I started doing a monthly board game night for teens in August. Attendance is okay, but I am really hoping to get more people interested in the program. I average 2-3 teens per session, but it's often different teens that come during different months. Now I just need them to start coming to all of the game nights! It is by far my favorite program to run. I usually bring 3-4 games for them to choose from. They are mostly my personal games, since the library doesn't have much of a budget for this. I did receive some great donations from AEG, and from Steve Jackson Games by taking part in International Games Day @ Your Library. I have increased my 2016 budget, so I may buy one or two new games for the library this year.
For December we played Smash Up. This is a great game that really seemed to challenge their ability to plan ahead. To play the game you set up base cards (1 more base than you have players), and each player takes two faction decks to shuffle together. Each player takes 5 of their cards into their hand and keeps the rest of their deck face down. On your turn you may play one minion card and one action card. The goal of the game is to destroy the bases, but to be the one who gets the most victory points for doing so. Some bases award the most points to the player with the highest power against that base, some award the most points to the second highest. Players must keep track of the awards for each base and how to strategically place their minions and actions to get the most victory points. The first player to 15 VP wins!
The teens really enjoyed this game, and had a lot of fun playing actions against each other that destroyed the other minions. It was a bit of a challenge for them to balance the planning and critical thinking to take the most VP from each base. This is one of my main skills I like to work on with our programs, so it was perfect. We played for about 1.5 hours, but that was with me taking away one base. Two hours would have been better, including the time it takes to teach them the mechanics of the game. The core game is made for 2-4 players, but there are various expansion sets that would allow you to add more players.
I am grateful to have received this game for free as part of the AEG Demo Program!
For December we played Smash Up. This is a great game that really seemed to challenge their ability to plan ahead. To play the game you set up base cards (1 more base than you have players), and each player takes two faction decks to shuffle together. Each player takes 5 of their cards into their hand and keeps the rest of their deck face down. On your turn you may play one minion card and one action card. The goal of the game is to destroy the bases, but to be the one who gets the most victory points for doing so. Some bases award the most points to the player with the highest power against that base, some award the most points to the second highest. Players must keep track of the awards for each base and how to strategically place their minions and actions to get the most victory points. The first player to 15 VP wins!
The teens really enjoyed this game, and had a lot of fun playing actions against each other that destroyed the other minions. It was a bit of a challenge for them to balance the planning and critical thinking to take the most VP from each base. This is one of my main skills I like to work on with our programs, so it was perfect. We played for about 1.5 hours, but that was with me taking away one base. Two hours would have been better, including the time it takes to teach them the mechanics of the game. The core game is made for 2-4 players, but there are various expansion sets that would allow you to add more players.
I am grateful to have received this game for free as part of the AEG Demo Program!