That’s an intriguing idea. I for one won’t adopt it because I like to keep things simple, but still.
In the meantime I made up my mind and see it like this: backlog golf is meant to reward you for playing games you already own, and punish you for purchasing AND playing (i.e. spending both money and time on) new games.
So, as for the Evercade GotM, last month I spent a couple of hours playing Soko Banana and thought I might be able to finish it before the end of the month, but I didn’t. Thus I take +1 to my score that I’m never going to get rid of again, and I’m okay with that.
This month’s game, Flea 2, I downloaded but only spent a few minutes on before deciding it isn’t for me, and I’m not adding anything to my score.