International Games Month

The sun is setting earlier and earlier. The birds are flying south to warmer climes, and all of us left behind are huddling up at home. There’s a tell-tale change in the air that every living thing feels down to its bones: it’s almost time for International Games Month.

Join us for our inaugural Free Play Game Day! Drop in any time between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Nov. 2 to play board games, card games and more. All ages are welcome, so bring your kids. Our offerings run the gamut from classic to obscure, with party games you can learn in 30 seconds to crunchy strategy games for aficionados. The party will be in Meeting Room D at the library. There will be snacks. If this event is popular, we may schedule regular board game nights at the library, so vote with your presence.

The sponsors of International Games Month kindly provided our library with some free games. “Head Trip” is a new cooperative party game from the makers of “Cards Against Humanity.” Do you know your friends well enough to read their minds — even when they’re not themselves? Looney Labs’ “Star Trek Chrono-Trek” pits time travelers against each other as they try to change or preserve key events throughout the franchise’s history. Not your thing? Our growing collection has dozens of games to challenge and delight you.

Our newest addition is the appropriately named “SHH” by One Moment Games. You and your friends must work together to spell as many words as you can, letter by letter, with no communication. On the other hand, “Really Loud Librarians,” a party game from the makers of “Exploding Kittens,” has players racing around an alphabetical board, shouting out the first thing they think of that matches the given category.

Want something to take home? Look no further than the Print and Play page of the Games and Gaming Roundtable of the American Library Association. Choose from free options like “Star Charter,” a single-player worldbuilding adventure, and “The Elusive Pimpernel,” a historical game of secrets and strategy. As the name suggests, you simply download the file off the website, print it out, and play.

Our Dungeons & Dragons program is turning one year old. To celebrate, the library and most other businesses will close. That is to say — the Dungeons & Dragons program will not be meeting on the normal dates in November and December. Our current monthly schedule runs right up against Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, so we’re going to shuffle things around. Keep an eye on the library calendar for the rescheduled dates, plus our new schedule for 2025.