squirrelcade

Free · Self-hosted · For collectors

Your video game stash, sorted.

Squirrelcade is a free app you run on your own server. It knows every game on every console you collect: what you own, what it's worth, and what you're still hunting.

Get it on GitHub Take the tour

Open to everyone, free under the AGPL-3.0 license. It runs in one Docker container on a NAS, a mini PC or any Linux box, with a step-by-step guide.

A look inside

Every console, every copy, at a glance

The Today page: a greeting, the game of the day with its score, and the games released this week in earlier years
Today, the home page: the game of the day, this week's releases, deals against the market and your Stash's pulse.
Store Mode on a phone: a search for Zelda, each result's answer in large type: you own it or you need it
Store Mode: scan a box in a shop and know at once.
A console's page: how much of its catalog you own, and its Top 100 games as a board of squares, owned ones filled in
The Almanac: each console's checklist and its Top 100, what you have and what's left to hunt.
The Collection page: each copy with its box art, console, condition and value
Your Stash: every copy with its box art, condition and what it's worth.

What it does

Made for the hunt

  • Every console's checklist

    The Almanac: complete game lists for the consoles you collect, from Wikipedia and your own lists, with what you own and what's missing on each, its Top 100 and its history.

  • What it's worth

    Values from your PriceCharting export or your own spreadsheet, over time and by console, beside what you paid.

  • Store Mode, even with no signal

    Scan a barcode in a shop and see at once, in big letters: you need it, you own it, or you have it on another console. It answers from your phone when the signal drops.

  • A wishlist ranked in acorns

    Every game you don't have, ranked by your own rules: your favorite consoles and genres, reviews, the series you collect. What's an acorn?

  • Add games by hand

    No export needed. Pick the console, start typing, and Squirrelcade suggests the title from that console's game list. What you paid, when and a note go into your Stash with it.

  • Coming soon and deals

    New releases on your consoles, last year's games now cheaper, and PriceCharting's deal emails lined up against your wishlist, with a manual or a case listed alone left out.

  • Your server, your data

    One Docker container on your NAS or mini PC. Your collection stays at home, with regular backups you can copy anywhere.

  • Works on its own

    No AI, no outside account. Add what you use when you want it: PriceCharting values, IGDB box art, RomM, Playnite, Steam, email, phone alerts and more.

  • Compare with friends

    Swap a file with a friend who runs Squirrelcade too: your collections side by side, console by console, what each of you is missing, and trades that come out even by value.

  • Ask Claude

    Connect Claude and ask in your own words: which of these 30 garage-sale games do I already have? What's at the top of my wishlist, and why? Read-only, and it stays on your home network.

  • Ready to sell

    A listing for eBay or Mercari written from your copy, priced after fees and shipping, with what it sold for lately.

  • Set up with your AI's help

    Paste the setup prompt into Claude, ChatGPT or another AI, free accounts included. It checks your server first, then walks you through every step.

The Acorns wishlist

What's an acorn?

An acorn is how much you'd want a game you don't have yet. A game's acorns, from 0 to 100, add up from rules you set, and your wishlist ranks every missing game by them. It's Squirrelcade's own unit, so it's never mistaken for a review score.

Where acorns come from

  • Reviews. Critics' and players' ratings (with free IGDB keys) give up to 31 acorns, trusted more when more people rated the game.
  • Your consoles and genres, in the order you like them. Squirrelcade starts the order from what you've been collecting lately.
  • Series you collect. The more of a series you own, the more its other games are worth to you.
  • Finishing a console. Extra acorns when only a few games are left on it.
  • Your own say. Must Have adds 20, Strong Interest 10. Do Not Recommend takes a game off the list for good.
  • Optional rules: your own sets, other regions' releases, games you already own on PC, and more.
Chrono Trigger
Super Nintendo
93
Reviews: 93 out of 100+31
Super Nintendo, your favorite console+22
Role-playing, a genre you love+15
You marked it Must Have+20
A series you collect+5
Acorns93
An example. Open any game in Squirrelcade to see its own acorns and where each one came from.

Getting started

Three steps from your shelf to the hunt

  1. 1

    Install it

    One container on Synology, Unraid, TrueNAS, Portainer or plain Docker, with a step-by-step guide, or your AI walking you through it.

  2. 2

    Bring your collection

    Type your games in, or upload an export from PriceCharting or a spreadsheet. Squirrelcade builds each console's checklist from it.

  3. 3

    Go hunting

    Open it on your phone in a shop. It tells you what to grab and what to leave on the shelf.

A squirrel stashes for winter. You stash games.

Squirrelcade is named for both: a stash, and the arcade. It's free, and it's on GitHub.