Battleship Chess: Fun Without the Video Part

Okay, here's a crazy thought. Third through Fifth graders came to the Hayden Library to play chess. Even more strange is that we actually played Battleship Chess, which is a fun variation of the classic game.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: did they have a good time? Were they entertained? I would say they absolutely were, and even more, they learned something in the process.

Most of the participants were familiar with chess but didn't play too often, so I had the chance to break down the regular rules of chess play for them. Once they had a decent grasp of the game, we put a divider down the center of the boards, had the players put their pieces anywhere on their half, then removed the divider and had them go at it with normal chess rules (this was the Battleship variation).

In addition to chess, we also had Sorry! and Battleship available to play. Both games had kids laughing and enjoying their stay.

When I've done game programs for this group in the past, I had video games as the main attraction with board games on the side to fill your time. But as I kept doing that, I noticed that some kids gravitated toward the board games more than the video games, and that gave me this idea; how about I do some programs that are strictly based on board games and see what happens?

Battleship Chess was the first program like this, and it was a very encouraging experiment. Moving forward, I'm going to bounce between a video game program and a board game program and see what we see. Love live games!

Double the Wii, Double the Fun

As I mentioned the last time I talked about our gaming program (What Wii Sports Taught Me), having 2 Wiis is a good idea with anywhere over 15 kids. So, this time around, I borrowed another Wii, and it worked out much better.

We planned on doing Super Smash Bros. Brawl this time around, and I asked one of the regular attenders of the program to bring his copy, and tried to track another one down myself. But, it turns out that pretty much all the Community Library Network copies were checked out, the Coeur d' Alene Library copy was lost, and none of my personal friends had it. So, I grabbed Wii Sports and did Smash Bros. on one Wii, and Wii Sports on the other.

Turns out that aspect of the program worked really well too. I found that there was a group of kids interested in Smash Bros., another group interested in Wii Sports, another group interested in board games, and just a couple kids that bounced between.

So, not having another copy of Smash Bros. was kind of a blessing in disguise. It reminded me that kids enjoy this program because there are a lot of gaming options, and having two different Wii games supported that.

Moving forward, I'll definitely have two Wiis with an assortment of board and card games. But, I'm going to work out whether the Wii game I choose should have two Wii consoles, or just one =D

BTW, this was a super popular program, and really easy to set up.

What Wii Sports Taught Me

Some things I found out while doing our monthly gaming program:

• When you have fifteen kids at a program, having more than 1 Wii is a good idea.
• Motion Plus is required to play Wii Sports: Resort.
• My projector just doesn't work with video game consuls.

But, other than that, we had a really great time. Played some boxing, some baseball, and some bowling on Wii Sports. Meanwhile, there were random card games, Battleship, and chinese checkers going on.

Ultimately, I didn't think the program would get big enough to require two Wiis, so I only found one. But, I turned out to be wrong. This is a fantastic problem to have, too many kids, but it meant we didn't get as much time with the game as each participant would have liked.

Even though I'm definitely going to be getting more Wiis for next month's program, I was really impressed with the patience of the kids that came. Each of them had time for only one sport on the game, but they were generous by letting others go, and spending the waiting time playing other games with each other.

So, even though my lesson was learned, we still had a really great time at the program, and I still encourage folks to get a gaming program going; even if you only have one Wii to work with :)

Guitar Hero at My Library

As I mentioned in my last post about video games, 5 Websites for Gaming at Your Library, March was the first month we could actually do a video games program because of holidays. But, we were finally able to do it, and we had a great time.

A couple years ago, we were able to purchase a Wii, the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock game, and 2 Wii guitars. I've used these off and on for programs in the past, so I thought it would be appropriate for Guitar Hero to be the first game we played.

While doing the program there was a couple of things that I noticed. First of all, my younger patrons had a great time helping me set up. I had a meeting right before the program, so I just a little bit behind. But, the majority of the kids didn't seem to mind as they pulled out Wii cords, synced controllers and assembled guitars :)

Another thing I noticed was that my projector didn't want to find my Wii. I just looked it up on Google, and there are plenty of other people using Wiis with a projector. But for some reason, mine wouldn't. I think I'm going to keep trying though, because video games on a bigger screen is always better.

Finally, having board and card games out while playing the video games worked really well. If it wasn't your turn to play and you didn't feel like watching, it gave you something to do. I also think its a fun way to let kids know that board and card games can be a lot of fun as well.

5 Websites for Gaming at Your Library

The third Monday of each month we are planning on having a gaming program. At this point we are just thinking some video games, but it will most likely extend into card games and board games in the future.

I'd let you know more about it, but we haven't had a chance to hold one yet because Martin Luther King Day and President's Day both fell on third Mondays.

But, as I thought about video games, I figured I might as well find some websites for you. Enjoy!

IGN.com

My brother really enjoys this site for game trailers, video reviews, and best-of lists.

iLoveLibraries/gaming

This page starts with an outdated announcement, but has some great info on why libraries should play games below it.

libsuccess.org/gaming

This is a wiki on best practices for libraries, and they have a section on gaming.

Library Journals Best Video Games of 2011

That link pretty much says it :)

10 Classic Video Games You Can Play Online for Free

What is better than free? Awesome things that are free!