What would you do if you were met with this problem? You have a room full of teens and tweens at the library, you want to engage them in a fun and exciting program, but you can’t seem to take their attention away from their mobile devices.
I can tell you what I would do – create an entire program that allows them to participate through their device. And, if it all goes according to my plan, they may even talk to each other (gasp.)
This can be achieved by using Jackbox Party Pack video games. These aren’t your typical shoot ‘em up games or classic Mario Bros.
Instead, they are a set of mini-games that take around 15 to 20 from start to finish. There are trivia games, games where one has to come up with the funniest answer to a question that will then be voted on by the other players, and there are games where players have to try to draw a work of art on their phone or tablet.
These social party games are an easy set of games that even the most technophobe person can conquer and despite using an electronic device the entire time, the players find themselves engaged in conversation with each other.
Jackbox games make it easy to break the ice in a room full of new people, or if you play with a group of close friends, you may end up learning something new about them!
One of my favourite Jackbox games is Mad Verse City, which is a rap-lyric writing game. The player is tasked with writing rap battles against the other players by entering adjectives, nouns, etc. (like Mad Libs) but the best part is that once your rap is complete, it is “sung” by a robot.
The lyrical masterpieces that are born from this game are guaranteed to make you laugh.
The Summerland Library is excited to be bringing Jackbox games to our Teen Game Nights on the second Tuesday of September, October and November.
The first game night will be Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. This program is open to teens and tweens ages 11 to 18 and all you need to bring is a device that can connect to the internet (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.) The library has a limited number of devices to lend out to those who need them.
Kayley Robb is an assistant community librarian at the Summerland Branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.