Brotherwise bets hobby games have become brands, recruits 20 publishers for miniature board game box collectibles line

Brotherwise Games is betting that hobby board game brands can travel beyond the tabletop by launching Shelfy, a collectibles line of miniature board game boxes featuring titles from 20 publishers.

The publisher will debut ‘Season One’ of Shelfy at Gen Con later this month, featuring 28 miniature recreations of board game boxes for titles including Gloomhaven, Dune: Imperium and Boop.

Shelfy’s starter set includes a six-inch miniature display shelf, five collectible game boxes and their accompanying information cards, while Brotherwise will also be selling blind boosters containing three boxes of varying rarity and their matching collectible art cards.

Brotherwise CEO Chris O’Neal told BoardGameWire the project had been in the works for about four years, saying it was inspired by ‘shelfie’ photos shared to social media and “the pride gamers take in their collections”.

He said, “We wanted a physical version of that, and since you can’t bring your entire game collection to your office or dorm room, we looked for a more ‘collectible’ way to show off your ‘collection’.”

O’Neal added that once Brotherwise had decided it was ready to commit to Shelfy as a product line, he was surprised at how easy it had been to get the publishers behind their “wish list” titles on board.

He said, “There’s not a lot like this in the tabletop space, and we thought that folks might be a bit wary of it, but quite the opposite; the vast majority of publishers we reached out to said yes.

“The gaming industry is a pretty supportive one, where we’re typically rooting for each other to succeed, and I think publishers saw a chance to do something fun with their friends and colleagues – we certainly did!

“It doesn’t hurt that the actual product is just adorable. The first thing we heard from most of the people we reached out to was, ‘do I get a set?'”

The 20 publishers signed up to the first run of Shelfy titles include AEG, Dire Wolf, Devir, Stronghold Games, Eagle-Gryphon Games, Horrible Guild and Van Ryder Games, among others.

From a commercial point of view, O’Neal told BoardGameWire that Shelfy was both a licensing opportunity and a marketing initiative for publishers – adding that the company had decided to vary royalties so that publishers would get about the same amount of revenue regardless of whether their mini was a common, rare or ‘chase’ – a special edition variant of an existing box.

He said, “Every game box mini comes with a matching info card that tells you about the game, shows off some of the beautiful art, and links to the publisher’s webpage.

“It’s our hope that collectors are intrigued enough by the minis to check out the games they’re modeled on. But we wouldn’t ask publishers to participate without offering up a royalty.”

Brotherwise “spent a ton of time trying to think about the right way to do this before settling on the collectible model”, O’Neal told BoardGameWire, adding, “As people who grew up with trading cards, we realized we wanted to capture that joy of seeing what surprises pop out of that blind bag.

“Beyond that, we also saw Shelfy as a way to introduce players to games they don’t already own. And lastly, we wanted to harness some of the community aspects of gaming by encouraging people to swap or gift any doubles they might get.”

Asked whether he believes hobby board games have reached the point where they have become brands in their own right, O’Neal said, “Yes, 100%. It all starts with the fun and play, but think of the art, the story, and the emotion that great games are known for.

“Think of how people relate to their favorite games. All that is the hallmark of a brand.”

O’Neal confirmed that Brotherwise already has a wish list of Season Two games ready to go, but would wait to see if Shelfy “resonates with gamers” at Gen Con before moving ahead with more titles.

He said, “This was a bit of a passion project for Brotherwise, so we’re not looking at it the same way we would a game launch, but we’d love for Shelfy to be popular enough to find a second life in game stores.

“Right now it’s planned as a Gen Con 2026 offering, but if it does well there, who knows? At the very least it would be cool if it became a regular Gen Con
thing.”

He added, “Gaming is experiential, first and foremost, so it’s hard to imagine a future where merchandising becomes a sizeable portion of any title’s revenue.

“But we will say that working on Shelfy has reminded us that gamers relate to their collections in ways that extend beyond their gaming sessions.

“Maybe we should be thinking bigger, but for now, we’ll settle on thinking small, cute, and charming.”

Brotherwise’s other Gen Con reveals this year are set to include Shards of Creation, a trick-taking game set in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe, and wargame Stormlight: War for Roshar, a John D Clair design based on the same author’s Stormlight Archive series.