November is International Games Month, “an initiative to reconnect communities through their libraries around the educational, recreational and social value of all types of games.” (American Library Association, 2024).
The Muskogee Public Library has hosted gaming events throughout November since 2007 when the event was established. Public, school and academic libraries have incorporated gaming as part of their collections and services in part because gaming meets the recreational and social needs of communities. Gaming can positively impact literacy, critical thinking, education and social development among individuals.
A board game is defined as a game that can be played on a flat surface including cards, dice, role playing, and board games. The Muskogee Public Library (MPL) has a collection of over one hundred board games that the community can borrow for up to three weeks. MPL has a large collection of video games that can be borrowed for the Nintendo, Playstation, and XBOX consoles for seven days. The MPL board game collection focuses on adult games (in terms of game complexity and audience) and less familiar games like Monopoly or Life.
Gensmak is one of the board games in the MPL collection, which contains trivia questions from different decades and awards a number of points based on whether the answering player was born within the decade of the question. Another board game available is Dixit. Dixit is an artistic, highly visual game in which a player chooses a scene from beautifully illustrated cards. Other players guess which scene was chosen based on vague speech clues. There are also two player games including Patch Work. In Patch Work players take turns choosing different quilted pieces in a shape that fits their square board. By the end of the game whoever has the majority of their board covered (plus bonuses awarded during the game) wins the game. MPL has several variations on the board game Codenames where competing teams try to get their teammates to select target words from a list using single word clues.
MPL kicked off International Games Month with an online discussion about the video game Doom and its influence on video games that came later. MPL features a weekly Dungeons and Dragons event for teens and adults every Tuesday from 5:30pm to 9pm Throughout November MPL hosts a board game night for adults on Thursdays from 6:30pm – 8:30pm Individual excited about getting started. up a Warhammer group in Muskogee is introducing the role-playing game to the community on Saturday, November 16 (noon to 5 p.m. A community group of enthusiasts for the card game Magic the Gathering is holding a session open to the public Monday from 6 pm to 8 pm Next week there will be a scavenger hunt based on the popular video game Stardew Valley taking place inside the library from Muskogee’s Youth Volunteer Corp. MPL’s monthly mini night will be held on Tuesdays from 6pm to 8pm with sitcoms as the theme.
In addition to November, MPL hosts many gaming events throughout the year. Upcoming events include casual play events held in the middle of the day, mini-role play game sessions, and a monthly Minecraft Night for kids and teens on the first Thursday of every month. For more information about these gaming events and any other library-related programs and services you can call the Muskogee Public Library at (918) 682-6657, or visit us on the web (eols.org). Check out our social media presence on Facebook (facebook.com/muskogeepubliclibrary), Instagram (instagram.com/muskogeepl), and X (x.com/muskogeepl). Questions and comments can also be sent to MPL at: muskogeepl@eols.org. Thank you for your continued support of the Muskogee Public Library!
Jason Gonzales is the technology specialist at the Muskogee Public Library, a branch of the Eastern Oklahoma Library System.
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