Courtesy of AADL
Dozens of Ann Arborites gathered just outside the Ann Arbor District Library’s “Secret Lab” on Wednesday, tucked away in the dimly lit basement of the building, for the seventh event hosted by AADL as part of their acclaimed “Summer Game.” Buzzing with excitement and ready to garner hundreds, if not thousands, of points towards the game, residents of all ages awaited the opening of the doors at 5:30 p.m. Not thirty minutes after the mixer’s commencement, at least thirty people had entered the space, hunting for codes and creating crafts.
Rich Retyi, AADL’s communications and marketing manager, says the idea of a summer game has existed since the 1930s in the form of reading challenges. The Summer Game as Ann Arbor knows it today emerged in 2011 with the introduction of a point-based reward system to encourage “primarily kids” to get involved with the library’s resources and the community at large.
Since its modernization, the Summer Game has increased significantly in popularity. Retyi says that last summer they hit record numbers of participants, amassing nearly 15,000 sign-ups. This year, they’re on track to beat that record; more than 11,000 players and 3,000 lawn signs with redeemable codes for Summer Game points have been registered already.
There are three different avenues to the game: the summer reading game, explorer codes, and online codes. Each earn players points that can land them on a city-wide leaderboard or grant purchasing power for prizes on their website’s shop, like AADL-branded t-shirts or coffee from Roos Roast.
The first avenue, the reading game, is just that—a reading game. By reading ten books, kids can earn 2,000 Summer Game points, a free book, or $1 off a book at the Friends of the AADL shelf at any AADL location. Teens and adults, however, can complete the challenge by consuming ten “anythings”: books, podcasts, magazines, articles, or pieces of content.
The online challenge is a bit different. Every Friday (and once or twice on a Thursday), AADL publishes weekly themed puzzles that can be solved by “savvy searches of the catalog and the web.” By interacting with the library’s online materials, you can attain badges that will be displayed for all on your gamer profile and, of course, earn points toward your total.
The third, most interactive, facet of the game is the explorer codes. Found on lawn signs across town, at all AADL sites, and obtained by attending Summer Game events, Retyi says the explorer codes are a way to motivate people to get out and interact with their community. The lawn signs, posted outside of gamers’ residences, reference familial inside jokes, pet names, or, in some cases, send political messages. Each lawn code is worth 100 points. Resident Jenna Dawson says she and her kids once found more than 1,000 points’ worth of lawn signs in a day.
Dawson says she plays with her kids to get out and interact with her neighbors and to expose her children to different parts of the community. Dawson says she’s loved finding lawn codes in unexpected places. Once, she found one all the way out in Ypsilanti.
Anna McLean
For some, though, this is more than just a game. Monika Martinez has been playing for three years with her daughters and grandson, even hitting the number seven spot on the leaderboard one year. Martinez, hailing from the Dominican Republic, says that Summer Game has given her the opportunity to learn English with her community while exploring the city. This year, from her online and in-person quests, she’s already collected over 64,000 points.
Retyi, though, is adamant that no matter how many points you earn or how high up on the leaderboard you are, there is no official winner of the Summer Game. Retyi explains that you can’t get more than four prizes in the Summer Game gift shop, and that the most “expensive” items are worth 25,000 points each, capping the maximum amount of points needed for awards at 100,000. Last year, the number one spot on the leaderboard was held by Player #902 with 459,876 points, but was not officially recognized by AADL.
“Some people just decide that they are going to win, and we give no recognition. There’s no trophy. There’s no extra anything,” he says. “You play how you want to play. We just have some very competitive people.”
One of those dedicated competitors is Cheryl Orosz, or as known on the leaderboard, CherylO. Orosz says she’s always been a big proponent of the library, and that she originally got into the Summer Game because it was something fun she could do as a stay-at-home mom. Since then, she’s often ranked in the top ten on the leaderboard.
Right now, Orosz sits at number thirty-six with 108,801 points. She says that her favorite way to earn points is through the badge challenges, which feature library catalog and web quests to earn points. Orosz has her own lawn sign this year, too. Her code, which won’t be advertised here, is a play on her Summer Game username, if you can find it in the community.
AADL will be hosting six more events before the conclusion of the Summer Game, including more mixers, a Summer Game Skate event at Yost Ice Arena, and a celebration on July 26. The celebration will feature circus performances, lawn games, ice cream, and of course, lots of codes.
Lawn signs are still available for pickup at any AADL library, and all codes will be redeemable until 11:59 p.m. on August 24. Ordering for the Summer Game Shop opened on July 11, and the last day to shop is September 1. Learn more about the Summer Game here.
There’s a lot of depth to the online badges in the summer game. For example, last year there were a number of badges exploring the history of Ann Arbor. I’ve learned some of our city history and other fun facts by doing the badges. Shout out to the AADL librarians and staff who put in A LOT of work to pull all the badges and codes together into a wonderful summer game!