Most of our patrons know that the UNT Media Library has thousands of movies, but our shelves are also stocked with hundreds of table-top games. We have everything from board games and puzzles to card games and trivia. There are familiar classics like chess and backgammon alongside bizarre, unique games that are unlike anything else in our collection. We have many different decks of cards and many-sided die by the dozens. The variety of games in our collection ensure that there’s always something for everyone whether you prefer brain-teasing puzzles, competitive strategy or open-ended, playful absurdity.
On Saturday, April 11th we’ll be taking our tabletop games collection across the street to Bruce Hall where UNT students will have all-day access to the very best from our tabletop games collection in celebration of International TableTop Day, a growing annual event started by the producers of TableTop, a popular web-series about games created by Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day for the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel. They have both been extremely active in the gaming community for and two of the most vocal champions of tabletop gaming in a culture that is sometimes fixated on the multi-billion dollar video game market.
They first founded International TableTop Day three years ago as a way for the world to celebrate tabletop gaming together. Every spring fans host thousands of events all over the world and every year the event grows. TableTop Day 2014 was celebrated at over three thousand events in eighty different countries all over the world. The UNT Media Library has been playing along since the beginning and this year we’re excited to team again up with UNT Residence Life to bring our love of gaming to the students of UNT. These past few years since the founding of Tabletop Day have been described as a new Golden age of Board Games thanks to “an approach to game design that considers the creation of shared social experiences to be every bit as important as writing rules or designing physical components.” There’s never been a better time to be a gamer.
Media Library Contributor Garrett Graham
We would like to welcome you to our first foray out into the Blogosphere.The Media Library will be utilizing this space as a means to discuss a variety of topics related to our collection of films, video games, and board games. For example, we may have something to say about the new Kelly Reichardt film or discuss the role of Dungeons and Dragons in the development of cognitive skills. We may discuss the merits and highlights of the Film Noir genre, or we may elucidate upon how the world in which Mario, Princess Peach, and Luigi inhabit resonates with people all over the world. There are breaking news stories, academic research, and scientific studies that relate to our little corner of the libraries and our contributors would love to expound upon. What better forum for these discussions than a UNT Media Library blog?
Our debut feature, by Media Library blog contributor Garrett Graham, highlights an upcoming day many do not know exists; International Tabletop Game Day.
Thank you for reading and feel free to comment and discuss.
