Creating A Game Library

Library? With a Nook, Kindle or other eBook reading device your book collection that was taking up considerable space may now be in a briefcase or purse - mine is. There is still however a need for the personal library - for the game collection.

Rare and retro games increase in value over time (unlike most books) and are great conversation pieces (how many times do your friends want to browse your books as opposed to your games?) Our library started out this way, but we needed a good way to display cartridges and replace cracked and scuffed jewel cases. Our multi-media library was how Game Case World began about five years ago. In that five years we've become very good at making game cases! Our library has advanced as well into a large room onto itself complete with a wide variety of consoles. It's the jewel of the house, no matter the age, those stepping into our library have a drop jaw moment, a holy (*&*^% moment of awe. That's what a well developed gaming library can do!

Your imagination is just about the limit, from a large LCD television set with a switch so you can play any console - to even having a mini fridge! It can be a closet outfitted with shelves or part of a basement (we would love to see photos of your gaming libraries by the way.)

The chief concern with gaming libraries is bookcases. At first we made the mistake of buying regular cases for our games, but they are far too recessed to display the cases properly. IKEA and even Walmart now carry shelving specifically for shallow media.

IKEA also sells glass cases to display miniature figurines and rare games.

Don't forget at least one regular case for your gaming manuals and of course cool lighting and my favorite as an artist -- one of a kind hand painted illustrations of great 1990's retro rpg gaming art (rpgart.net).

Choosing a good looking theme for the room doesn't have to be hard. For our library we chose to go "retro" 90's that matched our cases. Bright colors, strong geometric shapes, framed gaming artwork, mismatched comfortable chairs and a nice rug. Most of these were available used and we picked most up at Goodwill, a second hand store popular here in Oregon.

Most of the game cases we sell are for serious collectors who need archival quality cases to protect their investment. It's nice to show off those well loved games in a manner they deserve.

As a side note we also have an extensive Lego collection in drawers in our library. (I kinda think in our personal nerdom Legos and gaming go well together!)

I hope this has given you some ideas about making your own library whether large or small. Some of the shelving units start as low as $30.00 -- have fun!