BoardGameHub: shared shelves that pick tonight's board game for you 2.0.0

I run 1.x. How do I upgrade to 2.0?​

Back up, then install the 2.0.0 archive over it from the Admin CP. Games, collections, plays, reviews, pre-game notes and lists are kept, votes are copied to XenForo's own vote system and photos become attachments in a background job. If you edited BoardGameHub templates in a child style, revert those edits after the upgrade.

Will it fit my style?​

Yes. Since 2.0 every page is built from native XenForo components, so it follows light, dark and third-party styles. The decorative style properties of 1.x are replaced by five rating tier colours that default to your style's own colours.

How do members link a game in a post?​

With the Insert board game button in the editor: type a few letters, pick the game, and its card lands in the post. The button sits after Media and can be moved in the editor button manager.

Do I need GameHub as well?​

No. BoardGameHub is standalone and requires XenForo 2.3 and PHP 8.0, nothing else. It does not read a single line of GameHub. What it does do is sit beside it cleanly: separate tables, routes, permissions, options, templates and navigation. So you can run both sections on one board if you cover video games and board games, or install this one on its own.

Does the BoardGameGeek import work out of the box?​

It needs a token you register yourself. BoardGameGeek closed their XML API on 2 July 2025: every request now needs an application token, and they explicitly ask that a third party add-on let each installation carry its own rather than share one. So there is no token shipped inside the add-on, and the licence for their data stays between your board and BoardGameGeek rather than going through me.

You register an application at boardgamegeek.com/applications, choosing commercial or non-commercial according to how your board is run, wait for their approval, then paste the token into the options. Note that they class a board as commercial if it carries advertising, sells memberships or raises money in any way, and that they decide, not you.

Nothing is blocked in the meantime. The CSV import takes every field, and games can be added by hand.

Is anything sent to a third party?​

Only if you set that token. With no token, the add-on makes no outbound request at all.

Why is the player count poll not imported from BoardGameGeek?​

On purpose. The poll and the recorded playtime are the two figures that make this add-on worth having, and they are worth reading precisely because your own members answered them. Copying an average from elsewhere would fill the columns while emptying them of meaning.

My board game boxes are square, not rectangular.​

Box shape is a setting. Three choices: tall 3:4 cropped to fill, square 1:1 cropped to fill, or square with the whole box shown and nothing cropped at all. The last one suits a collection that mixes both, since every cover is displayed whole whatever shape the file is.

Can I reword the labels?​

Yes, and your wording survives updates. Everything on screen is an ordinary XenForo phrase. Edit it for your language rather than the master copy, which is what the phrase editor does by default, and an add-on upgrade will not touch it.

What does the licence cover?​

One installation. Twelve months of support and updates from the date of purchase. The licence itself does not expire, so the version you own keeps working afterwards.

Can members add and edit games themselves?​

Yes, and that is the point. Adding, editing, rating, reviewing, logging plays, writing rules notes and voting on player counts are all permission controlled, with an edit history, an approval queue if you want one, and full moderator logging.