Housed in a stylish box that itself looks like a gilded leather-bound tome, Check Your Shelf features 100 game cards divided into four colour-coded genre categories with multiple-choice questions: Classics (pre-20th-century literature), Modern Literature (20th- and 21st-century works), Mystery/Horror, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

The game also features an hourglass timer and a fold-out instruction card detailing various ways to play.