For those of us who are board or card game aficionados or just bored on a Saturday afternoon, the Good Library is now offering games available for week-long check-out.

The games are located on the 2nd floor in two locations: the lounge and the area in the back, known as “The Cage.”  There are between 20 and 30 games ranging from traditional games like Monopoly and Yahtzee to new games like Crusaders or Settlers of Catan.  Much like the books or DVDs that our library offers, these games have barcodes and date cards, and they are ready for use.

The library just made the games available this week after an increasing amount of student requests for rental games.

According to Fritz Hartman, the librarian in charge of the game project, this is just another step at fulfilling the needs of the students.

“If you look at the trends,” Hartman said, “people are spending more time with board games than in the past, and as librarians it is our job to fit the format of the trends.”

Many of the new games were chosen based on their rankings on a Web site called boardgamegeeks.com, but Hartman is also open to suggestions.

“We will try to get newer board games and keep up with the trends,” Hartman said.  “Folks should feel free to bring suggestions.”

Of the games available for check out, Hartman named Agricola as the most unique.

“The objective of the game is to be a 17th century subsistence farmer,” Hartman said, “and you’re trying to develop your farm with livestock and crops while expanding your family and house.”

According to Esther Guedea, one of the librarians, one of the challenges with a game rental program is keeping track of all the game pieces.

“It is the responsibility of the people who check out the games to bring back the whole game,” said Guedea.  “We took photos of each game and what was in it as a way to check that the games are complete.”

Regardless of concerns about keeping track of all the pieces, the librarians are hopeful that the new service will be successful.

“This is just an experiment for us,” said Guedea.  According to both librarians, other libraries have successfully implemented similar programs.

Next time students or faculty and staff are searching for something to do, remember that a wide variety of games are available right on campus!