Collector Battle: Best way to Organize your collection!

[redsteakraw]

Cats vs, dogs, toilet paper over or under there are many epic choices but this one may be the most important one! So you have a collection and have tones of carts how do you organize / stack them and why is that the best way. Do you organize by rarity, alphabetical, cart type, publisher, color, date or some combination there of? Lets duke it out in an all out comment battle of which way is the right way.

[+cvga]

I love to see how other people store their collections. I have mine alphabetical by publisher. Here are a couple of pictures of how I store them...

 

Doors closed

Doors open

 

[HoshiChiri]

My collection is significantly smaller than some here, so it's largely pure alphabetical in storage boxes. The main box isn't tall enough to accomdate Imagic carts, so those are in a secondary box. CIBs are in acrylic box protectors & a third storage box... well, bin really, it has no lid.

 

I like boxes because it allows for deeper shelving while still providing easy access to all carts, allowing me to keep my collection in a smaller space while cutting back on dust.

[up2knowgood]

I love to see how other people store their collections. I have mine alphabetical by publisher. Here are a couple of pictures of how I store them...

 

Doors closed

 

 

Doors open

 

 

...you win.

[djour]

Like CVGA, I also have mine alphabetical by publisher. Although I have an easier time keeping mine organized since it's not the size of a room. BTW, I'm showing your pic to my wife if she ever complains about my collection.

 

[+Darrin9999]

Here`s a few pics of how I store mine. Mostly alphabetical and some alphabetical by publisher.

[+cvga]

Like CVGA, I also have mine alphabetical by publisher. Although I have an easier time keeping mine organized since it's not the size of a room. BTW, I'm showing your pic to my wife if she ever complains about my collection.

 

Atari carts sm.jpg

I used to keep my collection on a shelving unit exactly like yours before we finished our basement. You can show your wife what she has to look forward to lol.

[+save2600]

I use CD, DVD and cassette tape racks mixed with some good old fashioned shelving.

 

Atari cartridges are alphabetized, boxes by manufacturer and then alphabetized.

 

Intellivision carts separated by manufacturer and/or genre. Intellivision boxes I just threw up by genre and separated the homebrews.

 

TI carts are alphabetized.

 

PS2 games kinda/sorta by genre.

 

Amiga games kinda/sorta by genre too.

 

 

 

 

 

[spacecadet]

If I do anything, I color code by box color just so stuff looks nice.

 

For loose carts, I just let them be where they want to be. They're all stacked nicely on a shelf but for the most part, they're not organized at all. The exceptions are Imagic carts that just look like they have to go together, and a few of my favorites that I want to know where they are for quick access.

 

I'm basically that way with everything. I organize the few things in any category that are actually worth organizing. The rest of it can do what it wants. I'm never going to go specifically looking for Combat or Air Sea Battle. If I'm bored one day and happen to pick one of them, fine, but it's not worth the effort to keep them organized in any specific way.

[Cambouis de l'Atari]

@save2600, is it an A1000 on your last picture ?? Nice collection !

[ubersaurus]

In my current apartment I only have so much space to work with in the game room, so I've got a series of shelves made for CDs and DVDs lining the walls. Those hold most of my cartridge and CD based games in alphabetical order (including some boxed ones). Weirdly boxed ones for Saturn, Sega CD and 3DO are on top of those. Since not everything fits on those shelves, I keep my SNES games in a plastic tub (doubling as a makeshift table) and my 2600 games are all in vintage 2600 game holding cases. Some game boxes can't be displayed due to space anymore; those I keep boxed up elsewhere.

[GeekDragon]

_{I keep all my games alphabetical and by system.. I find it easier to find games I want to play this way. Between my brother and I(we combined our game collection), we have 5 shelving units full. One of these days I will post pics.}

Edited August 8, 2017 by GeekDragon

[toiletunes]

Loose carts: Alphabetically, by company. Atari games by label type (red, silver, picture, text). Vertically, so I don't have to dig through a column to get the bottom game. Paddle games have their own shelf. Keyboard games in a binder. Those mattel/intv games go one on a shelf because they don't store well no matter what.

[Torr]

Scattered... Everywhere.

 

I like it.

 

Sometimes finding the game I want to play is a quest in itself.

Sometimes I find a game I forgot I had, that's always sweet.

 

Just the other day I found and played Sky Jinx. Good times.

 

 

*Edit: That goes for my game collection as whole.

Edited August 9, 2017 by Torr

[+save2600]

@save2600, is it an A1000 on your last picture ?? Nice collection !

Thanks! Yes, that's my main A1000... with original Phoenix motherboard and an ACA500/ACA1221 combo hanging off of it. A2000 pictured has a Vampire accelerator and 2mb Chip RAM installed.

[Keatah]

Well I wanna participate in this thread too, but, being an emulator buff..

 

And they are played with this.

 

Someday I plan on setting things up like this.

 

[Cepp]

For me it's generally system, genre and then whatever's most asthetically pleasing.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Alphabetically, but the publishers are scattered as I find room to fit them together inside this:

 

 

[bohoki]

semi alphabetic i used to group them by cart type so the sega ones would be near tax avoiders but alphabetic allows me to find and play quicker i often do not have them true alphabetic i have what i call lazy alphabetic where it would just be first letter and random as i put them back like moon patrol can end up over missile command as i slam it back in the general vicinity of the m's

[jhd]

Well I wanna participate in this thread too, but, being an emulator buff..

 

 

I split the difference: I have a decent physical collection of Atari 2600 cartridges (~150 unique titles, some CIB) and hardware, but that is all currently packed away in storage in another province. The cost to ship it to my current residence -- and then to move it all back again when I return home -- is not justifiable. Consequently, I use emulation for my day-to-day Atari gaming. When I (eventually) go home, I can unpack my games.

 

While everything is currently densely packed into banker's boxes to minimize the space consumed, I previously used audio cassette trays to store my cartridges. Other than my one Xonox cartridge, everything fit just fine. I inherited them from my Grandparents; I have no idea where they originally bought them in the 1960s or '70s.

[Good_Times]

I just use this crappy 3-drawer plastic thing for now....need to get a proper bookshelf very soon, I've somehow gathered nearly 200 carts in the past month!

(gulp)

 

 

 

[Jim Pez]

you all hav e nice collections. ever thought about storing your lose carts in a universal game case and adding a label https://www.mediashelving.com/store/universal-slim-combo-game-full-sleeve-full-case-100

[high voltage]

Still same old.....

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by high voltage