Shelfie Stacker Board Game Review

A few weeks ago, we wrote about the components of Shelfie Stacker and praised Arkus games for a splendid package. Like with Dreadful Meadows that we just reviewed, there isn’t a ton of rules to think about when playing Shelfie Stacker. Despite the simplicity of play, the game felt a bit too random for a few folks, and wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

That being said, what I love about doing board game reviews is that I’ll almost never say a game is bad. It’s very possible that the game just wasn’t for me or my gaming group. Sure, there are games that are mechanically broken, or have really poor balancing issues, but that isn’t (and really cannot be) the case with Shelfie Stacker.

In Shelfie Stacker, players will be playing cards from their hands, using special powers on those cards, and drafting dice from central boxes to place on their board game shelf, or their shelf of shame. Dice must be placed highest to lowest, and only a single colour can be found in each column of shelves. Cards drawn at the start of the game will provide the opportunity for some in-game and end-game points, and range from having specific numbered dice in your shelf to creating a specific pattern first.

The cards each player will play are identical – everyone plays with the same hand, but can use whatever card they feel like using each round. The lowest card gets to choose dice from the central area first, but in general also provides the “weakest” card power. Card powers can be used at any time during the game, but can only be used once. Some cards let you move dice from your Shelf of Shame to your main shelf, store a game you cannot place in the current round, and even remove dice from the game altogether. Using these cards does mitigate the randomness of the dice rolls a little bit, but randomness still exists.

So we revert back to who this game is for. Listen, Shelfie Stacker plays fast enough for me that the randomness of the dice isn’t really an impact. Before you know it, the game is over and I generally have a good time with the experience. For those that love to plan their turns and don’t enjoy it when things get turned upside down, Shelfie Stacker probably isn’t the game for you. There is plenty of randomness in the dice that get drawn to the cards you play. And unless a previously played card allows you to do something really cool, you might just be screwed that round.

And with Shelf Stacker, a few rounds of “being screwed” will probably end up haunting you for the rest of the game. It’s hard to come back to Shelfie Stacker if you are forced to place dice you don’t want to, or end up with a shelf full of shame. It happened to me, and I let the impact of it roll of my back as I finished out the game and prepared for what was next. It’s happened to other people, and it completely ruined their nights.

For a quick experience, I think Shelfie Stacker is a good experience that I’d never actively ask not to play. It might not be the first thing I suggest on Game Night, but if someone is interested in playing, I’m willing to teach! You can grab your own copy of Shelfie Stacker on the Arkus store, and use code GAMESREVIEWS15 to save on your next order!