Best way to track and record your collection?

What do you use to track and file what you already own, what you want to buy, etc.?

Do you use excel, access, a website?

I’ve never really written down and used to be able to remember but my collection has grown large enough and I’ve traded some games that I can no longer recall what I already own and what I need to obtain again. Looking for any suggestions or stories of what others use currently.

I mainly use a Google docs spreadsheet. But if you want a website I think http://rfgeneration.com is pretty good.

Edit: Also, better get on that list soon before your collection grows too much. It’s gonna take a while to add everything…

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Lol, I don’t have a preference that’s why I was seeing what others do currently. I’ve been doing an excel spreadsheet but it feels like I have to dedicate whole weekends towards sorting and cataloging so it’s been a while and I’m still only done with a small portion of it. Apparently I have more games, and more duplicates of games than I ever expected.

I was told by one of the greatest pimps that ever lived, that if you know what you got, then you ain’t got much.

Someone made and shared a google docs sheet a couple years ago and I’ve just used that ever since. I deleted the systems I didn’t care about and made a few other small changes. I used to use various sites but they were slower and not worth the extra effort to me in the long run. I would rather just use a spread sheet. Here is the original I was working off of. All credit to whoever it was that input all those games, lol. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1isNST7jp_KjtOAtKoCb9UVc4LMqQXPyoch-3eao9KfA/edit#gid=0

I was about to recommend rfgeneration too. Their database is quite good and the website is no-nonsense, straight to the point without being ugly. Mobile browsing works well too (and they have an app), useful when at a garage sale and you’re not sure if you already have that game with its box and inserts.

Yeah no matter what it’s gonna take a while. But it’ll be worth it in the end! :slight_smile:
Using rfgeneration might be a bit faster since you can list all the games for a system and checkmark every game you own for it. It even remembers which ones you’ve checkmarked when switching pages in the list. So it’s a bit more handy than doing everything yourself in a spreadsheet. Still it took me multiple days to add my collection to it, and I don’t even have THAT many games.

The advantage of a spreadsheet though will be that you can make it exactly like you want it.

I use the collectorz software. They have a website only version, mobile app, and desktop software. I really like the desktop software, and have been using it for years. They recently updated it to include tracking for completeness in games (IE, CIB or cart only). Very powerful software.

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I use one of these. It hasn’t failed me yet:

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Same. I’ve used CollectorZ on my phone and my Mac. Love the ability to scan barcodes when adding to the collection.

Have tried making google docs/excel spreadsheets. Always become outdated and unwieldy cause it’s hard to figure out what I have or haven’t put in the sheet. Now I just accept that I don’t know what I own. And that’s okay.

I used to keep track of my collection in a single Word document, which in time became just too bloated and messy. So, one weekend, I decided to devote a couple of hours of my freetime to an ‘update’ project. Fired up good old InDesign, created separate docs for each system I own, and now this is how they look:

I don’t record anything else than the name of the game and its region, so - every time I need to add or remove something - it’s literally a matter of minutes.

That said, I still consider Backloggery the best way to go, online. Sure, you have to type in all your games (so it can be alot of work, to begin with), but I’ve always found database-websites more or less inaccurate, in a way or another, especially if you’re into import and own loads of obscure titles.

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I use google sheets as well. No game database seems to be complete enough, and the ones i’ve tried working with haven’t allowed me to submit new games (at least, without approval delays), so it hasn’t worked out.

My favourite thing about my google sheet though is my wantlist. Helps a ton when I go into a game shop, don’t have to look at absolutely everything and can send my girlfriend off with a task to find something (she found Pop n’ Pop last time around!) so we can get in and out quickly and not bore her to death :smiley:

I made an excel sheet. It’s nothing special and I’ll probably edit it further, but for now I’ve put all my games on there (almost 2000 physical now) with some basic info like release date and developer.

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Mark me down as another spreadsheet tracker. I’ve tried various tracker sites/software over the years but they never seem to stand the test of time to me. Also being able to customize to specific needs is really useful. For example for my carts I like to track if it has a battery, if I’ve replaced the battery, and the date it was replaced. Which would be useless information for CD games. I’m sure you can do things like that in fancy software with custom fields but it is stupid simple to add a new column when needed so it works for me.

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Excel sheet here too! About 420-ish physical games here!

If my brain could glow like the rainbow I might also be able to do your method but sadly it cannot :disappointed:

Same here, lol. I used to keep a wishlist too but that was only cos other people wanted to see it and buy me stuff from it. Luckily I think I’ve got 99% of games I want now though so keeping track isn’t too hard.

I’m at 657 and I’ve one done a handful of my smallest collections :frowning:

Guess I’ll keep plugging away at the excel spreadsheet

I use that software as well and it constantly causes me to buy duplicates!

I use backloggery. Very handy to keep it tabbed when I buy games and has stopped me from buying anymore duplicates (it happens!)