How to play Unshelved

How to play & the rules

1. Choose an available room or collection and enjoy the finished shelf.
2. Shake to scatter its books and decor. Lighter pieces can fall before heavier ones. Press and hold if you prefer not to shake.
3. Pick up the scattered pieces and return them to the bookcase. Stand books upright, lean them, lay them flat, stack them or arrange objects in a new composition.
4. Let pieces settle on a supporting surface. Finish when all required pieces are back and the scattered pile is empty.

Your arrangement is yours. You do not need to reconstruct a hidden original layout. There is no countdown, life system or penalty for taking a break. A piece that is still falling or unsupported may not count as placed yet.

Foldable views: The closed cover view focuses on the bookcase. Fallen pieces leave that view; open the fold to see the floor. In the open landscape arrangement, the shelf is on the left and the rug/pile is on the right. In a supported laptop posture, the upright half holds the shelf and the flatter half holds the rug. On standard iPhones, shelf and pile share one display in a stacked layout.

The point is the satisfying transition from a little chaos to a space you have made your own.

Controls, help & accessibility

Move: Touch and drag a piece. In a split layout, carry it from the rug across to the shelf. Release it and let physics settle it.
Rotate: Use a second finger while carrying; a two-finger tap or the Turn control changes the presentation, including showing a book cover.
Spread: Separates crowded pieces on the floor so they are easier to pick up.
Help / Place one for me: Places one piece for you. Use it whenever you need it; there is no paid help allowance.

Prefer gentle input? Use press-and-hold instead of shaking. Adjust the shake threshold in Settings. Reduce Motion and VoiceOver actions are supported. Hand presentation can be Hers, His or No hands.

A piece will not stay put: Try a flatter supporting surface, rotate it, move nearby pieces, then release and wait for it to settle. Use Spread for an overlapping pile or Help for a stubborn piece. Check whether the remaining-item counter changes.

Shaking seems unresponsive: Check the shake setting and current view, then try press-and-hold. If it still fails, report the device, posture and exact steps. Keep a secure grip on your phone; a vigorous throw is never part of the game.

Daily Restock, rewards & Scrapbook

Daily Restock offers a daily arrangement and rotates through the original rooms. It resets at local midnight. A featured boutique room can be tried for that daily session without becoming permanently unlocked. Daily access does not grant ownership of paid holiday collections.

You may use Help in a daily session. Game Center first-try placement scoring is optional: a piece placed through Help does not count as a first-try placement. You can finish and enjoy the arrangement without pursuing a leaderboard score.

Restoring shelves earns collectibles, with additional rewards at milestones. Use the collectible drawer to add, put away or place available decor. Collector’s Edition unlocks the collectible collection.

Scrapbook: Save a polaroid of a finished arrangement, share or print it, and enjoy the finished-shelf replay. The free Scrapbook holds up to 10 polaroids; Collector’s Edition removes that limit and adds 4K export.

Your last completed arrangement can appear as My Shelf. A valid in-progress checkpoint lets you resume rebuilding. A daily checkpoint from a previous date is not the next day’s puzzle. Scrapbook images are local content: save copies you want to keep before deleting the app or replacing a device.

Holiday collections & Collector’s Edition

Find the packs in Shelf Themes → Collections. Each holiday collection includes 20 movable objects, a coordinated cabinet, rug, color palette, lighting and audio:

• Halloween — The Moonlit Curiosity Shop: moonlit curiosities and cozy spooky ambience.
• Thanksgiving — The Gathered Table: warm harvest colors and welcoming seasonal decor.
• Christmas — The Snowfall Post Office: festive parcels, winter keepsakes and a snug holiday setting.
• New Year — The Midnight Conservatory: midnight tones, celestial accents and a fresh-start atmosphere.

Each holiday pack is US $1.99 once and remains yours year-round. Woodland Atelier, the organic wooden shelf collection, is also US $1.99 once.

Collector’s Edition — US $4.99 once includes all four holiday packs and Woodland Atelier, plus the Collector-only Curator Cabinet and Crescent Atelier, five boutique rooms, Studio finishes and lighting, additional soundscapes, all collectibles, unlimited Scrapbook storage and 4K export. It also raises personal photos and wooden-word decor from one each to six each.

These are not subscriptions. Local prices and taxes are shown by your store. Read the purchase sheet before confirming. Already own Collector’s Edition? These included collections should unlock without buying each pack again.

Photos & custom wooden words

Your first personal decor: Add one custom photo and one editable wooden-word decoration in the free experience. A name, “hello” or a short greeting can make the shelf feel like home.

In Settings → Make it yours, use the personal editors to change your photo or wording. Wooden text allows up to 24 characters, with provided script or rounded/classic styling and colors from themes you own. Long wording is fitted to the decor’s shelf-sized space, so shorter phrases are easier to read. Use supported characters accepted by the editor.

Collector’s Edition allows six custom photos and six wooden-word decorations total, not six extra on top of the free one. When adding beyond the available photo capacity, the oldest photo can be replaced; check your selection before saving. The wooden-word editor shows your available slots.

Place these decorations as objects in your arrangement. Flat tops on the Curator Cabinet and Crescent Atelier provide another display surface. The lettering is decor, not a player-name or leaderboard setting.

Privacy and backup: Personal photos, wooden words and Scrapbook images stay on the device; do not assume they transfer with cloud progress. Save original photos and a note of special wording before reinstalling or switching phones. Avoid posting personal family photos in a public bug report.