How to Chip Away at Your Hobby Backlog
Hi, my name is Mark and I’m a hobby addict.
There are two components to my addiction. First, I’m curious to learn how things work. Second, I like to attempt to do things I’ve never done before. Neither of these components are bad in of themselves, but when your curiosity about things outpaces your attempts at doing those things, you get a hobby backlog. In the Warhammer, board game, and bookworm communities, this hobby backlog is affectionately called a “Pile of Shame”.
My Pile of Shame
Over the past few months, I’ve been trying to organize my “dad room”. My collection of unplayed board games is minimal. and I’m not yet ready to deal with my significant stack of unread books. I am, however, ready to start tackling my modeling backlog. This particular backlog is comprised of:
90 Warhammer 40k models
1 Warhammer 40k video game
31 Age of Sigmar models
8 Guild Ball models
3 Pokemon models
42 modeling-related books
a challenging-to-count amount of terrain and assorted odds and ends models
Yikes, enough is enough! The Pile of Shame must go!
How will it get gone you ask? Two words: Shame Golf.
What is Shame Golf
Shame Golf, in short, is a gamified method for burning down your hobby backlog. Much like traditional golf, you have a target number for each round. Finishing at or below that target number means you are doing well. Finishing above that target number means you are doing poorly. I discovered Shame Golf through Dana Howl’s YouTube channel.
You can listen to Dana describe Shame Golf in the video link below, or skip ahead to the rules for my specific variant.
Shame Golf Rules (Mark’s Variant)
Note: Each month of the year is one “hole” of Shame Golf. There are 12 holes in a game of Shame Golf. Your score for the year starts at 0.
Set a target number (i.e. par) for each month. I recommend setting a target of 4 for the first three months and then adjust accordingly depending on progress and life events.
Add or subtract from the monthly target number based on the Scoring Table below.
At the end of the month, add your monthly score to the total for the year. A score of 0 means you are on track. A score below 0 means you are ahead of schedule and a score above 0 means you are behind schedule.
The game is over for the year at the end of 12 holes (i.e. months). If you finish at or below 0 for the year, you’ve won!
Scoring Table (pts):
Finish a model or book (-1)
Give away or sell a model or book (-1)
Move a model into the bits box (-1)
Write a blog post (-1)
Organize hobby space (-1)
Finish a unit (-5)
Finish a multi-unit box (-10)
Finish all units owned of a faction (-20)
Play a game (e.g. 40k, Age of Sigmar, Warcry, Kill Team, etc.) (-20)
Finish a hobby-related video game (-20)
Buy a digital book (+1)
Buy a new model or book (+2)
Buy a unit (+10)
Buy a multi-unit box (+20)
Buy a board game or video game (+40)
Go Play
My first game of Shame Golf will run from December 2021 through December 2022. I don’t know if this will motivate sufficiently to reduce my own pile of shame, but I’m willing to try. I suspect I’ll have to adjust the monthly target number and maybe even the scoring table. But for the first time in a long time, I feel hopeful that I can get my hobby addiction under control.
Cheers to Dana Howl for popularizing this challenge in the Warhammer community and best of luck to you if you try Shame Golf out for yourself!
Leave a note in the comments with your thoughts on piles of shame, Shame Golf, or your own attempts to burn down your hobby backlog.
