Double the Fun - Final NGD2009 Numbers « National Gaming Day @ your library: (via Resource Shelf)
* Number of libraries registered to participate: 1,365
* Number of libraries that submitted # of players for NGD activities: 549
* Total number of players for NGD activities: 31,296
* Number of libraries in the national Super Smash Bros Brawl tournament (simultaneous): 42
* Number of libraries in the national Rock Band High Score tournament (asynchronous): 14
* Number of non-US libraries that participated (that we know of): 2 (Canada, Japan), with interest expressed from Morocco for next year)* "...I really witnessed a sense of community as potentially shy teens reached across the table and helped one another by whispering tips to each player during their SSB brawl matches. Additionally, without any prodding, those waiting to play or those who had "lost" their match, began forming groups to try out and play the board games sent to us from North Star Games and Hasbro. It was wonderful to see middle school aged contestants and high schoolers come together to teach and play against/with one another."
* "It is usually very difficult to get boys into the library, but National Gaming Day changed that. On November 14th, there were boys waiting outside for the library to open! The boys all came for the Wii bowling tournament. Although our group was small, we had more boys in the library at one time (for a non-summer reading program) than I have seen in my eleven years working here."
(Image: Gaming Day-4066)
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Seriously now, is it possible for a national gaming day at libraries NOT to be a 'massive success'? I mean, I guess if a Chutes and Ladders board spontaneously combusted, or maybe if a Hungry Hungry Hippo malfunctioned taking an eye or two out, THAT might put things somewhere this side of 'success', but c'mon now.
Hey, I remember playing Don't break the ice as a kid myself, and was recently thinking if the game could be solved, given perfect hammering and two players.
For those unfamiliar with the game, it takes place on a 6x6 grid, with one special piece that is a 2x2 size, and is usually placed in the middle. the rest of the blocks are put in, and the frame's pressure keeps the whole thing intact. if a piece is unsupported by having two touching edges free, it also falls. On your turn, you have to hammer one piece out of the grid, and the goal is to force the other to make the large block fall.
The first time I played a computer game was at a library, so why not?
The first time I played a computer game wasn't at a library, but libraries played a major role in my early gaming life. I used to check out computer games from my local library when I was a wee lad. Games for my Apple II+. That was over 25 years ago. So, just to nip any "games don't belong in libraries" arguments in the bud, let me just say that games have been part of library collections and services for a very long time. Libraries have not been "just books, only books" for decades now.
I wish I had been able to participate in National Gaming Day this year. (Sadly, I was stuck inside working on a paper.) But I was able to attend an event last year, and it was great. The crowd grew as the day progressed. Kids were texting their friends and getting them to come down. They had tons of kids lining up to participate in the Guitar Hero tournament. Meanwhile, my girlfriend and I taught an enthusiastic group of teenage girls how to play Boggle. (We weren't there in any professional capacity, but she's a librarian and I'm a library student, so we felt compelled to help out.)
as a matter of fact, that hungry hungry hippo game did combust (though not spontaneously) in all of the gaming day excitement :-)
Homer Simpson: "Now we play the waiting game... eh, the waiting game sucks, let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos."
Fine, we'll play "Hippo in the House."