GamerVaultHow to catalog your video game collection
Most collectors start a spreadsheet, get two shelves in, and stop. The problem is never motivation; it is method. Here is the one that finishes.
Decide what a "record" is before you touch a shelf
A catalog is only useful if every row means the same thing. Settle four fields before you begin and never skip them: the title, the platform, the condition, and whether you have the box and manual. Everything else (purchase price, date bought, where it came from, a photo) is nice to have and can be filled in later. Collectors who start by recording twelve fields per game record none of them by row forty.
Condition needs a scale you will actually apply. The hobby standard is four tiers: loose (cart or disc only), complete in box (game, case, manual, inserts), sealed, and graded. Pick one tier per copy and move on. Arguing with yourself about whether a torn manual counts is how afternoons disappear.
Work shelf by shelf, and by barcode where you can
Go left to right, one shelf at a time, and do not reorganize while you catalog. Reorganizing is a separate job; doing both at once means neither gets finished.
Anything with a case has a barcode, and scanning is roughly ten times faster than typing. A phone app with a barcode scanner will do a shelf of forty PS2 games in a few minutes. Cartridge-era games have no useful barcode on the cart, so those are searched by title; type the first two or three words and pick from the list, which is still faster than a spreadsheet cell.
If a title has several releases (Greatest Hits, Player's Choice, a regional variant, a later reprint), pick the one you are actually holding. It matters for value later, and it is much easier to get right now, with the game in your hand, than in a year from a spreadsheet row.
Handle the awkward cases the same way every time
- Duplicates. Record each copy separately if their conditions differ, or one row with a quantity if they are the same. Do not average them.
- Games with no box but a manual. That is loose. Note the manual in a comment if you like; it does not change the tier.
- Fan-made, reproduction and homebrew carts. Catalog them, mark them as such, and do not let them carry a retail game's value. Repro carts of expensive games are the most common way a collection's "value" is quietly wrong.
- Hardware and accessories. Consoles, controllers and add-ons are part of the collection and have values of their own. Give them rows too.
Make the catalog do something
A list you never open is a list you stop maintaining. The catalog earns its keep when it answers questions: what is this shelf worth, which of my games went up this year, what am I missing from a set, and do I already own this before I buy it again at a market. The last one alone pays for the effort; every collector has bought a double.
That is the case for using an app rather than a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet holds the list. An app with a price guide behind it keeps the values current, flags the missing titles on a checklist, and answers "do I have this?" from your pocket in the store. Keep the export, though: any tool worth using lets you take your list back out as a CSV, and you should check that before you commit to one.
Keep it alive with one habit
Add new pickups the day they come home, while the receipt is still in the bag. That single habit is the difference between a catalog and a snapshot. A game added the same day takes thirty seconds; the same game found six months later during a "catch-up" takes the same thirty seconds plus the hour you spent dreading the catch-up.
GamerVault does the tedious half for you
Scan or search a title, pick the exact release you own, choose loose, CIB, sealed or graded, and the app shows a current market value for that copy and a running total for the shelf. Import from a spreadsheet, GAMEYE or CLZ if you already have a list. Free, no ads.
A shelf of forty cases takes about five minutes with the scanner. Free, no ads, no account needed to start.
Frequently asked
Should I use a spreadsheet or an app to catalog my games?
A spreadsheet is fine for the list itself. An app wins when you want values that stay current, a barcode scanner, a checklist of what you are missing, and an answer to "do I own this already?" while standing in a store. Whichever you choose, make sure you can export your list as a CSV.
What condition grades should I use for my games?
Four tiers cover almost everything: loose, complete in box, sealed, and graded. Graded means professionally slabbed by a grading company with a certificate number. Pick one tier per copy and do not overthink edge cases.
How long does it take to catalog a game collection?
With a barcode scanner, roughly a minute per ten cased games. Cartridge games are slower because they are searched by title, around fifteen seconds each. A 500-game collection is an evening or two, not a month.