Multiplayer Games for the Switch @ Games In Libraries

Even though it’s been available for less than a year, the Nintendo Switch already has a huge catalog of exciting multiplayer titles. If you’re looking to add a Switch to your library programming schedule, the ALA’s Games In Libraries blog has created a list of the best multiplayer experiences on the console:

Since its launch, Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch, has seen an explosion in titles available. Many lend themselves well to multiplayer – here is a list of some particular recent standouts, around which a library could provide a good social gaming experience.

The list includes nine titles, and I’m a big fan of both Snipperclips Plus and Enter the Gungeon for multiplayer gaming.

And if you’re interested in cooperative multiplayer gaming, you might want to check out a similar list that was recently published by Inverse Genius’s Games in Schools and Libraries blog.

Running a Game Convention at Your Library

Game conventions come in all shapes and sizes… from small local shows all the way up to the sprawling PAX expos held every year in Seattle, Boston, San Antonio, and Philadelphia. In a bid to move beyond “Game Nights,” many public libraries are now in the business of running their own game conventions.

Believe it or not, this task isn’t as hard as you might think. Especially because there’s no one way to organize a game convention at your library, and there’s actually many different approaches you can try…

  • Partner with a local game shop to host demonstrations of new games.
  • Recruit local game developers to show off their latest projects.
  • Ask for volunteers in your community willing to share their game knowledge.
  • Some combination of all three!
  • Or something else I haven’t thought of!

But the best way to get ideas for your game convention might be to reach out to librarians who have done it in the past.

List of Library-Organized Game Conventions
Here’s a small selection of libraries who have organized their own game convention. If you’d like your convention added to the list, please let me know…

Comicopolis
Location: Lockport Branch of White Oak Library in Lockport, Illinois
Links: Convention Website | Contact Page

Rochester Game Festival
Location: Irondequoit Public Library in Rochester, New York
Links: Convention Website | Contact Page

OctaCon
Location: Bethpage Public Library in Bethpage, New York
Links: Convention Website | Contact Page

ShushCon
Location: Waccamaw Neck Branch of Georgetown County Library in Pawleys Island, South Carolina
Links: Convention Website | Contact Page

Cooperative Four-Player Video Games @ Inverse Genius

There’s nothing quite like cramming four people around a video game screen and expecting them all to cooperate. And wouldn’t you know, the people at Inverse Genius’s Games in Schools and Libraries blog agree:

Do your gamers want to work together instead of compete? Do they want a challenge that is going to take everyone give their all to overcome? Cooperative games have players working together as a team to overcome the computer or some set challenge. There are so many great cooperative games out there. Here’s a list of some of our favorites!

Their suggestions run through some of the best four-player cooperative games on the PC and consoles today, including Overcooked, Pac-Man 256, Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (a VGL favorite), and more.

Hearthstone 101 @ Inverse Genius

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft continues to be a popular choice in the competitive gaming scene, and Stephanie Frey from Inverse Genius’s Games in Schools and Libraries blog has put together a new how-to guide for librarians interested in trying out the Collectible Card Game (CCG):

Are your gamers interested in Hearthstone? Do they already like games like Magic the Gathering and Yugioh? Do you want to try something new to attract a new group of the gamer curious to your library or school club? Here is everything you need to get started.

Hearthstone is a FREE Online Collectible Card Game. It is played over PC, Android, or Apple devices and an online connection is required. This is a game where gamers construct decks from cards they collect either from leveling up their characters by playing matches or from buying booster packs with points earned or cash. While it is free to play, each gamer can have their own account or the moderator can make guest accounts available, players can earn in-game currency to purchase additional booster packs and game modes or do the same by spending real money. We are getting a lot of play without spending a penny.


Looking for more Hearthstone information? Find all posts tagged with a Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft label now!

Retro Gaming Program Ideas @ Games In Libraries

“Retro Gaming” is big business in 2017, fueling everything from the indie development boom to Nintendo’s popular line of Classic Edition microconsoles. Many libraries have begun to tap into this fandom, and some are even offering game programming centered around retro games.

Thomas Vose has also noticed this trend, and he recently put together a how-to guide on retro gaming for the ALA’s Games In Libraries blog:

Looking to go old-school? Want to try something different in the world of video gaming as a program? There are a lot of great retro programs that can be put together to offer something different for your patrons and to reach new audiences by appealing to nostalgia, and recent developments in the world of gaming have made those retro programs more accessible.

Some of Vose’s programming ideas include high score competitions, Let’s Play broadcasts, retro tournaments, speedrunning challenges, and retro gaming crafts.

Participating in International Games Week 2017 @ Programming Librarian

International Games Week 2017 is fast approaching, and a new post from Colleen Ellithorpe, the Teen Services Librarian at Saratoga Springs Public Library on Programming Librarian discusses some of the benefits of participating in the event and offers up a few resources to help get you started:

Whether you’ve always been a proponent of gaming in the library or were late to the party, games have found their place in adult and teen programming. According to ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table’s (GameRT) 2016 International Games Week (IGW) report, about 82 percent of public libraries participating already had a collection of either tabletop or console games. Some libraries loan games while others focus on game events. As technology becomes less expensive and community needs shift, we will certainly see continued growth of gaming events in public libraries.

[…]

If your library currently doesn’t have game programming, IGW is a great time to introduce the idea, experiment with games temporarily and gauge the response!

International Games Week 2007 will take place from October 20th through November 4th.

A Weeklong Series at Waypoint Examines Gaming in Prison Libraries

Waypoint (the video game arm of Vice) has announced plans to publish “At Play In the Carceral State,” a series of articles this week about the intersection of gaming and prisons. It’s not a corner of the games culture that you hear much about, and part of their focus will be devoted to the way prison libraries play a role in giving inmates access to games during their incarceration.

Waypoint’s Editor-In-Chief, Austin Walker, laid out their mission for the series in a letter to the site’s readers:

When I’ve explained this series to people, one of the most common responses has been a sort of awkward bewilderment. Games and… prisons? Play and the… ‘carceral state’?

On first blush, they’re an odd pairing, but a closer look reveals that games are a natural locus for this contention. They are concerned with boundaries, limitations, and rules—the hand of cards you’re dealt; the empty energy meter that prevents you from using your powers; the invisible walls and infinite, uncrossable seas which border otherwise vast open worlds. Yet they also enable players to experiment, explore, and defy expectations as they respond to those limits. And it’s that tension where games are at their most powerful—perhaps even their most utopian.

The first article from “At Play In the Carceral State” is Inside the Gaming Library at Gitmo, America’s Controversial Military Prison, a look inside the Detainee Library at Guantanamo Bay by Muira McCammon:

Over the past 15 years, many detainees have requested and read books from the Detainee Library. Journalists have actively documented what titles appear on the shelves, and in recent years, the inventory has grown to include not only DVDs, but also PS3 games.

But the library remains a labyrinth, a facility full of thorny questions. This summer, Waypoint sent me to the Detainee Library, to figure out what happened to the games at Gitmo.

New articles will be added to the series all week.

High School Video Game Club @ Programming Librarian

Running a regular “Video Game Club” is one of the best ways to connect library patrons with their favorite video games. And Geoffrey Greenberg, a High School Librarian from Illinois, recently discussed the ins and outs of his biweekly “Video Game Club” at Programming Librarian:

Video Game Club (VGC) is a club that meets biweekly in the library, with 60 members who show up at various times. We let the students pick the games they play, as long as they are pre-approved by myself or the other librarian.

Greenberg said that the most popular game franchises with his group are Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Dragon Ball Z.