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Go Big or Go Home

Angela Hanshaw | June 17, 2010

Life-sized board games! For those of you who already have gaming at your library, here's a way to take it to a whole new level. Not offering gaming? Why not start big? Here are a few innovative programs I found online:

  • Brownsburg (Ind.) Public Library offered life-sized Monopoly for its teens.

  • Broward County (Fla.) Library held its own version for kids: Bookopoly: a life-size board game based on book trivia, challenges, and fun.

  • Cumberland County Library System helped its teens get a life-sized Clue, noting “The best dressed team will have an advantage.”

  • The Spring Garden Road Branch of Halifax (N.S.) Public Libraries featured life-sized Snakes N' Ladders.

  • The Cold Spring Branch of Campbell County (Ky.) Public Library went digital with life-sized Tetris.

  • Salem Community Library, Kenosha, Wisconsin, went old-school with life-sized Checkers.

Want to know how they did it? Check out New Albany-Floyd County (Ind.) Public Library’s step-by-step recipe for life-sized Candy Land.

Feeling particularly ambitious? Why not try life-sized Mousetrap?

How do you game at your library?

Angela Hanshaw is Program Officer/Web Editor for the ALA Public Programs Office.

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Posted by Ryan Donovan on Monday, June 21, 2010, at 03:55 PM
I am currently working with a new night programming committee at the New York Public Library. We've named the initiative "NYPL at Nite" and are doing programs starting at 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM after our hours were extended until 11:00 PM over a year ago. We have recently expanded our regular programming offerings to include different classic gaming formats. We are introducing a "Banned Books Bingo" at the end of the month. Instead of letters and numbers, we are using frequently challenged books as bingo spaces. This is with the hopes to educate patrons about books that they might not think are controversial, but are frequently challenged in the library environment.
Posted by Kelly Czarnecki on Saturday, June 19, 2010, at 10:02 AM
We've had 'big games' for a few years at the Loft at ImaginOn in Charlotte, NC. Teens and youth frequently play giant Connect Four, Checkers, Chess, and Jenga. It's a great activity for team play and usually lends itself well to an intergenerational activity. Here's one of our giant Jenga games captured on video here: http://bit.ly/aY9aYQ.