Game Collection at Your Library
After the big debut of the library’s board game collection in fall 2010, the games have been used by fans during the library’s monthly Second Saturday Board Games get-together. Games such as Dominion, Go, and Hive have been available for in-library use only—UNTIL NOW! Now, games may be checked out and returned to the Adult Services desk on the second floor.
Borrowers may check out one game at a time, may enjoy them for one week, and will receive a 50¢ per day late fee if a game is overdue. If a game is lost or if game pieces are damaged, borrowers may be required to pay the full price of a game. Games may not be renewed, nor can games be requested if they are checked out to others.
The library’s board games are fun and recreational, but they are also educational, requiring players to exercise strategic skills to determine their next move. As our social interactions become increasingly facilitated by computers, why not disconnect digitally and connect with one another over a board game? For a small investment of time, gaming is a hobby in which you can expand your circle of friends and build community.
For more information, contact Adult Services at 367-4405 or drop in and join the fun at Second Saturday Board Games— 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the MacFarlane-Hood Reading Room.
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Wait, why does the library have board games?
The library’s mission notes that we collect materials to meet the informational, educational, and recreational needs of Urbana citizens. All of our board games are fun and recreational, but many are also educational and require players to exercise strategic skills to determine their next best move. Pandemic teaches team work as players must work together to eradicate disease, Upwords makes players exercise their vocabularies, and games with long histories like Backgammon or Go are a cultural experience to play.
Our decision to provide board games goes deeper than this. As everything goes digital, and our interactions with others are increasingly facilitated by computers, playing a game in person with other people and with tactile pieces becomes a more unique and welcome experience. We hope our game collection can help Urbana citizens to connect with one another and build community. People from any background can learn the rules and play a game together. For a small investment of time, gaming is a hobby in which you can meet people and expand your circle of friends.
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The Rules
Players must borrow games from and return them to the reference desk on the second floor of The Urbana Free Library
- Players may check out one game at a time
- Players may keep games for one week
- Players cannot renew games they have checked out, nor can they request games currently out to others
- Players will receive a 50¢ late fee per day if a game is overdue
- Players may be charged for the full price of a game if they lose or damage pieces
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The Games
Backgammon
2 players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 30 minutes
A classic abstract game that is essentially a dice-driven tactical race. Players compete to move their pieces around the board to their home space, from which they pull their pieces out of the game. In moving their pieces around the board, players may not move to spaces occupied by more than one of their opponent’s pieces, but may hit single pieces to the bar, from which they start over. The first player to remove all of their pieces wins.
Carcassonne
2 - 5 players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 45 minutes
A tile placement game in which players choose a tile at random and then connect it to the other tiles on the table. The tiles display the pieces of land in Carcassonne, including roads, cities, monasteries, and farms. After placing a tile, a player may choose whether to place one of their pieces on it. Pieces on roads, cities, and monasteries score one point per tile when the feature is completed, but farms don’t score until the end of the game.
Dominion
2-4 Players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 30 minutes
A game in which players begin with the same set of cards, and then use money cards from their hands to buy other cards that provide actions, points, or more money. Of the total 24 possible types of action cards, only 10 types are used in each game, making it a different play every time.
Egizia
2 - 4 Players, Ages 12+
Duration approximately 75 minutes
An economic game of ancient Egypt, in which players place boats along the Nile in order to gain various powers or earn points building the monuments. Players face tough choices in placements, wanting to earn the most points for themselves, while remembering to feed their workers and supply building resources.
Go
2 players, Ages 5+
Duration approximately 90 minutes
Over 2,000 years old, this ancient Chinese classic continues to be played competitively today. Players attempt to capture each other’s pieces, and block one another from placing pieces on the board by surrounding them with their own pieces. Our board is full size (19x19), but beginners can use a smaller 13x13 or 9x9 area of the board to learn the game.
You can also play Go Moku using the Go board and pieces, which is a game similar to Connect 4, where players try to get five of their pieces in a row while keeping their opponent from doing so.
Hive
2 players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 20 minutes
Often compared to chess, Hive provides each player with 11 pieces, that bear an insect that moves in a particular way. Players attempt to surround the other’s queen bee following a few simple requirements—one cannot place next to an opponent’s piece, but must move their pieces to do so, and one must move without breaking the Hive.
No Thanks!
3 - 7 Players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 20 minutes
A fast and fun push-your-luck game in which seven cards are removed at random from a deck of cards numbered 3 - 35. A card is flipped up from the deck and players decide whether to take the card or pass on it. But there’s a hitch. Cards give players the number of points on each card, but the winner is the player with the fewest points. To pass on a card, players must place one of their chips on it, but each player has a limited supply of chips.
Pandemic
2 - 4 Players, Ages 10+
Duration approximately 60 minutes
A cooperative game in which players win or lose as a group as they try to cure the world of viruses. Each player will have a unique special power as they travel the globe removing disease from cities and collecting information on cures. But they must cure all four diseases before time runs out and outbreaks overwhelm the populace.
Power Grid
3 - 6 Players, Ages 12+
Duration approximately 120 minutes
An economic game in which players try to most efficiently build their energy empire. Players bid on power plants, then buy from a market of scarce resources to fuel those plants before buying rights to supply power to cities on the board. At the end of the game, the player who supplies power to the most cities wins; money is just a tie-breaker.
Puerto Rico
2 - 5 Players, Ages 12+
Duration approximately 90 minutes
An economic game in which players earn points by shipping goods from Puerto Rico. Each player has a separate board to populate with plantations that produce goods and production buildings that provide different strategic strengths. Central to the game is role selection, with each selection giving all players the opportunity to take an action, while giving an extra boost to the player who selects it.
Ricochet Robots
2 - 10 Players, Ages 10+
Duration approximately 30 minutes
A puzzle game in which a target is selected at random and players silently determine the path to the target in the fewest movements. The color of the target determines which robot goes to the target, but any robot can be moved if it helps shorten the trip.
San Juan
2-4 Players, Ages 10+
Duration approximately 45 minutes
An economic game in which players produce goods for income, then spend the income on buildings that improve efficiency and earn points. This game also features a role selection mechanic that gives the selector an added benefit over other players.
Settlers of Catan
3 - 4 Players, Ages 10+
Duration approximately 90 minutes
A classic economic game in which a die roll determines what goods players produce each turn. Players collect sets of goods to create roads, settlements, and cities, scoring points for each. The game ends once a player scores 10 points.
Tichu
4 Players, Ages 10+
Duration approximately 60 minutes
This ladder-style trick-taking game is best played with four players in partnered pairs. Suits do not matter, but players have to match the poker-style hand lead by the opening player. Singles, pairs, two-pairs, full houses, and straights are all possible plays. The first pair to the decided number of points wins.
Ticket to Ride
2 - 5 Players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 60 minutes
This connection game involves collecting cards to build tracks that connect cities in order to complete tickets. Each completed ticket yields a number of points, as do the connections made by each player. Running out of trains brings on the end of the game, and the player with the most points at the end wins.
Tobago
2 - 4 Players, Ages 10+
Duration approximately 60 minutes
In this game, players compete to find the most treasure by submitting clues to four different treasure hunting tracks, until there’s only one spot left for the treasure to be located. The spoils are divided among those who put clues in a particular treasure’s track, as well as the player who drove their jeep to the final location. Beware of the cursed treasure troves, as they destroy your highest scoring treasure.
Tzaar
2 Players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 30 minutes
An abstract game with simple rules, but deep, complex strategy. Players compete to be the only one with at least one piece of each pattern by capturing opponents’ pieces and defending their own. Players can defend against an opponent’s attacks by stacking their own pieces. While this makes the piece harder to capture, it reduces their total number of pieces. It’s much simpler than it sounds, we assure you.
Upwords
2 - 4 Players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 90 minutes
A word game similar to Scrabble in which players place tiles on a grid to create words. Unlike Scabble, there are no point-multiplying spaces on the board and players can stack tiles to create new words. When counting points for words, the tiles played as well as any tiles stacked under those played, are single points awarded to the active player. However, a word with no stacks in it earns two points per letter.
Wits & Wagers Family
3 - 10 Players, Ages 8+
Duration approximately 20 minutes
A party game involving trivia, in which players write answers to a question on a dry erase board for everyone to see. Players then place their respective tokens on the answer they think is the closest to the right answer. Points are awarded to those who guess the best.
09/08/11
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