It should be no surprise that the 2024 Adult Winter Reading Challenge for adults is called Game On! and has a board game theme. After all, we embrace games at the library.
Not only is the winter challenge played with a bingo card, the library offers bingo sessions for adults. Add on the Chess and Checkers Club, game nights for families, scavenger hunts for youths, puzzle races, board game days, escape rooms, a large collection of board games to check out and the biggest game of them all, the Summer Reading Program, and you’ll see that games are in our library DNA.
From Jan. 1-Feb. 29, ages 18 and older can win prizes by reading or listening to four books and tracking their books by using a bingo reading log or by using the online Beanstack app.
If you read any four books, you will win a deck of playing cards or a puzzle book, a free book or a Books Revisited free book coupon, entry into grand prize drawings for a game-themed gift basket at each branch and an invite to the Belt or Savannah end-of-winter parties.
A reading bingo will earn you an additional box of candy or snack mix. Read all 16 bingo squares for a blackout and you’ll win a travel-size game.
Bingo categories include new author, award winner, biography, board game, historical, retelling, graphic novel, non-fiction, fantasy, mystery, new book, romance and any book.
“The Adult Winter Reading Challenge encourages you to read across different genres and outside your comfort zone and to try some things you might not have tried otherwise,” Belt manager Kelly Morris said.
Games are the theme of many library programs in January and February, including:
Chess and Checkers Club – 6 p.m. Thursdays, Jan. 4 & 18 and Feb. 1 & 15, Belt. Teens and adults can challenge each other to games and learn new strategies. All skill levels welcome.
Board (BORED?) Games Days – 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 27, and Mondays, Jan. 8 & Feb. 19, Savannah. Drop in to play a variety of games for all ages.
Bingo for Adults – 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, Savannah. Bring a white elephant gift for the prize table.
Book Groups – The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer will be reviewed by the Belt’s evening group at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16. The Belt’s noon group on Wednesday, Jan. 17, will discuss The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis. Savannah’s 3rd Thursday Book Group members will read books related to games and then discuss them at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18.
Nailed It! – 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, Belt. Teams of 2-4 people will take on a two-part, quasi-culinary challenge: Create a fake food masterpiece then try to recreate an edible version of it. Open to all ages, but at least one adult is needed per team. Register at events.rhcl.org/event/9362377.
Puzzle Races – 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, Belt Upper Story, and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, Savannah. Teams of three to four people (one must be an adult) will try to put together a 300-piece puzzle in the fastest time. Register for the Savannah race at events.rhcl.org/event/9438638. Register for the Belt race at events.rhcl.org/event/9362426.
Game Night at the Library – 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, Belt. 7 Wonders is the featured board game for families, or you can play other board games or bring your mobile device to play Jackbox Games.
But what could be the biggest game for families this winter is Life-Size Candy Land. The drop-in programs will be offered at 10 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, and 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Feb. 17, in the Belt Upper Story and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, and Saturday, Feb. 24, at Savannah.
