Why am I always late doing this? - Shelf of Shame/Opportunity Contest Q2 Month 2 Recap

I mostly just do this to keep myself on track, but I know (read: think) there are a few of you who are interested to hear about my progress in my quest to play all my unplayed games. I posted about the first month of this quarter back a little over a month ago. Because of that, I'm not going to rehash every single game that I haven't played and how I still haven't played them lol. This just will serve as an update to my progress. The goal is to play 25% of my unplayed games every quarter of 2022. I started off April with 42 unplayed games and managed to play 7 of them. Math would indicate I only needed to play 4 more games to reach my goal. Unfortunately, May brought in WAAAAYYY too many games that I now need to play. Let's take a look:

Games added in May:

It should be noted that I won a contest here an BGA which didn't help this cause in the slightest. Also of note, I may have backed a few games on crowdfunding. Being that I can't play them until they deliver, they aren't going to get mentioned here. Finally, I reaquired a couple of games that I have previously played so they aren't listed here either.

#Tikal - for whatever reason this had been at the top of my wishlist for a really long time. Thanks to my contest winnings, I was able to finally pick it up. Have I opened it? No I have not lol.

#Llamaland - PLAYED 5/21/22 - Hey look 2 games in and I actually played one! Well kinda..I'm counting my 2 handed solo plays as plays. I need all the help I can get.

#Full Throttle! - PLAYED 5/28/22 - ANOTHER play?!?! This one was with real people and they didn't seem to like it much. I'm actively trying to sell it.

#Samarkand: Routes to Riches - Thanks to the Hidden Gems podcast, this ended up on my shelf.

#Heimlich & Co. - Same as above.

#Blokus 3D - I'm easily swayed by this podcast...

#San Francisco - I think this is the correct game. I had the same problem when purchasing it. Might get rid of it before I play it.

#Lords of Vegas - PLAYED 5/28/22 - Had a pretty good time with this. Now to play with the expansion..

#Blood Rage - Picked this up with the contest winnings mostly to play with my friends. Got the #Blood Rage: 5th Player Expansion as well.

#Good Puppers - The final game from my contest win. Sarah is more of a dog person (we have cats so she has to be one of those too) so I thought she would find this cute.

#Pictomania (Second Edition) - Won this in a charity auction. Thought it might be a good game to play with my inlaws.

#Deep Sea Adventure - Same as above.

#Troyes - Acquired via trade. I've thought about playing this on BGA just to say I've played it.

#Bites - Backing the KS for the expansions to this and a couple other games. Turns out I didn't have the base games and now I do.

#Kabuto Sumo - PLAYED 5/22/22 - Same as above, except I actually played it. Another 2 handed solo experience.

#Ra - Bought a used copy off the Geekmarket. I'd really like to play it but as with most games, I have not.

#Décorum - PLAYED 5/21/22 - Sarah and I played 3 games back to back of this when we first played. That's always a good sign.

#Northern Pacific - PLAYED 5/28/22 - Both really simple and really mean. I think I like it for at least one of those reasons.

#Take It Easy! - Oh now we're back to Hidden Gems games again..this one I think Sarah would enjoy.

#Blockers! - This one also was reviewed on Hidden Gems but I shockingly only got it because it came as a BOGO with Take it Easy.

#Montage - The Hidden Gems love continues. This one I can't wait to play despite being awful at word games.

#Haggis - I should really stop listening to this podcast..

#Sequoia - Hadn't played it by the end of May, but it has been played.

#Guildhall - PLAYED 5/28/22 - Was given this for free then promptly played it to see if we actually liked it. Unfortunately we did, but I don't know if I want to actually keep it.

Other games played for the first time:

#Ark Nova - PLAYED 5/15/22 - We liked this one but I'm not sure if it's as much as we liked similar games. I only say that because we haven't returned to it but it's likely just because it's so time consuming.

#Art Decko - PLAYED 5/14/22 - Played this against random opponents on BGA. Definitely not the best way to play, but hey it counts.

#Dice Forge - PLAYED 5/14/22 - Another BGA play. I didn't like it at all and have since traded it away.

#Healthy Heart Hospital - PLAYED 5/19/22 - Interesting co-op game about running a hospital and hiding bodies lol. Played solo which was fun, but would have been better with more people.

To recap, I added 24 games in May that I hadn't previously played. I managed to play 7 of them which is awesome because that's over my 25% goal for the quarter. The bad news is I added 24 games to my collection, bringing my total "unplayed" game count from 42 to 66. This means I need to play 17 of them. I also played 4 games that I hadn't yet played (or in some cases, opened lol).

Overall, I have played 18 games since April 1st that were both owned by me and new to me. If I were to stop now, I would hit my goal for the quarter. Of course that's not how my life works so we'll see what the future holds!