Press enter after choosing selection

Badge Drop #10: Stop Feeling List-less! Try These New Badges!

by mariah


PLAYERS, START YOUR ENGINES! Or...at least your BRAINS!

We've got some goodies to give you, and those goodies are, of course, SHINY NEW BADGES!

Feeling list-less? MAKE SOME LISTS and earn the latest contribution badges! Want to get out and EXPLORE? We've got a badge in ANN ARBOR'S BIGGEST PARK! Need more animal adventures? LIONS, AND SERPENTS AND AARDVARKS, OH MY!

From constellations to creatures to a player pick (Thanks, SG Player Olivia!), we've got LOTS for you to do with this set of badges.

2014 Badge Drop #10
echo theme_summergame_badge(887,879,880,888,881,877,874,876,878,889,875,882,883,884,885,886);
?>





So, lace up your hiking shoes, dig into the story of our 7th president, don your bat-cape, and look to the sky this week! And don't forget there's still some time to catch up on any of this summer's previous badges, too!



THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Comments

I've never made lists before. So that's something new to try! I just finished all the park badges today then I logged in and saw a new one. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

The image for Tunnel Under Peaceful Fire isn't showing properly...

Another point is the catalog allows reviews of titles that have yet to be published. I observed two 5 star reviews of Louise Penny's latest; the book is more than ten days away from its release.

hi willow,
the badge image is still loading (sometimes there's a 15 min delay). you should see it shortly. i'll ask other SG staff what they think, but for the moment, i'm not going to doubt the ratings of Penny's latest too much, as it's quite possible that people have ARCs or other advance copies.

Thanks, Mariah, I see the image now.

Just to clarify, I was not advocating the deletion of the reviews or suggesting that the reviewers are dishonest; I was merely surprised that it had already received two 5 star reviews. (Amazon doesn't even have any reviews for it yet.) I guess nothing should surprise me at this stage of life, though. Ann Arborites in general and summer game players in particular are pretty amazing.

I made a list for the first time last year - I find it hard to do. Any tips from librarians or practice list-makers on how to attack it?

@camelsamba I just went through my checkout history and made lists about my fav reads/movies/music so far. The checkout history makes it easy because there are drop down menus that allow you to instantly add an item.

@asopijw65 thanks for the tip about the drop-down menus. I didn't know about that. I should review my shelves & ratings over on goodreads and see how I might convert them into interesting lists.

Help with the Cryptid Badge:

When I search for the town of OVWP (decoded correctly) in the catalog, I get only 4 items and none of them have a game code. What am I doing wrong? Or is the code missing?

Park badge suggestions : 1) How about sending us to UofM museum of natural history. There's got to be tons of great code ideas in there and who doesn't like to look at dinosaurs. 2) if parking is not readily available suggestions on nearby parking would be good.

I wish the park badges, especially the ones involving difficult parking or long walks, could be given earlier in the summer game. It makes it more flexible as injuries, vacations, and difficulty parking downtown are all issues that are tough to resolve in a short period of time, such as what remains of the summer game.

Eerie- I take it that the Tunnel Under Peaceful Fire Badge mentioning Robin Williams was written before his death.

As much as I enjoy the park badges, I truly hope this is the last one as I don't think my family will have time for anymore this year. As it is, I'm not sure if we'll be able to fit this last one in, but will definitely try.

Yay, new badges! Having trouble with the bonus of the new cryptid badge - I found an article about DHLGY Q'CPENQY explaining what he thinks about the chupacabra myth, but I am either not finding the right parasite, or I'm encoding it wrong. Should I be really specific about what kind of parasite Q'CPENQY is talking about, or more general?

I also can't seem to get the Cryptids bonus quite right. Have tried all sorts of variations in the code with no luck. Full scientific name, with and without a space, the commom term, the general type, the general type plus the common term - not working for me.

Re: Cryptid Badge

For the bonus, use the two-word scientific name found in the wikipedia article. There are 16 letters total to encode. Then, just carefully encode letter by letter. Good luck!

@ Sara, thank you for the 16 letter clue, I think without it I would have used the wrong term and been frustrated that it didn't work. I had to rework the cipher three times as it was once I was certain I had the right term.

I am officially frustrated by the Cryptids Bonus. After reading Fevvers' and lakshmisundarr's comments that they got it after having trouble, I had new found hope. I am 100% sure I have the right parasite. I have enciphered both the scientific name and the more slangy name. I have worked backwards and checked that I did it all right. No mater what I enter on the players page, I get the code not recognized message. I tried the common name, the full name, the first half only, the second half only, etc. what am I missing here? I am neglecting my family and household responsibilities for this, so please, someone, help!

@ Zekicmom, use the wiki page for badge creature to ensure you have the correct parasite. I thought I had the correct parasite but discovered I was wrong. Within the wiki page, look for the UM biologist. The parasite is given there (two words, 16 letters, SS). Then use the crypt to encode those two words. First letter will be U last will be K. I had to do it three times before I got it right once I knew I had the right parasite.

@AprilCDB, thank you! You have done your good deed for the day and helped a desperate person in need.
I had googled the professor's name and found an article in some U of M publication where he discussed the creature and the parasite. I had thought I was good to go! I'm not sure that 50 points make up for all the time and frustration spent on that bonus, but at least I'll sleep better tonight. Thanks again!

That is EXACTLY what I did. I thought for sure I had the right parasite, but before I did that badge I had read comments and someone had already said the code is 16 characters. The one listed on the UM page is only 14, so I knew I had the wrong thing right away and never encoded that one. But I had to spend extra time looking for the 16 character one. That's when I found the one on the wiki page that is 16 characters, but then I kept messing up the coding. I figured you had done the same thing I had. Glad I could help.

There is a tiny typo in the 3rd clue for the Bats badge, just the plural "women" where instead it should be "woman." It's not going to seriously derail anyone, just FYI.

The Bat badge might be my new favorite. Thanks for reminding me that I should get a bat house! How about those in the prize shop next summer? ;)

Isn't there a mistake on the third Simon & Garfunkel clue? It's not the title of the song that's culinary, so to speak, but the title of the album.

Bats badge was super educational! Thank you for that one!!!

@AprilCDB -- Agreed, I would love to see a UofM Natural History Badge, but maybe that's something for next year's game.

As much as I love getting out and exploring, I'm woefully behind on badges due to rain and a tantrum-prone co-gamer. I made the mistake of telling him we'd earn a chocolate bar (summer game prize). He wasn't happy when a chocolate bar didn't magically appear after we found our second code at County Farm Park.

You should change the look of the "Vigenere Varmints" badge, Eli, because it looks really weird...

...If you know what I mean...

Another vote for a badge at the UM Museum of Natural History (next year!). It's great to go there during the summer.

I agree @jrwren! 1000 items added to lists? I don't think I'd have that many even if my Checkout History was counted (and I'm checking out books for the whole family, not just myself). (We currently have 84 items out - so glad AADL doesn't limit checkouts!)

[update: I looked at checkout history. 1960 items going back to January 2006. So I guess I could earn Supreme List Master if I figured out some efficient way to build on that! Not that it would be useful to anybody or add any value to the AADL web site...]

I love making lists, and have been doing so for about 2 years (I read a TON, and enjoy theme lists), so those badges weren't hard for me. In fact, I got all but the very last automatically when they dropped.

The reviews, on the other hand...

I'm glad for the comment badges because it got me out of lurker mode and I feel like I'm meeting some cool people. :)

Currently, the 500 items badge (ultra) is listed before the 100 items badge (giga). It would seem that it should be the other way around.

I've seen too many one word or one sentence reviews to be impressed.

@ willow, your right, the ultra list badge is listed before the giga list badge. Well that certainly helps my anxiety over that badge, I'm been stressing how do I go from 50 items to 500 items?! I'll never make it! Come to see 100 items is the next badge (attainable) but out of order in the badge list.

Cool badges this week! I also think that a UofM Natural History Museum badge would be fun!!!

Am I crazy, or did the Deadly Nightshade badge just get added in the last day or two? I'm sure I didn't see it before and there seem to be many fewer people who have earned the badge.

The Nightshade badge must have just shown up today, or all THREE of us are crazy. Which I'm not ruling out, but I suspect it's probably the badge just showing up a bit late.

Yep! You guys are right - the Nightshade badge was initially going to launch on Friday, but one of the codes was being glitchy, so I wanted to make sure it was completely fixed before I made it live. Not trying to be sneaky - just trying to be sure things work before making them show up on the badge page. ;)

Pretty sure I do not even have half of the badges! anyone else feeling a little over whelmed?

@Kaydence paige

I don't have half the badges either. I'm shifting my strategy on assigning star ratings to my checkout history items, and giving reviews since they have huge points pay off. Yes, it's sad that I am so obsessed with this game that I have a strategy.

;-)

I am so behind on badges this year. I better get moving if I am going to get them before the game ends this year.

Anyone sad that this is almost over? I wish they'd make badges all year long!

NVM :)

The Summer Game definitely got me into going to the library more! I've been going to the library more than once a week since the game started!

I need help with the third code for the "Seafaring Serpents" badge? I've tried searching all kinds of combinations with the word "island," "buy," and "sell," but I just can't find the code. Can anyone help me? Thanks so much!

@asopijw65: Actually, the AADL search link won't load on my computer, so I've been searching my keywords using google along with the words "aadl old news". I tried "aadl old news islands for sale," but I didn't find the code. Any more advice? Thanks!

@yaldah, I hate to break this to you, but I've been trying to help you by searching Google and I cannot find it through Google. You might want to find a computer or device that will actually let you search Old News... a trip to your local branch may be in order for this one.

@AprilCDB: When I saw your comment confirming that I would probably not be able to find it through google, I tried a different search engine, and - there it was, the first result on the list! Thanks for helping, @AprilCDB and @asopijw65 - I have now earned the badge! :D

search each characters name from the original triology by only the first part of their name to get one code and then the second part of their name to get the second code. The code will not be in an item related to where you would normally find them. Two of the characters I didn't think would work because their names are odd, but they did. The hints give you clues to who the 7 characters are too. The only name I had to Google, not being a mega fan, was the bounty hunters name, but any mega fan already knows his name.

The Star Wars was pretty hard, and I really didn't think I would finish it. However, there aren't any obscure characters and in many cases the clues made it pretty simple. I guess my biggest suggestion is to not over-think it.

For the Star Wars badge, I strongly recommend looking at the hints before searching the catalog, because otherwise there are a ton of results to wade through. The hints either give you another word or term to search for (catalog or search engine), or narrow down the type of material.

It was pretty creative!

I'll admit I was confused at first, but once I slowed down and read it for what it is, I was fine. The hardest part is figuring out the 7 characters if you ask me, but if you know anything about this series, you know at least 6 of the characters. The 7th one is easily found by a google search for his name.

Am I the only one having trouble with the last code for the Bat Badge? I know that language, but I can't find the book.

@jmock - I was sure I knew which language - I only skimmed something on Wikipedia, but looking closer i saw it was not the first thing that jumped out, you have to go another step back. It does not start with S.

I earned the Rabbids Invasion badge, but didn't get a badge bonus. Did anyone else have that problem?

@ifechijie Making lists is super fun. I have some broad themed ones, but it's entertaining to come up with really specific, quirky themes that suit an interesting assortment of materials you know and like.

Who knew it'd be so hard to do the aardvark badge?

I think I'm glad the Summer Game ends today. I want my life back. :) I have so many new parks to explore!

Graphic for blog posts

Blog Post

Subjects
Summer Game