Shelf Care: A Tabletop Coloring Book is a new coloring book from Violet Daisy Games and Dice Up Games featuring art from twenty different tabletop games artists. We were kindly sent some pages to color, each page is unique from one another and lists the tabletop artist in the bottom corner of the page. This book is currently on Kickstarter, but the campaign is ending soon!
In two sentences, what do you do: This one is simple, you color! The Kickstarter allows you to choose either a digital only or a digital + physical copy in the pledge, so there are many ways to fill in the page depending on one’s preference.
Have we played any other titles by this publisher?: This coloring book would be the first.
Markers, pencils, etc.
What was surprising about this title: The variety was surprising in the pages we received, both in theme and number of artists the book will feature. We have seen fantasy coloring books before, but had not seen a way to interact with tabletop artists work outside of the games they bring to life with their artwork.
How likely is this to return to the table?: With coloring pages, the individual pages are most likely to be used once each by us, but as far as bringing more pages to color to the table we are more likely to do that. There are some pages that each of us is more likely to color maybe based on mood or level of activity, like some days may lend more to working on an intricate design whereas other days might seem better to do a quick coloring activity.
Length: Some pages took longer to color in due to the amount of shapes to fill while others featured larger shapes that filled most of the page. Coloring is a relaxing activity as well, and coloring doesn’t have to be completed in one session, so one could spend an hour on a page or ten minutes and come back to it later.
Language Barrier Playability: Great! There’s no language barrier to a coloring book. There are going to be artist bios in the book that would require language, but the activity itself does not.
Artwork: Not only is each page different because it showcases a different artists style, each page has a different theme (RPG, tabletop, fantasy). We especially loved Melissa Robb’s design of a dragon sleeping on a hoard of dice, as it had a variety of dice to color and had a memorable image. Each page has a variety of patterns, imagery, and artistic style that there would be something for everyone to enjoy.
Quality: We are previewing the pages via PDF format, but the files printed very well. The linework for the coloring pages is really clean and printed cleanly.
Strategy: There is some strategy to coloring! This is really up to the individual, but one can tackle the tiniest details or focus on the larger shapes. We like to add some shadowing to make the colors pop as well. Another aspect of strategy depends on the tools one uses to color and how they utilize different mediums to complete the page. There is no win/lose competitiveness in coloring however.
Instruction Manual: Not applicable in this case.
Organization: Not applicable in this case.
Final thoughts: This was a fun experience that was very different from our usual tabletop reviews. As this game focuses on the artwork for the whole activity, it is a good reminder of how much tabletop artists contribute to the gaming industry and the level of work that they put into their designs. Besides unwinding, coloring, like gaming, is a positive mental health activity, and we liked the different spin on self care that this project provides.
Sushiball Games 