1. It Seems Dicey, But Your Game Collection is in the Cards
Eric Drew

2. What’s the deal here?
Tasked to investigate how to build and use a board game collection.
Multiple and differing branches to appease!
A shared collection legacy to uphold!
Money promised…
Time given…
Team assembled…
Do you like my bullet points?

3. A Workaholic in Charge of Games
Answer obligatory ‘why?’
Research
Survey other Library Systems
Survey own Branches and Staff
Gather Resources
Seek Titles
Etc., etc., etc…

4. No, Really…Why? Include Imagine Inspire
Include - Games for solo players, 2, a few, or many, or teams. Games that use symbols, letters, words, numbers, even art. Games that use logic, intuition, creativity, strategy, skill, knowledge, and movement. Games that educate first, games that entertain first, games that are competitive, games that are cooperative. Games for quick waits. Games for tutoring sessions. Games for afterschool fun. Games for daylong events. Games for tournaments. Games for families, games for teens, games for seniors. Games for the young, for the old, and the whimsically immature.
Imagine – Gaming is ancient. Games like Go, Senent and Mancala are hundreds if not thousands of years old. Chess is global. There tournaments for cribbage, scrabble, bridge. Even Chase the Ace. All games, no matter how old, have an element of chance…dice and cards are the most familiar tools to provide that organized chaos, and they too are ancient. These randomizing tools are paired with strict rules and procedures to create the game, and even they are ancient and familiar. This game is a race to the end…Trouble, Sorry, Monopoly. This game involves communicating an idea…Charades, Hedbanz, Pictionary. This game is about collecting…spaces in Go, a powerful Poker hand, cards in Apples to Apples. This one is about foreknowledge…Trivial Pursuit, Cranium.
Inspire - A group of potential players meet and greet…they could be friends, family, or strangers. It doesn’t matter. They share the burden of reading instructions, listening to a leader’s explanation, and learning the game together. The game presents a limited world which the players share, and they rely on each other to understand it, even if they are ultimately in competition. They play, they compete with each other or band together against the game itself, and a conclusion is reached…though not necessarily a win! But fun is had, and for a time there is nothing else going on in the world but the game.
That’s why.

5. Read the Instructions Everyone Plays at the Library by Scott Nicholson
Libraries Got Game by Brian Mayer and Christopher Harris

6. Follow the Leader Canadian Blog about gaming in a library setting…
Known for game walkthroughs with Wil Wheaton, Felicia Daye, etc.

7. Award Winners

8. Token Websites

9. Survey Says…?
Reached 11 out of 13 Provinces and Territories (and 2 American systems)
Use of Games?
Ownership of Games?
Training for Games?
Maintenance of Games?
Cataloguing of Games?
Examples of Games?

10. Useful Trivia Active / Passive Programs and In-Branch
Responsibility falls to willing individuals
Universally no training
Stockpile pieces and/or buy a new copy
Cataloguing matches importance
Game collections ranged from musty yard sale finds to large, loaning collections

11. Phone a Friend Which games do you own? Where do you source them?
How do you use them? How often?
Do you have any initiatives?
How are your games maintained? How is their physical condition?
Where do you store them?
Comments? Any for a Wishlist?

12. Poll the Audience Apples to Apples Apples to Apples Jr. Bananagrams
Battleship
Boggle
Candyland
Checkers
Chess
Chutes and Ladders
Clue
Connect 4
Cranium
Guess Who
Hedbanz
Jenga
Monopoly
Pictureka
Risk
Scattergories
Scrabble
Scrabble Jr.
Sorry
We found an interesting list of games. Over 100 titles owned among the branches, acquired by individual staff, and almost entirely at random. These were the top 22…at least 4 out of 14 branches just happened to own them!
Out of curiosity, does your branch own any of the following?

13. Considerations: How To Choose Them?
Demand
Uniqueness
Game Subject
Re-Playability
Expansions
Duration

14. Considerations: How To Use Them?
Play Style, or Type, or Genre
Space
Promotion
Application
Passive
Active
In House Loans
Shared
Loans to the Public

15. Considerations: The Serious Work
Cataloguing
Box Content
Maintenance
Space
Budget

16. Monkey See… Halfway between recommending a book and teaching a class:
Ask about time frame, ages and number of players, and their game interests
Offer suggestions, and briefly explain how each game plays
Assist in setting up the chosen game, and lead the players through a round

17. Character Creation Action - Physical interaction
Knowledge – Requires / teaches knowledge
Narrative - Interaction with a story
Social - Interaction between players
Strategy - Decision making and planning
Nicholson, S. Everyone Plays at the Library
( We switched ‘Narrative’ for ‘Literacy’…)

18. Top 25 Suggestions Type Action Literacy Knowledge Social Strategy
Originally, I was going to talk about only 5, but we chose 150 titles to recommend to the library, so this is a much better sampling.
For Games that fall between the same Types, I have chosen a familiar, semi-classic game as representational of the Type.

19. Action / Action

20. Action / Knowledge

21. Action / Literacy

22. Action / Social

23. Action / Strategy

24. Knowledge / Knowledge

25. Knowledge / Action

26. Knowledge / Literacy

27. Knowledge / Social

28. Knowledge / Strategy

29. Literacy / Literacy

30. Literacy / Action

31. Literacy / Knowledge

32. Literacy / Social

33. Literacy / Strategy

34. Social / Social

35. Social / Action

36. Social / Knowledge

37. Social / Literacy

38. Social / Strategy

39. Strategy / Strategy

40. Strategy / Action

41. Strategy / Knowledge

42. Strategy / Literacy

43. Strategy / Social

44. We’re Done! You Win! drewe@halifax.ca
Contact me with your questions and suggestions!