GAMERT (Gaming) Round Table

last person joined: yesterday 

The mission of the Games and Gaming Round Table is to provide the following:
  • A forum for the exchange of ideas and concerns surrounding games in libraries;
  • Resources to the library community to support the building and maintaining of library game collections;
  • A force for initiating and supporting game programming in libraries;
  • Create an awareness of, and need for, the support of the value of gaming and play in libraries, schools, and related learning communities.
  • Create an awareness of the value of games and gaming in library outreach and community engagement plans.
  • A professional and social forum for networking among librarians and non-librarians interested in games and gaming.

  • 1.  Paper-based games?

    Posted Aug 13, 2010 01:48 PM

    Hi, Everyone --

    I'm happy to say that we have more international libraries signing up for National Gaming Day this year. Unfortunately, we can't ship the free donation to them, but they still want to participate (hooray for international libraries!).

    Right now, a foreign services librarian with the State Department named Elenita is working with libraries worldwide that are partnering with U.S. embassies. She's asking for our help to give them ideas for games they can play on NGD (Saturday, November 13).

    "I would like to suggest free games that they can find on the Internet to play on NGD. Do you know any paper-based games, such as crossword puzzles or word games for them to try? Anything that is low-tech or no-tech based is preferable. Many participants are learning English as a foreign language."

    Does anyone have suggestions to help with this? TIA!

    Thanks!
    Jenny



  • 2.  RE: Paper-based games?

    Posted Aug 13, 2010 03:07 PM

    Jenny,

    Here is a well thought of book with paper/pencil games:

    "101 Strategic Games" by Walter Joris

    SBN-10: 1842227270
    ISBN-13: 978-1842227275

      
    And here are a few games that are quite fun....  some of these need dice, but dice are usually easy to come by.
      
    Eat Poop You Cat: This game has recently been created commercially called Telestrations. But we played this before the game was produced with just a paper and pencils. Each player starts with a piece of paper and a pencil. At the top of the paper, each player writes a common phrase or sentence. They then pass the paper to their left. The next player draws a picture of the phrase. Then then carefully fold the sentence over, so only the picture is visible, and passes the picture to their left. The next player attempts to decipher the drawing and write what they think the drawing represents. Again, the paper gets folded so only the text is visible. The paper continues around the table, folding over the last response (drawing, text, drawing, text, drawing, text, etc...). When the paper reaches it's initial author, everyone unfolds, and compares the first sentence to the last (and the mayhem in between): http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/4xzoyvrrcv/EatPoopYouCat.pdf
      
    Dictionary: This game has been printed as a boardgame many times over (Balderdash, Dictionary Dabble...)
    But, this can be played with paper, pencil and a dictionary. One person locates a word that no one at the table knows the definition to. They spell the word and everyone writes it down on a piece of paper. The person who is "it" writes down the correct definition (they can re-write it if they like), and everyone else makes a definition up. The answers are all mixed together and the person who is "it" reads them all off. Everyone guesses which is correct. Each author gets a point for their definition, whether it was correct or not.
      
    Reiner Knizia's Decathlon (this requires some dice, but it quite enjoyable): http://www.convivium.org.uk/kgcoolstuff.htm#
      
    Liar's Dice (For this you need 5 dice per player with a minimum of 3 players). You can use regular dice or poker dice, but we've always used regular dice. I've played this game many, many times. Very fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_dice
      
    10,000: A dice game with just 5 (or 7) dice.  http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dice-play/Games/TenThousand.htm
     
    Goulash: A paper & pencil game similar to Battleship, but in a dungeon and a bit more fun: http://www.ghoulash.com/about.shtml
     
    Hangman & Boxes (two games I played as a kid). They are explained here as the first two games in the list on this site: http://eluzions.com/recreation/games/paper
     
    Racetrack: We played this many times as kids on graph paper. Draw out a track, and race around using just a pencil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racetrack_%28game%29


  • 3.  RE: Paper-based games?

    Posted Aug 23, 2010 06:09 PM

    Hi, my name is Mike and I'm the creator and publisher of the game Ghoulash mentioned in the comment above. We would just like to offer our support and assistance to the National Gaming Day initiative, particularly the request by the foreign services librarian for paper-based games.

    Our game is played all over the world (http://www.ghoulash.com/world.shtml) and has been translated into six different languages. It has been used as a teaching tool in a variety of subjects, including English as a Second Language.

    As mentioned in the comment above, the game is very similar to Battleship in that one player announces a move while the other player tells them what items and obstacles they've encountered. While there is one set of Basic Rules, there are about two dozen different scenarios, each one with its own twist on the rules and its own victory condition.

    We have free trial scenarios available at our website, and we can make special free downloads available specifically for NGD. We also can arrange for donations of our print Scenario Packs, although supplies and resources are limited. (All inquiries are welcome.)

    Please let us know if there is anything we can do for National Gaming Day. Thanks.