The Gamer's Quarter

SuperWes · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 9:27 am Post subject: How do you organize your games?

This weekend Christina's parents were in town and she and I were forced to sleep in the office/game room/computer room/sewing room/guest room (we have a small apt). I took this opportunity of being surrounded in games to reorganize everything that had gotten out-of-order due to my collection's increasing and decreasing size.

I keep games organized first by system, then by publisher, beginning with first party games and moving to the publishers I find most prolific or that I have the most games for: Sega, Capcom, Konami, Square-Enix, etc. Within these sub-categories I order the games by genre in order of most prolific, beginning with the more action oriented stuff, followed by sub-genre stuff, followed by driving, followed by classic compilations. Using this method I can somehow easily find the games I'm most interested in, "I want a Sega racing game." So I look under Sega, then driving, then boom I've got my options.

Import games are stored seprately from my domestic games, mostly just because they either have different sized boxes (GCN) or require a different system (PS2 and Xbox). I do mix my import and domestic DS and PSP games though.

Classic stuff is different as everything's usually just in bins and boxes, haphazardly mixed together at times, and my GBA games are mixed up in either a plastic storage box or a Crown Royal bag that I recieved courtesy of Matt Williamson.

So how do you guys organize your games?

-Wes
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OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

When I organize my games I usually put all the games for each system in different sections of a drawer and then put them in alphabetical order.

I haven't organized my games in forever though. I should upload a picture of the mess that is my game collection.

dhex · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 9:49 am Post subject:

alphabetical by platform.
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dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 9:51 am Post subject:

most of my games are stacked in a dvd shelf, though my gameboy games are in a plastic sherbet tub and my hucards are in a plastic playing card case.

i've annotated the shelf so that y'all can gain a deeper understanding of my highly methodical organization process.
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friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

I have nothing resembling orderliness, so I cannot say. I do have an Ikea CD tower with many of our games, sortof by platform, but they spill over into the neighboring bookcase somewhat. I got a cd binder some time back for my Dreamcast games and the cases are carefully packed away. Most shameful of all is my GBA collection, which currently lives in a series of Ziploc sandwich bags inside a larger Target bag. SHAMEFUL!!!

Actually, does anyone know of a good GBA game organizing case? Surely such a creature exists...

Lestrade · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 10:43 am Post subject:

I have so few games that I don't have to organize them. Some are in original cases, some are in CD wallets (PS and PS2), and my few DS and GBA games are in a cool Japanese candy tin my wife got in Tokyo. My single Super Famicom game is in a big pink storage box, along with the SFC itself, in our storage closet.

I don't really collect games, so I don't have to worry about this. Handy!

Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

I don't have a ton of games like everyone else. I keep them organized by platform, then by most-recently played. Games towards the back become more interesting because I haven't played them for a while.
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Sushi d · Moderator Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 239

before i bought this bookcase, all my junk was stored in a bin under the ps2, now i've got everything organized by platform and name.

it looks good, i say.
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purplechair · . Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 378 Location: in my pants

Basically, I have a couple of boxes of "bulk storage" that are kept somewhere out of the way in my bedroom. It's mostly games, but there's a couple of consoles (and peripherals) in there too. The games are sorted by platform and (loosely) by the style of game - how long a it takes to play a session, how long they take to complete, how many players they need, whether they're interesting to watch, etc..

Then I keep a small playlist of "current" games next to my consoles and PC, usually taken from a cross-section of my different kinds of games. I'll usually have one big single-player RPG (none at the minute because it's exam season, but Morrowind is next on the list), a couple of things that I'm just grinding through to unlock (Outrun 2, Dead or Alive Ultimate), something with a good multiplayer mode (Monkey Ball), and so on.

The exceptions to all this are my DS/GBA games, which are just scattered loose across one of my bookcase shelves for easy access - not that it matters much because the only ones I'm really playing for the forseeable future are Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing, which are both sat in my DS. The empty game boxes are neatly stacked with the rest of my stuff.

Pijaibros · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 1:44 pm Post subject:

Right now my games are sitting in card board boxes because I am too lazy to go out and buy some kind of shelf/bookcase for it. I can't seem to find the right color shelf and I do not feel like putting anything together, it's warm out. I'm going on month 3 in my new place, I didn't realize just how lazy I can be.

I have one box full of NES titles, another with SNES/Genesis, a third with Dreamcast/PSOne, and then there's the last one with GC, Xbox, and PS2 titles. Of course in my kitchen there is a small junk drawer filled to the brim with GB\GBA\DS titles. I really should invest in something, but I can never find anything I like.

I should get a picture of my mess, though I am a bit ashamed of it.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

I really don't have any kind of organization beyond segregating by system, and then for the non-GameCube systems, setting aside the good multiplayer games, which are about all I come back to on a regular basis.

I've been on the fence about whether to use CD-folders or not. For a while it was CD-folders for everything : PSX and PS2 in one, DC and Xbox in another, GC in a third. Then I decided that really hides the selection of games, and DVD cases are attractive, but jewelboxes aren't, so now its PSX and DC in a folder, PS2 and Xbox on the shelf, and GC still in a folder because the system needs to travel.

The most notable problem is that my case for GC is A too big (I used to have a special mini-sized one I got at gamestop, but my GF's brother ended up somehow tearing the backing material to shreds) and B, too opaque, so it's tough to read the game names through the plastic. I'm toying with using my handy P-touch labeler to give each game a designated home, but that seems a little anal and inflexible.

thatbox · . Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 99 Location: nashville / nola

Alphabetical by system, with trifling exceptions. The important multiplayer N64 games (SSB, GE, PD, Mario Kart 64) are out on the shelves with the big boys, in plastic N64 game cases, while the other N64 games and the Genesis games are put away. Original Gameboy games are in a clear plastic box along with the lovable system and remaining manuals and cardboard cartons. PC game discs are on top of their manuals in no order whatsoever apart from being in the software section of a huge CD binder, except for HL2 and WoW, which are on the shelves with the rest of the lot.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I don't really have enough to divide by more than platform. This is an older picture, but it should give you an idea. My games are across the bottom row:

Click for larger if you want to identify individual games or something.

Anyways, that pic is about a year old now. We have had to upgrade two more of the small shelves (the one in the center) which I have a pic of at home. I will upload that later. Anyways, I have "classic" stuff (PS1/SAT and older) on a black shelf next to my TV now with my snake's tank on top.

Honestly, right now I have one of those plastic bins that you slide under a bed filled with games because I ... thought I could save room in my tiny hotel. Jokes on me, there is no "under the bed" because of the box frame.
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Kinuko · . Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 66

I wish I was as organized as all of you are! Most of my PS1/Sat/DC games are in CD slips and then scattered around the house, and PS2/GC games are in their boxes but scattered around the den, the Genesis/N64 cartridges are in a basket somewhere, the GB/GBC/GG games are for the most part all over the house, the PSP/DS games are hidden in my brother's room (I don't know if they're in boxes or not), and I don't even know where any of our SCD games are.

Of course, living with a family and a little brother who doesn't know anything about keeping things clean and throws things around when he's done with them doesn't really help. I'd keep my own stuff organized if I could, but that's pretty much impossible.

Pijaibros · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 3:26 pm Post subject:

With as messy as we seem to be I am surprised I haven't heard too much about people losing their games. Specifically DS titles. I know if I was still a child I'd probably be terrible at remembering where I had put them or have them accidentally vaccuumed up by my mom and not knowing about it till 3 days later.

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

Not long ago, I decided that my games took up too much shelf space. So I got a bunch of 2-disc DVD (and GameCube disc) cases to double up a lot of games that are in the same series or otherwise related.

Also, everything in jewel cases migrated to folders, including music CDs and PS1 games (for which I got one of those fancy hard cases--though they've since outgrown it). And the jewel cases are no more.

Kept all the displaced booklets and inserts, of course--they are in a shoebox.

thatbox · . Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 99 Location: nashville / nola

I'm pretty anal about keeping all console games in original boxes. You'll never see me with Dreamcast GD-ROMs or Xbox DVDs in a binder, no sir!
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dessgeega · Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 8:19 am Post subject:

most of my games don't even come in boxes, since i get them used. my gameboy games all swim together in a plastic tub.
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

DS: Games in cases, on a shelf, alphabetized.
GBA/GBC/GB/Flashcarts: Carts loose in a little black box, totally disorganized. Yeah, I've never found a proper storage solution for these. If I had a spare shallow drawer, I might implement some diagonal racks. Empty boxes are on the shelf below the DS cases.
DC: Big CD binder full of games on the floor, little CD wallet with a few games I play most often sitting on top of the DC itself.
PS2/PS1: Big CD Binder, with Ueda/Katamari/MGS/Silent Hill at the front, the other PS2 games alphabetized past that, and PS1 games at the back.
GC: 3x Nyko purple plastic 40 game case, alphabetized. These things are really a godsend for me, cause those mini-DVDs have compatibility issues with regular CD binders.
PC: Oh man, all over the damn place. A bunch of play discs in a CD wallet on top of the dresser, but then a bunch more just lying around on the desk. Some install discs, rubber banded together with manuals (I don't keep PC boxes) in a ziplock bag. Some install discs on a spindle somewhere. Some in a binder I think? Dreamfall play disc sitting (naked) on top of the DC wallet, on top of the DC, on top of the PC. Oops.

Today is a cleaning day.

Lestrade · Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 9:41 am Post subject:

TheRumblefish · . Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 258 Location: Florida

I just got three Cabinets for my birthday to organize all of my games and DVD's with. I'm still deciding on how to perfectly organize them. I am needless to say, very happy about it!
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OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

This thread reminded me that I have a bunch of SNES games I've yet to unpack from Hurricane Rita evacuation last year.

I think I'm going to go buy some DVD shelf things and organize my game and movie collections this weekend.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I finally found that image of my current collection:

Click for larger image.

I guess that I actually expanded by three of the small shelves... hmm.

EDIT: This is not my full collection either. This is just what is at the house. I have a couple dozen DVDs here as well as a tub full of games. Here as in New Orleans.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"