Summer Game 2016 - All Systems Go!

Fri, 06/17/2016 - 10:41am by andrewjmac

You've been waiting, mostly patiently. You've fretted a bit, sure. You may have bitten your fingernails down to nubs waiting and worrying. But wait no longer...



SUMMER GAME 2016 IS HERE!!!



And when I say HERE, I mean EVERYWHERE! If you look, you'll find great codes both inside and outside every AADL branch, all over the AADL catalog, onstage at TOP OF THE PARK, at events around town, in the parks, in the museums, IN YOUR HEAD! The only question is: Where will you START? Here's a few suggestions:



-Visit every AADL location and collect the copious codes! Malletts Creek, Pittsfield, and Traverwood all have 10 codes hidden around the building, Downtown has 15 codes PLUS every building has a BIG code on the banner outside (all banners are going up as we speak)!



-Revisit everything you've read, watched, and listened to since last September and tag, rate, and review them in the catalog!



-Join the conversation and comment on any post on aadl.org (including this one)!



-Just sit down and read a book or watch a movie! Remember, you get up to 1000 points a day for every minute/page you read, watch, or listen to! It all counts!



-Try the first round of badges, our GETTING STARTED series!

If you don't have any idea what ANY OF THIS is about, don't worry! Head over to the Get Started page to learn how YOU can join in on the fun and start earning points to spend on AMAZING PRIZES in the Summer Game Shop starting on JULY 8!



And the rest of you? Well, what are you waiting for? GO!

A2GD Presents: The CivCity Game Jam!

Fri, 10/09/2015 - 3:46pm by nicole

Big news, gamers! Starting on Friday, October 23 at 6:00PM, CivCity and the A2 Game Designers Meetup are teaming up to co-host a GAME JAM at Workantile in Ann Arbor (118 South Main Street, Ann Arbor, MI)! Unlike most game jams, there won't be a single winner that will get all the glory. Instead, every game will get a moment in the spotlight at a soon-to-be-announced AADL EVENT! We’re still working out the details, but at some point all games created at the jam will be displayed prominently at a LIBRARY-SPONSORED event and available for ANYONE to play!

This game jam is open to game development of all kinds, including but not limited to: VIDEO GAMES, BOARD GAMES, and CARD GAMES. Come solo or with a team! To better accommodate your busy schedules, this game jam is mostly remote, with a kickoff event on Friday and a presentation event on Sunday.

If showcasing your game to hundreds of library visitors isn’t enough incentive, there will also be a raffle that gives one team the chance to win a $100 CASH PRIZE!

For those of you screaming "Sign me up!" at your computer screens, you'll find more info on rules, deadlines, and how to get in on the action here! See you there!

SHOP UPDATE: Final Stock NOW POSTED! Plus, What do YOU THINK?

Tue, 09/01/2015 - 4:54pm by eli

OK, we've scraped the corners of SUMMER GAME SHOP ORDER FULFILLMENT CENTRAL, and come up with about 300 more thingys to post; the stock now listed in the Summer Game Shop is IT for 2015! Remember that your points don't expire, so any unspent points you have will still be available when the shop reopens in July 2016! Also, if you were waiting to order a second sketch messenger, thanks so much for waiting, now you can HAVE AT IT!

So, while TEAM SUMMER GAME takes a break to regroup, we want to hear from YOU! What were your FAVORITE and NOT AS FAVORITE events, activities, badges, shop items, WHATEVERS? Let us know RIGHT HERE any ideas you have to make SUMMER GAME 2016 even better! Rest assured we read every comment, so if you've got an idea, LET'S HAVE IT! Pour it all out WHILE IT'S STILL FRESH! Thanks to all of you for your support, feedback, enthusiasm, and most of all...

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Summer Game 2015: Take Five!

Tue, 09/01/2015 - 2:25pm by andrewjmac

WE DID IT! Summer Game 2015 is all over and we all (as far as I know, though I haven't really looked into this much) survived! Now it's time for all of us to take a much deserved rest, trying to retrain our brains to not perk up anytime someone mentions "points" or "friend codes" or "badges". But before we take five, we should probably take a minute to reflect on how INCREDIBLE this year's Summer Game was. And we all know things aren't truly amazing without numbers, so let's have a think about:

An UNSTOPPABLE 5,442 players played!
An UNBEATABLE 75,968 badges earned!!
An UNBELIEVABLE 353,488 codes redeemed!!!
An UNPOSSIBLE 128,649,387 points earned!!!!

Those kinds of numbers are every kind of UN imaginable! So UNIMAGINABLE, I guess!!

While we're taking five, let's also talk about how this year's Summer Game was Summer Game 5! After 5 years of Summer Game, was it BIGGER THAN EVER? Since that 5 is a nice round number, let's compare this year to Summer Game 2011: 1.5x the number of players! 2.3x the number of badges! 4.5x the number of codes! 2.9x the number of points!

SO YEAH, BIGGER!!! But now we have to ask ourselves...can it be BIGGER YET? I'll answer for us all with a resounding, "Sure. I mean, probably. Probably yes." (Ahem, sorry, my internal caps lock might be a little worn out by this point in the summer.) I meant "TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY HECK YEAH! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU, 2016!"

BUT WHAT TO DO UNTIL THEN?! Well, how about you take another five:
-Download of the Day, a chance to learn about all of the great things AADL has for download, score points, and score even more points by solving a clue and finding the download a week early on the Lowdown of the Day
-Points-O-Matic, a chance to help us figure out which reviews are helpful and which are not with a click of your mouse and to help make our amazing old newspapers more searchable by entering text from hundred-year-old pages
-Streets Quest, a game that takes you to many of the historic streets panels around town and teaches you the history of the city around you
-Treasure Quest, the most mind-boggling of our games that the will have you decoding and deciphering your way through the catalog
-That's only four, huh? Weird. You'd think there'd be a fifth game that I'd mention here, what with the whole "take five" theme. I dunno, like a WHOLE NEW GAME or something. Huh.

For those of you with Summer Game points left, don't forget that the SUMMER GAME SHOP STAYS OPEN UNTIL MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14! Keep your eyes on play.aadl.org for news about the restocking of popular items! And don't worry if you don't get to spend all of your points, the Shop will re-open in 2016 with all-new items and your points will still be just as good for spending!

So after five years, it seems like everyone is STILL HAVING A GREAT TIME playing the Summer Game! And that's great news for us, because WE ARE STILL HAVING A GREAT TIME MAKING IT! And the players who are having fun are what makes the Summer Game worth making, so:

THANKS FOR MAKING ALL OF THIS WORTH IT!
THANKS FOR MAKING THE GAME A FAIR AND FUN EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYBODY!
THANKS FOR HELPING EACH OTHER OUT IN THE COMMENTS!
THANKS FOR ALL OF THE TAGS, REVIEWS, AND RATINGS YOU'VE ADDED!
and THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME!

but mostly

THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Badge Drop #12: The FINAL Four!

Fri, 08/28/2015 - 4:50pm by mariah

WHOA. Summer Gamers, it seems like just yesterday we were kicking off our SG shenanigans, slipping on our flip-flops and looking ahead at a nice, long summertime full of sun, fun, reading, watching, CODES and, (of course!) BADGES.



But — EEEK! — those early days FLEW right by as we all got fully immersed in Kids Read Comics, Summer Fest, the LEGO Contest and reading, watching and listening!



So now we're at Badge Drop #12, with just under FOUR days (the rest of today, Saturday, Sunday and Monday — until MIDNIGHT) left to EARN TONS OF POINTS and collect ALL THE BADGES YOU POSSIBLY CAN!



If you CAUGHT BADGE FEVER long ago, and have been been working away at each series, today's Badge Drop is ESPECIALLY exciting for YOU. WHY, you ask? Well, because it rewards you for things YOU'VE ALREADY DONE! Pretty cool, eh? So, if you've already visited ALL of the branches, you'll ALREADY have the BRANCH MASTER EXPLORER! If you've been BEARY GOOD at keeping up, you'll have the MASTER OF BEAREMONIES badge! Likewise, if you've hunted down all the LEGO around town, you're a MASTER LEGO QUESTER. Whoohoo! And of course, there are still a few more days to become MASTER OF THE BADGE-I-VERSE!



Don't worry quite yet about spending all those points you've been wracking up — THE SHOP will remain open until Monday, September 14. Beyond that, you'll have until the end of October to pick up your orders.

Oh! And we LOVE bringing Summer Gamers together, so don't miss our wrap-party, the — SUMMER GAME 2015 GAME OVER GALA — this coming Monday (8/31), from 6-8 pm in the Downtown Library Lobby. SEE YOU THERE?



Oh, and AS ALWAYS, whether we get to see you in person Monday or not...
THANKS FOR PLAYING!

SURPRISE! Two more NEW ITEMS as Summer Game 2015 DRAWS TO A CLOSE!

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 9:48pm by eli

Wait! WHAT'S THIS?! Two COMPLETELY NEW items have hit the Summer Game Shop in the closing days... the Adorable new SNAZZY SWANKY WRITING SET and the Super-Useful POCKET POWER TOOL! And that's not all... we've also restocked the MUG & BEANS COMBO! So get in there and HAVE AT IT!

And for you hardcore superplayers, an announcement: after careful consideration, we've decided not to drop any other SUPER PACKAGES this year. While they are fun to make and fun to buy, they ultimately result in more prizes going to less people, and well, that's just not the LIBRARY WAY. So, we're going to regroup our quantities we were holding aside for possible packages, and RESTOCK SEVERAL ITEMS in the shop with additional, limited quantities AFTER THE GAME ENDS NEXT WEEK! So, stay tuned, play nice, make the most of the WANING GAME DAYS, and as always....

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Summer Game 2015 GAME OVER Gala!

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 2:40pm by erin

Monday August 31, 2015: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm -- Downtown Library Lobby

Let's take the Summer Game out with a bang with a building-wide scavenger hunt, badge coloring, a free photo-booth and light refreshments to commemorate the 2015 summer game! Check out the new digs at the Downtown library and get a chance to meet other summer game players!

Badge Drop #11: T-Minus 10 and Counting

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 7:04pm by andrewjmac

Time for Badge Drop #11! Those of you who have been in the Summer Game...uh, game for a while know that there is something awesome and terrible about Badge Drop #11: it is the last of the drops with original badges. Just to clue those of you who don't know in (or to remind those of you who didn't spend the months of September to May biting your nails and peeking between the curtains waiting for your obsession to start up again), the final badge drop (that'll be #12 for those of you keeping track at home) consists of Master Badges, awarded to those select few who have managed to complete all badges in given series (or given subsets of those badges)! So that's great, right? You can start knocking off those series and feeling like you've accomplished something. But now for the terrible part: Badge Drop #11 also mean THERE ARE ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT OF SUMMER GAME 2015!!! So if you look at the Badges page and see a sea of ghosted out badge images, you've got a lot of work to do!

Oh, and before I forget: IT'S STILL SUMMER GAME SHOP MADNESS WEEK! Today we've got a couple of perfect additions for your AADL Ultrapremium Embroidered Logo Messenger: AMAZING LUNCH PODS, available in radish orange or chargrilled lime! That's right, when you are hitting the town to collect ALL THOSE CODES for the LEGO Quest, Arbor Explorer, and PowerArt! badges, you'll now have everything you need: Sip-top Bottle, Microdrivers, Pocket Stitchery, Mug and Beans, and now something to pack your lunch in!!! It seems like that bag is getting pretty full, so surely that must be all the shop items for this year, right? NOT ON YOUR LIFE! Stay tuned next week for 2 MORE BRAND-NEW ITEMS TO HIT THE SHOP!

What do you say, should we get to the badges? For this badge drop we've got a plethora of Amazing Animals, a foolish samurai warrior, the world's greatest detective, and some delicious word origins! We've also got the final badge honoring our friend Jan and the end of Arbor Explorer! Let's badge it!

With the end of Summer Game 2015 only 10 days away, now seems like a good time to take stock of how far we've come this summer:

5,285 PLAYERS playing!

59,747 BADGES earned!!

293,435 CODES redeemed!!!

101,145,081 POINTS awarded!!!!

That last number is 101 million. Like a million times 101. THAT IS AN ASTOUNDINGLY GINORMOUS NUMBER!!! Sorry to shout, but seriously 101 million? You guys are something else.

But not you've got a decision to make. You (this is, again, the collective you, not you personally) have topped 100 million points for the first time in Summer Game history! Does it seem like a good time to retire? Hang up your Summer Game hat (collective hat), which I'm picturing sort of a beret but instead of just being black it is a big badge, and call it quits? OR DO YOU ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES (collective sleeves), DIVE BACK IN, AND START WORKING TO BLOW 101 MILLION POINTS OUT OF THE WATER?!

I think we all know the answer. But better get to it. Your 10 days starts...NOW!

Oh, and in case I didn't mention it, THANKS FOR PLAYING!

SHOP MADNESS WEEK on a roll with the new POCKET STITCHERY!

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 5:09pm by eli

SHEESH! Will this BARRAGE of new items ever end? NOT YET IT WON'T! Today we bring you not just ONE but TWO remarkably unsettling colors of our adorable new POCKET STITCHERY! Super-tiny but SUPER-USEFUL is how we roll... and you will too, with this amazing item! And we're not done yet... more items yet to come along with SG2015's PENULTIMATE BADGE DROP tomorrow evening! Stay tuned and.... THANKS FOR PLAYING!

SG MADNESS III : THE SEARCH FOR SHOP... yields MICRODRIVERS!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 7:38pm by eli

WHOA! You've never seen something quite like this in the Summer Game Shop... it's the astounding AADL MICRODRIVER MINISET! Come follow AADL on our ADVENTURES IN TOOL LAND with this amazing item! There are still several more amazing new items waiting to be revealed, so stay tuned, and THANKS FOR PLAYING!