YEAR.

Ha ha ha. Did you buy his copy?

I almost bought Earth Reborn based on the collective mass hysteria at the time. It would never have been played at my house. Not once.

I am the fucking mayor of Toad Hollow, and even I said "ehhh, I dunno" to that one.