Board game shelves around the world #24

Analog Games aren’t just fun. They also often come in interesting boxes featuring beautiful artwork. It’s no surprise that a lot of us love to proudly showcase our board game collection on a shelf. In this series, every week one of our fellow board game enthusiasts will exhibit their board game shelf and tell us something about their favorite board and card games. Today we are going to look at the board game shelf of Eline from Belgium!

Shameless selfie!

Hi Eline, please introduce yourself.
“Hi! My name is Eline! I’m 28 years old and living in Antwerp, Belgium. I love the city life. There is never really a dull moment, you just need to show up and the city takes care of the rest! After working for 5 years in the Antwerp diamond district, I grabbed a new opportunity at one of Belgium’s biggest bank branches. I’m a bank clerk for little over a year now. My office is located just a few blocks from my apartment. Also most of my (board gaming-) friends live nearby. Hence I don’t loose time commuting and I can make the most of every day!”

My bright green bicycle!

“A neon green folding bicycle gets me from A to B and keeps me in (somewhat) shape. Except playing board games I also love travelling and watching movies.”

Tabletopday 2014: Playing board games at Antwerp’s prime touristic spots!

How did you get into this world of non-digital games?
“While I was studying, I was a volunteer at the local youth club. When I started to work and said goodbye to this, I noticed that my social network gradually got smaller. I missed meeting new people, sharing the same hobbies and interests and planning and organizing events together.”

“My older brother and I often played classic board games when we were kids: Monopoly, Stratego, Battleship, Catan,.. I have fond memories of those times and missed playing board games as we grew “too old” for them. Through curiosity I stumbled online upon a modern board game shop from Gent that was just about to open a new branch in Antwerp. I jumped at this opportunity and contacted the shop owner. Together we found the perfect location for local game nights. I met so many new people on those first game evenings, and I immediately got hooked to board gaming again. Many people that I have met on those first game nights are now friends for life. The shop had to close its doors (Antwerp branch only) but we continued board gaming.”

GameNightX at Pulcinella youth hostel

How often do you play?
“I believe I’m very lucky when it comes to my board gaming rhythm. I play multiple times a week.
Fortnightly on Wednesdays, me and friends organize open game nights at Pulcinella – the local youth hostel. There’s no entrance nor membership fee. Everybody brings their own games. It’s the ideal place to discover something new, or to get your unplayed games to the table. The Pulcinella – youth hostel is very supportive for our cause and they deserve a big THANK YOU. If you are reading this and from around Antwerp: follow us on Facebook @GameNightX and I hope to welcome you on one of our game nights!”

The Game Cave!

“Furthermore I meet weekly with a select group of people at “The Game Cave”. A dear friend and game collector named his medieval cellar as such and made it a board gaming Walhalla. He recently moved house and it took us 4 cars and almost a day to move his game collection safely.”

“Having many friends with rather large board game collections gives me the opportunity to continuously try out new games. Each game takes you to a different place and tells a different story. They give you experiences and emotions that in real life would never be possible. It’s a great way to better get to know yourself (how will I react if?) and friends.”

IKEA Kallax showcasing part of my board game collection

Can you tell us something about your shelves?
“My board game collection isn’t very big yet. That’s a good thing, as my city-center apartment doesn’t offer that much space for storage. I’m quite a chaotic person so I like my living space to be minimalistic. My interior is nearly all black and white. It makes the colorful board games in my IKEA Kallax a real eyecather. There’s no real logic in how my board games are arranged. I tried to keep a certain color scheme (nobody sees that though) and it just had to fit! All the new games I’m buying get a safe place in my sideboard or TV cabinet. Also there it’s getting very crowded already. I guess I’ll have to stop buying boa.. wait, what?! I guess I’ll have to move to some place bigger ☺!”

TV Cabinet

“A temporary solution could be to add the expansions to the base game boxes.. But I don’t really like doing that (except for travelling).”

“A silly thing I noticed is that most people who store their board games upright make sure the titles are oriented top to bottom. I prefer bottom to top!”

“As board games are little pieces of art, I believe they can brighten up many interiors. I’m quite proud of my Concept-coffee table! It’s the IKEA Boksel with an XL Concept playing mat under the glass surface. Any game board or set of playing cards (Dixit?!) can transform this boring table in a center piece!”

Anyone up for a game of Concept?!

What is your favorite game at the moment?
“That has to be Alien Frontiers! It was an impulse buy last year on a game fair where I worked as a volunteer. I saw those beautiful shiny components and chunky colorful dice and just HAD to have it. I love how the rules are straightforward and the gameplay extremely cut throat. As the dice roll will always be different, you can’t use the same strategy over and over again to win. You need to adapt and invest in ways to manipulate the dice. Scoring is done at a glance,.. I JUST LOVE IT! The only downside I can think of is the pricing. The expansions are difficult to find and overpriced in Europe. The Kickstarter Big box was not EU friendly and therefore unaffordable. Sad ☹!”

Angry face after getting nearly all my ships (dice) destroyed.

“On some evenings though, especially after a busy day at work, I prefer cooperative play instead of trying to outsmart each other. My favorite coop game (not considering Pandemic Legacy – which is a BLAST!) is Ghost Stories + White Moon Expansion. I love the story, I love the art and I love how though it is! When we won this game, me and my fellow players were euphoric ☺!”

EEUUUPHOOORRRIIIIAAAAA !!!!

What is your most special or obscure game?
“I don’t think I own any obscure board games. When I started board gaming I made the beginner’s mistake of buying every game I played and liked. That’s why I have many common titles / medium weight games in my collection. Over the last few months I got a bigger interest in Kickstarters and less known board games. I need to work on diversifying my board game collection, so it will stand out and add to the collections of my board gaming friends.”

Caught in a spider’s web !

“My most special board game is Discoveries, because there is a love story attached <3. Discoveries was on my ‘must buy-list” as it combines the beautiful art of Vincent Dutrait with DICE! (I’m a sucker for all games with custom dice ☺ ). One day it was put up for sale on Facebook by a guy living in The Netherlands. I had won the bid and was making arrangements for shipment, when a friend uttered “it would be silly to loose money on transport” and he offered to quickly drive together back and forth on a weeknight to pick it up. Unfortunately that next week “he didn’t find the time”. He offered to go the next Saturday and I, eager to finally get my game, agreed. Next up he told me “it was going to be quite a long drive. As we had now a whole day time, why not visit the famous city “Gouda”, nearby our seller’s house?” The trip turned out to be one of the most fun days of my life and we are inseparable ever since ☺ ! He later confessed that the plan to get me, unknowingly, on a date popped in his head as soon as he saw the game being put on auction."

Gouda

Gouda

Thank you so much for sharing your story! Something you would like to add?
“First and for most a big THANK YOU to Analog Games for giving me the opportunity to share my story. I enjoy getting to know all of you and I hope you all enjoyed getting to know me ☺!”

“Only little over a half year ago I posted my first board game picture on Instagram (@elinejansens). I’m really overwhelmed by how big and awesome the board game community is and how many board gamers immediately reached out to me. On my last holiday in Norway me and my boyfriend were welcomed by @houseofcardboards: such an unique experience it was! I would like to invite the readers to follow me on Instagram and get in touch for some gaming when you’re in my neighborhood. See ya!”

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