Games and Gaming Round Table (GAMERT)

Game On! Grant

The Games and Gaming Round Table of the American Library Association is proud to sponsor its annual grant program to enable libraries to develop gaming programs or collections for their public. Through the Game On! Grant, $2000 will be available to be awarded either as one grant of $2000 or two of $1000 each to assist a library (or libraries) in developing gaming programs or collections for their communities. This year’s grant fund includes donor-provided funds! GameRT members in good standing currently employed at a public, school, academic or special library in the United States or Canada...

GameRT Platinum Play - Platys seal

Platinum Play - Platys

The Games and Gaming Round Table is very proud to announce our classic games that we recognize as Platinum Plays – evergreen titles well-suited to Library programs and collections.

image of a green ribbon. It has a meeple, die, chess piece, and game controller icon around the edges and a platypus in the center

Platinum Play Hall of Fame

Platinum Play Hall of Fame The best games for playing in libraries! (A.K.A. The Platys ) This Hall of Fame highlights games that are great for use in library collections and library programming. Only games published 2 to 10 years prior to awarding year can be added to the Hall of Fame to help libraries find new, great games they might not have seen before. Older classic games might appear in the Classics Hall of Fame. All sorts of games are eligible, including but not limited to card games, board games, video games and role-playing games. The games should include some form of rules-bound play...

professional headshot of Kristin E. C. Green
Meet Member: Kristin E. C. Green
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GameRT Mystery Hunt

Welcome to Mystery Island! This is a game that is designed to be fun while introducing you to resources across ALA. There are riddles to solve, clues to unravel and bragging rights (and prizes!) to win. The GamerRT Mystery Hunt is a series of puzzles, similar to a scavenger hunt and a little like a virtual escape room. On the first day of the conference, we will post a link that will take you to the game. Once you’ve filled out some basic information you can read through the story and click around the various play zones. There will be three zones in total with nine total puzzle clusters to...

Our Partners

Current Partners GameRT is proud to work with many partners, not only within ALA but also in the private sector! Some of these include: RUSA NMRT GNCRT FMRT Games Workshop Wizards of the Coast 9th Level Games Albino Dragon Fireside Games Grey Fox Games Haba Konami Looney Labs Rosen Publishing Thinkfun Games Th3rd World Studios Become a Sponsor Some basics about being a sponsor for International Games Week: International Games Week is generally a week-long event, but individual libraries choose when and how to participate. We usually have around 2000 libraries participate; 2015 was our peak...

Membership

Join GameRT At only $10 on top of standard ALA membership rates, a personal membership in GameRT is a low cost way to become active in ALA in a way that channels your passions. Our members receive: A quarterly newsletter Access to members-only resources Early access to archived recordings of GameRT programs A chance to help shape gaming programs for the wider library world Newsletter Archive Coming soon! Volunteering Interested in getting involved? We’d love to have you! A list of GameRT’s current committees can be found here. Please fill out this form and we’ll be in touch! GameRT members...

History

In 2011, an existing member interest group devoted to gaming became the ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table, devoted to advocating for gaming collections and programs in libraries of every stripe. Over the years, GameRT has expanded its activities significantly. National Games Day began in 2007 and with the support of overseas partners became International Games Day in 2012, then expanded even further into International Games Week in 2017. The Game On! grant program started in 2020, and in recent years the hard work of the membership has resulted in the creation of a slate of programs for the...

Previous Presidents' Statements

2022-23 - Rebecca Strang, Children's Services Librarian, Naperville Public Library (IL) GameRT has grown a lot over the past ten years, which is something we celebrated during the GameRT President's Program at ALA Annual 2022. As we continue to think about how to expand GameRT's reach beyond annual ALA events, we've continued to grow our offering of professional development webinars and learn & play events. Over the next year, my plan is to: Expand partnerships with other round tables, such as Graphic Novels & Comics (GNCRT) and Film & Media (FMRT), to offer webinars and useful lists and...

GameRT Newsletter Archive

Games in Libraries, January 2023 Games in Libraries, August 2022 Games in Libraries, April 2022 Games in Libraries, February 2022 Games in Libraries, September 2021 Games in Libraries, June 2021 Games in Libraries, January 2021 Games in Libraries, August 2020 Games in Libraries, April 2020 Games in Libraries, January 2020 Games in Libraries, May 2019 Games in Libraries, December 2018 Games in Libraries, November 2015

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