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Image submissions

Image galleries play a large role in the BoardGameGeek database. BGG users can use images of games to compare box art for various versions, examine a game's components and their relative scale, see how a game looks during play, and discover modifications that others have done to enhance their gaming experience. Users can also see the faces of those who design games and create artwork for them.

Submitting images to the database is easy. Not only is it a great way to contribute to the site, but it is also a way to earn GeekGold. This page explains:

How to submit images
How to link an image of a game to a version listing
How to propose a representative image for an item listing
How to propose a representative image for a game version listing

Table of Contents

Submit an Image

Propose a Representative Game Version Image

Submit an Image

Before submitting images, please familiarize yourself with the BGG Image Policy.

1. Locate the Images tab below the main information box on the game listing, designer listing, publisher listing, etc., then click on it.

2. Click on +Upload on the right-hand side of the screen below the information box.

3. Click on Choose files on the "Upload image" pop-up.

4. Find the image file(s) on your device, select them, then click Open. The filename of your image(s) will appear in the Name field.

5. Click in the Caption field and describe the image, e.g. "Aqualin, KOSMOS, 2020 — front cover (image provided by the publisher)". Adding a caption is required.

6. Click in the Gallery field, and choose the appropriate gallery based on these descriptions:

Game - Images in which the focus is on the unaltered game, box, or components. These images show the game as it is "out of the box" or "off the shelf". Digital images of flat components — such as the front or back cover, the box, the game board, cards, player aids, etc. — created by the publisher belong in the "Game" gallery because they represent the game as it will appear in print. (Exception: Digital images of miniatures and custom dice belong in the "Creative" gallery since 3D renders don't always match reality.)
Logo - Images that feature a company's logo or logomark or are an iconic representation of a category or mechanism.
People - Images in which people are the main focus of the image. (Hands and random body parts do not qualify an image for the "People" gallery.)
Creative - Images in which the focus is on creative elements such as modified components (including custom-painted miniatures), fun situations, storage solutions, screen shots of online implementations, advertisements, prototypes, or artwork outside its context as part of a game. An artistic approach to taking pictures of game components or the presence of peripheral non-game elements does not qualify an image for the "Creative" gallery; use this gallery for images in which the game has been added to or altered.

7. Press the green Upload All button, which will send your image(s) to GeekMod. In GeekMod, your fellow users will vote to approve or decline your submission, and you will receive a GeekMail letting you know whether your image was approved (or declined). If approved, the image becomes part of that item's image gallery.

Why was my image submission declined?

Reasons that an image might be declined include:

Wrong item
Irrelevant
Offensive
Useless caption
Blurry
Corrupt
Under- or overexposed
Bad glare
Badly rotated
Badly cropped - Has too much white space around what's important.
Spam/watermark - Contains an added company logo or other advertising-specific messages.
Inappropriate - Is a copy of the rules (which should be uploaded as a file) or was uploaded without permission.
Too small - Should be at least 320 x 200 pixels. (Company logos are an exception.)
Too large - Counter sheets, cards, and other flat materials should have a maximum resolution of 200 PPI or a maximum size of 1,900 pixels on the long side, whichever is less.
Duplicate or similar image - Already in the database or overly similar to other images in the database.

To emphasize this final point, do NOT submit individual images for every component — character, card, tile, etc.; in particular, do NOT upload more than a couple of images of painted miniatures. Instead, combine several shots into a composite image.

If your image is declined, seek out the reason why and correct the problem. Do not upload the same image again; doing so can lead to the suspension of your image-uploading abilities. For guidance and inspiration for successful image uploads, see Image Hints and Tips.

How can my images be used?

By submitting an image to BGG, you are granting permission for it to be employed on the site by any user, but you retain all other rights to it. If someone wants to use your picture outside of BGG, they must obtain your permission.

Can I change an image caption?

Yes. Click on the Edit button underneath the caption on the image page, then click Edit caption, then edit the caption, then click Save.

Link an Image to a Game Version

1. Visit the image page, e.g., https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/5477505/aqualin.

2. Click on Add a Link to the bottom right of the image.

3. Click on Add version link.

4. Click on the button next to the appropriate version, then click the blue Save button to submit this suggestion to GeekMod. In GeekMod, your fellow users will vote to approve or decline the suggestion, and you will receive a GeekMail about the decision.

Propose a Representative Database Image

Representative Image

Each game, designer, and publisher page should have a representative image to help users identify what the thing in question is. This representative image will be displayed (in thumbnail form) at the top left corner of the item's listing, in search results, and when the item appears in lists, gallery view, and collections. Representative images are proposed by BGG users and either approved or declined by the community through popular vote via GeekMod. If a proposed image is declined, it cannot be proposed as a representative image again.

The preferred representative images are:

Board or Card Game	The 2D front cover of the oldest English-language version of the game still in print, which in almost all cases will be the most recent English-language version of a game. (If this 2D front cover isn't available, then we'd prefer a 2D front cover of the oldest non-English version of the game still in print, assuming that the game title matches that of the game page. Failing that, a 3D representation of the oldest English-language version of the game still in print is acceptable, but this image should be replaced ASAP.)
RPG	A front cover of the most recent English-language edition, if available.
Video Game	A box cover of the first North American release, if available. If a box is not available, a screenshot of the title or main menu screen may be used.
Designer or Artist	An image of the person in which they are recognizable and ideally on their own.
Company	The official logo.
Series/Franchise	The official logo.
Character	An image that best represents the character — preferably a full body image, if available.

When an item listing is first approved in the BGG database, it will have no representative image because the listing will have no images at all. Once an image is approved for that listing, a user may propose it as the representative image, but if this image does not fit the guidelines listed above, ideally another image will be proposed as a replacement representative image once it becomes available.

•••

To propose a representative image for a game/designer/publisher/accessory/mechanism/family/etc. page:

1. Go to the Images tab on that page, e.g., https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/5477505/aqualin.

2. Find the appropriate image as described above; in this example, I'm on a game page, so I should look for a 2D front cover image of the English-language version.

3. Click on the three vertical dots underneath the image.

4. Click Propose Representative.

5. Insert a note for GeekMod to explain why this image should be the representative image based on the guidelines listed above, then click OK.

Can I propose the background image of a game listing?

No. The background (or banner) image for a game page (as shown below on the right) cannot be proposed directly and cannot be changed manually. Typically, the most thumbed image in that game's gallery that is not already the representative image is chosen by default. If you'd like to see a different image as the background image on a game page, thumb the image of your choice. If enough other users do the same, then the background image will be updated!

Can I customize a game's representative image?

Sort of. If you want, you can set a personal representative image that will show up when the game is depicted in your collection or in the recently played widget. To do this:

1. Click on the My Games tab below the information box, then click Edit.

2. In the pop-up box, click Advanced.

3. Scroll down the pop-up box, then click on Customize Game Info.

4. Type in the image ID of your choice or click on the camera icon to choose any of the images on that game page, then click Save.

Propose a Representative Game Version Image

Designer and publisher listings don't have version listings, but games do — and those game version listings are used in places like convention previews, e.g., the SPIEL '19 Preview. By default, the first image linked to a version will be made the representative image, but sometimes this image will be deleted or is not the desired representative image (i.e., the 2D front cover) — or no image will be linked to a version. When this happens, this game version listing will be accompanied by this image:

Seeing this image will make everyone sad, but thankfully you can keep that from happening by proposing a representative image for that game version listing. To do this:

1. First, double-check that the image you want to propose is linked to the version listing. Look for the link to the bottom-right of the image as shown below:

2. If the image is not linked to the version, then link the image to the version as explained in this section of the page above.

3. Visit the version listing by clicking on the link below the image or by clicking on the Versions tab below the information box, then clicking on the correct version listing link.

4. Once on the version listing, click Browse # images » to the left of the data fields.

5. Click on [More...] underneath the appropriate image.

6. Click on the now visible Propose Representative Image link.

7. Type in a reason as to why this image should represent this version listing, i.e., it's the 2D front cover of the game from the listed publisher released in the listed year in the listed language(s), then click Ok.

8. Note that the image now says Proposal submitted underneath it. Your suggestion has been submitted to GeekMod; your fellow users will now vote to approve or decline the suggestion, and you will receive a GeekMail about the decision.

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