Can it import my collection from BoardGameGeek?

BGG has a public XML API and importing a collection is a strong onboarding feature, since typing in 80 games by hand is where most people quit. It is worth building second, though: ship manual entry with a cover-image search first, confirm people actually log sessions, then add the import once you know the logging habit sticks.

Should scores be a single number per player?

Start there. Per-category scoring differs for every game and modelling it generically produces a form nobody wants to fill in at 11pm. A single score plus a winner flag covers the vast majority of titles, and games where score is meaningless — most co-ops and social deduction — just record a winner with no score at all.

How to Build a Board Game Collection App with AI

What a board game collection app needs

Shelf of owned games with player count, playtime, and weight
Log a session with players, scores, and a winner
Head-to-head win records across your regular group
"What should we play" filter by players available and time
Wishlist separate from the shelf

The screens

Screen	What it does
Shelf	Owned games with cover, player range, and play count
Tonight	Pick a player count and a time budget, get playable games
Log Session	Choose game, add players from the group, enter scores, mark winner
Game Detail	Play history, average duration, and win split for this title
Players	The regular group with overall and per-game win records

The data model

Game: title, coverUri, minPlayers, maxPlayers, playtimeMinutes, weight, owned (boolean), addedAt
Player: name, avatarColor, isSelf
Session: gameId, playedAt, durationMinutes, notes
Result: sessionId, playerId, score, isWinner

The build prompt (copy this)

Paste this into ShipNative and it becomes a working React Native app with these screens, navigable in a live preview, in about two minutes:

“A board game collection and play log. The shelf lists owned games with a cover image, player range, playtime, and how many times each has been played. A Tonight screen takes how many players are here and how long you have, and filters the shelf to what actually fits — this is the screen people open, so it should be the fastest path in the app. Logging a session picks a game, selects players from a saved regular group rather than typing names, takes a score per player, and marks a winner; entering scores should auto-suggest the winner as the highest score but allow overriding it, because plenty of games are lowest-wins. Game detail shows play history, average real duration from logged sessions rather than the box estimate, and the win split across players. A Players screen shows overall and per-game head-to-head records. Wishlist items are games with owned set to false and are excluded from Tonight. Works offline. Screens: Shelf, Tonight, Log Session, Game Detail, Players.”

Then iterate with small, screen-specific prompts (“make the primary button bigger”, “add an empty state”), preview on your own phone, and export the full Expo project whenever you want. The full method: how to build an app with AI.

How it makes money

A one-time unlock ($4-8) for unlimited games and full history fits a hobby audience that resents subscriptions on something they already spent hundreds on. Do not plan on selling to casual owners of six games — the buyer is the person with a shelving unit and a spreadsheet they want to retire.

Implementation and the revenue math for every model: how to make money from an app. When you’re ready to ship: App Store and Google Play publishing guides.

Build it now

The prompt above is free to run at shipnative.dev — working board game collection app on your phone today, full code export, no credit card.