Blog Post
Badge Drop #5: Let's Talk SHOP!
by SaraP
GREETINGS, SG SUPER FANS!!! Hope you all had a fun CHIME over the holiday weekend—and survived the HEAT! This week we have another crop of all new, variously puzzling badges. But, before you start trying to CONNECT all our DOTS, we also have BIG NEWS…
The SUMMER GAME SHOP is now OPEN for orders! Order up to 4 prizes—whichever ones you want as long as you have the points for them! Last day to place an order is Monday, September 1st! We’re ready for a WAVE of orders for significant stickers, on-point pins, ARTful puzzlers, and pink plushies that are sure to fly off our shelves. Speaking of which…after years of struggling to meet demand for our annual “pants” stuffies, we’ve ordered 4,000 SG Flamingopants to try and get everyone a plush pal! But if they run out, THAT’S IT! So, if not getting one will leave you feeling BLUE, order it sooner rather than later. Most things won’t run out, though, because they are easier for us to restock!!!
Now, listen up KIDS, because a BIG CHANGE is coming to PRIZE PICKUPS!
This year, when your Summer Game Shop order is ready, you’ll have ONE WEEK to pick up your prizes at whichever library you choose. You can LICHEN the process to the hold pickup process for library books and stuff. When your order is ready, we let you know you have ONE WEEK to MEANDER on over to get it! EXCEPT, if you meander too slowly and you miss your pickup week, we won’t put your prizes back into circulation; instead, missed pickups will be sent to offsite storage and we’ll give you further instructions about how to get your hands on your order. Don’t worry, you won’t lose it! Just check that email you’ll get the Monday after your order was due to be picked up, and you’ll know how to claim your missed order!
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING??? To combat the TOWERs of prize bins we used to hold at our info desks for months on end. It’s too many!! We needed to get out from UNDER this mayhem and landed on a new, but hopefully familiar, WAY TO GO with pickups!
IF MEMORY SERVES, we’ve already reminded everyone to register your lawn codes before sticking them into your lawns, but GOOD lawn signs make GOOD NEIGH-BORS, so we’re saying it again!
Okay enough of this already! Here you go…
BADGE DROP #5
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Grab your CREW, have FUN, and THANKS for PLAYING!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #4: THURSDAY?! Is that you?? Oh, HEYYYYYYYYY!
by emjane
A Summer Game badge-drop on a THURSDAY?! This is ONE FOR THE BOOKS, folks! Yes, we’ve hit that magical “every-six-years-or-so-depending-on-leap-years” season when Thursday puts on its Friday shoes and tries a badge drop on for size!
Plus we have a DOUBLE TROUBLE drop of Points-o-Matic Contributor’s Trophies, catered to fit your needs, whether you’re working on your STREAK or your massive QUANTITY of points.
Speaking of massive quantities . . . Y’ALL DID IT! You got POM TUNNEL VISION and identified the massive quantities of News Sprinter images we have! FRANKLIN, MY DEAR that is some IN-SPIRE-ING WORK!!!! News Sprinter is going into hibernation for the summer, but if you haven’t met yet, we are pleased to introduce you to TEXT RECTIFIER!!! They’re the new kid on the POM block, and we can’t wait to see y’all put your EYES TO THE CHALLENGE of RECTIFYING all that text!
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!!! You’ve flipped your calendar over to July and your SG Spidey Sense is tingling because we all know July means the SUMMER GAME SHOP opening is just around the corner!!! You can peruse what’s on offer this year RIGHT NOW, but the shop officially opens 7/11. Stay tuned next week for ALLLLLLLLL the shop deets, including updates to how prize pickup works! But that’s all in your FUTURE!
In your PRESENT is this badge drop, filled to the brim with WONDERS and dressed in its THURSDAY finest! You’ve got a whole extra day this week to go ALL AROUND TOWN (and around the catalog) to earn points and badges. AND a whole extra day to REMEMBER TO REGISTER THE CODE ON YOUR LAWN SIGN!!!!! But, really, we’d be happiest if you remembered to do it RIGHT NOW! Your friends and neighbors are CLAMORING for it!!!
Also, SGHQ will be CLOSED for the holiday on July 4, but we'll BE BACK answering your emails and giving extra hints on July 5!!
BADGE DROP #4
THANKS for PLAYING!!! And, Thursday, this badge drop really suits you!! Wear it again in 2031?!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #3: Register Your Lawn Code!!!
by SaraP
Welcome back, dear players—
***aaack aaack aaack***
We interrupt this Badge Drop with an important announcement!
***aaack aaack aaack***
The not-national Summer Game Service has issued a moderate Lawn Code MIX-up warning. Over 2,000 Lawn & Library Codes have been registered, but SOME have not. Players are reporting 1-4 instances of unregistered Lawn Codes per neighborhood FROLIC. Impact: mild to moderate FROLIC FRUSTRATION every time a player tries to redeem a code that doesn’t work. Recommended Action: HOP ON OVER to your My Players page to REGISTER or RE-REGISTER YOUR LAWN CODE! Lawn Codes must be registered every year!!!!!!!
And remember, Lawn Codes are not like Pokemon—it is NOT possible to catch 'em all!!!
***aaack aaack aaack***
This concludes the Summer Game HQ alert.
Your regularly scheduled Badge Drop will now resume.
***aaack aaack aaack***
—Welp, now that we have that out of the way, we’re on a MISSION to bring you the badges that really MATA to you—like a SUPER SEARCH of some sort, or CHICKEN doing things. It’s only NATURAL, though, that we share some updates first…
1. Next week’s Friday Badge Drop is actually a THURSDAY BADGE DROP. Have we lost all our SENSES?!? Are we completely OUT of marbles??? The answer is NO!! The Library, and therefore Summer Game HQ, will be closed for July 4. We just sensed that dropping badges a day late would lead to bad reviews.
2. Speaking of reviews, our oodles of STAR GIVERS and SUPER REVIEWERS have been POLLEN out allllll the stops by reviewing and rating pages upon PAGES of stuff!! So here’s a buffet of contributor trophies so good you can TASTE the victory!!
Okay KIDS (and grownups). We know you're ready. We know no weather is too HAUTE for you—you say BUHRING IT ON!!! So we say HERE YOU GO!
(But for real, register those Lawn Codes, friends…)
BADGE DROP #3
Go, go go! After all, you’ve got less than SEVEN days until the next drop!!!
Oh and THANKS for PLAYING!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #2: TWO New Things!!!
by SaraP
Well, well, well! Here we are exactly TWO days, eighty-four hours, one-thousand two-hundred-sixty minutes, and ten-thousand-eight-hundred seconds since our last REM-ARK-ABLE badge drop! When you spell it out like that, it sounds like ancient HISS-story! In reality, it’s been exactly one week!! But what a SUPER week it’s been!! You guys sure are pro code FINDERS, expert LOG JAMMERS, and serious SCATTERLOGGERS (by the way, we have some badges for that)!!! Plus, the outpouring of love for Super Search’s new digital THREADS is absolutely JAWSOME!!!
Believe it or not, we have even more Summer Game tom FOOLERY afoot! As of today, you can: Play TEXT RECTIFIER and create or join LEAGUES!!!
But WAT-ER THOSE, you ask??? Let us set the SCENE . . .
First up, SGHQ and the AADL Archives proudly present TEXT RECTIFIER! Are you looking to get more air in your SG? Happy to shred all day at the Points-O-Matic SKATEPARK? Well you're in luck!! This Points-O-Matic mode shows you a word in an old newspaper article, you type what you see, and—OLLIE GEE—you’re exactly 1 point aHEAD of where you were before!!! Rinse and repeat! You’ll be helping us rectify some gnarly OCR data in our local history collection! ;D
And then we have LEAGUES!!!
A league is a private leaderboard for you to share with your family and/or pals. Create or join a league from your My Players page or from the Leaderboard. You can show your siblings/parents/coworkers/etc who the REAL boss is, without sifting through CALAMITOUSLY long rows of public leaderboard shenanigans before getting to your well-earned bragging rights. Keep in mind:
- You don’t earn points for making or joining leagues—leagues are just for fun!!!
- WHOEVER has your league code CAN JOIN, so share wisely—you won’t be able to delete anyone from your league (not even your frenemy with 380,257 million gazillion points already!).
- Leagues are only visible to their members, don’t have any chat functions, and won't get you any extra points. We pinky swear they are still fun!!
And with that, it's time to decide whether you are IN or OUTSIDE this week (or both!) . . .
BADGE DROP #2
Either way, we know all our players and adoring fans have always been in a league of their OWN!!
THANKS for PLAYING!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #1: ONEderful News!
by SaraP
Wondering when and where we will release our first in several series of SG badges? WHERE have you been?! (Probably creating hundreds of L&L Codes.) The news is out: It’s Badge Drop Friday, folks!!!! And it’s dropping right here, right now! So SCRAP those plans for climbing TREES or staying COOL in the POOL! This is a FANTASTIC and PERRY large lineup of puzzles, puns, and ADVENTURE to be had!!!
Plus, SUPER good news! The Super Search puzzles you’ve come to love are still extremely tricky and still available as printable pdfs (AS IF we would ever make them easy!). BUT if you’re thinking “UGH! I hate tricky things and I hate writing utensils!” then you’ll be delighted to learn that Super Search puzzles are now also fully playable as digital puzzles on each badge page—complete with HINTS!! Surely that is MUSIC to even the most pencil-averse of listeners!
Extra news: Leaderboard standings will start updating on Monday! Perhaps your poolside daydream is to make it big on the leaderboard. Or maybe your dream is to be the CENTER of attention with just your besties! We’ve been TAKING COUNCIL with your daydreams and may or may not be able to TRANSFORM your experience. Either way, LEAGUES—basically private leaderboards—are coming in exactly one week!!!! So, start forming an ALLIANCE with your pals and maybe you can be the MANE CHARACTER in your (or somebody else’s) leaderboard League!!! We’ll have ALL the details next week!
Whatever you do, make sure you walk, run, hop, skip, drive, RIDE, just get yourself Downtown somehow this weekend for one of the biggest code BONANZAS of the game: A2CAF—this Saturday (10am-5pm) and Sunday (11am-5pm)!!! You won’t be BOARD, because you’ll be FINDING points and CATCHERing badges!
Badge Drop #1
Okay, all you little MEGAFANS, YOU NOSE THE DRILL! THANKS for PLAYING!
Blog Post
SUMMER GAME 2025: Let's GOOOO!!!
by SaraP
It’s GAAAAAAME DAAAAAAY!! No, not that game day! It’s the number one day of the SUMMER GAME, because it’s literally DAY NUMBER ONE!!! So bust out that #1 FAN foam finger that can surely be re-purposed for this game and scream “SUMMER GAME 2025 HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!!!!!!!!” at the top of your lungs (we cannot guarantee your neighbors are okay with this).
Here at SG Headquarters, our FACEPAINT is ON, the COFFEE is MADE, at least one file cabinet is PLASTERED with SG STICKERS, our official summer POM POMS are SOMEWHERE, and we have ENTHUSIASM (and golf pencils) in SPADES. DO YOU???
Because RIGHT NOW you can:
-START with our GETTING STARTED BADGES! You can even read our GETTING STARTED page!
-GO to each AADL location and collect codes! Each branch has a BIG ‘OL BANNER CODE as well as some BRANCH EXPLORER codes within each library building. CAN YOU FIND THEM ALL??? Pick up a Summer Game Explorer’s Guide from any of the desks to help in your search!!
-PLAY our fresh new Scatterlog puzzles EVERY DAY!! Or the ACTUALLY ENDLESS Points-o-Matic!
-VISIT the AADL catalog to rate and review some things you like (or don’t like??). WE WANNA KNOW!
-READ books, watch movies, listen to music, or download something cool from the catalog! Be sure to LOG your items each day!!
-ATTEND events either in-person or online and find the CODES EVERYWHERE!
-CREATE your very own LAWN or LIBRARY CODE!! You know, the lawn signs in lawns and the super cute little code cards on super cute little Summer Game Stop poles??! THAT'S RIGHT—you've got the green light to DUST OFF last year's lawn sign (or stop by for new lawn or card supplies) and HAVE PUN coming up with your 2025 code! Register your code (even if you are re-using your sign!!!) on your My Players page around the same time you put it out!
-BROWSE The Summer Game Shop NOW to prep for your future POINTS-SPENDING SPREE!
-CONSULT our BRAND-NEW list of IMPORTANT SUMMER GAME DATES as often as you like to stay at the top of your game!
-GET HYPED for absolutely no other reason besides the fact that SUMMER GAME SEASON HAS STARTED!!!!!
And COMING SOON:
-BADGE DROPS be dropping at NOON every FRIDAY of SG, starting…THIS FRIDAY of course! So, CLEAR THOSE CALENDARS, folks!!
-LEADERBOARD standings will begin updating Monday, June 16. In the meantime, SERENITY NOW!!!
-POINTS-O-MATIC is introducing a NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN mode on June 20th! You'll be points-o-matic-ing things LEFT and RIGHT faster than you can text 'K' to your parents (or your kids)!
-THE SUMMER GAME SHOP opens for orders on July 11! But you CAN view the prizes right now! If you want. You probably aren't even that into prizes.
-AND MORE!!!!!!!!! You'll be in a LEAGUE of your own, soon enough :D
Getting Started Badge Series
We know you’re PUMPED! We know you love a CHALLENGE! But if you get REALLY STUCK, fill out the form at ContactUs and describe your issue—you'll get PERSONALIZED HELP delivered right to your inbox where it belongs (not on the badge comment thread). We. Are. READY!!!
Well what are you waiting for???? GET GOING and THANKS FOR PLAYING!
Blog Post
Coming Soon: The Summer Game 2025!
by richretyi
It's almost time for SUMMER GAME 2025!
We're (pickle fairy) dusting everything off as we prepare for launch. But in the meantime, we have a few friends to keep you company. Stay tuned for summer fun STARTING WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11—including but not limited to...
- The Reading Game!
- Badges, badges, badges!!
- Lawn & Library codes!!!
- Points, points, points!!!!
- Sneak peeks at The Summer Game Shop!!!!!
- Important Summer Game Dates!!!!!!
- More, more, more!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to our fantastic Summer Game artist Meg Lewis, who'll be stopping by AADL for an event this summer!
Not sure what the Summer Game is? Check out our Getting Started page to get a peek at what all the fuss is about.
Blog Post
A NEW RE-CODE!!
by ohheyitselle
Someone call the Guinness Book of World Records because we BROKE SOME re-CODES!!
(…like RECORDS but CODES…get it?)
EITHER WAY, what we here at SG headquarters are trying to say is that this SG was one for the RECORD BOOKS!!! SG 2023 made a splash as our biggest Summer Game at the time, but we didn’t expect the HUGE WAVE Summer Game 2024 would make!!!
Summer Game 2024 had 14,672 players!!!! That’s 2,043 MORE players than last year marking this summer RECORD BREAKING!!
Speaking of re-CODES, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that SG 2024 had a whopping 3,534 CODES in effect… BUT 2,149 of them were LAWN & LIBRARY CODES!! That’s right! YOU, the players, created a lot more codes than we did here at SG Headquarters!!! Turns out that Lawn & Library Code Stops were UNMATCHED this summer!! This may not be a surprise to you if you happened to see those little lawn signs popping up all over town like DANDELIONS!
But let’s not pretend that the 227 BADGES didn’t give those Lawn & Library codes a run for their money though… Badges were redeemed a whopping 394,194 times this summer which is ALSO our highest number yet (surprising NO ONE at this point!!)
But what do ALL THOSE 14,672 players do with ALL THOSE codes and badges???? EARN POINTS, of course!!!
Players earned a total of 390,158,384 POINTS which is a big enough number that some of us have to think about how to say it outloud… OR you can just say that’s a 35.1% INCREASE in points earned from last year!! ANOTHER RECORD (aren’t you glad we didn’t say re-code??)
Whew. All that record breaking can be exhausting and may leave you ready to cozy up to some winter weather and lie in wait until Summer Game 2025 starts on Wednesday, June 11, 2025!
BUT if you’re not quite ready to put your SG love in hibernation mode… Be sure to be on the lookout for BYTE CLUB!! You can sign up for more information HERE!!
Oh, and one more thing!
*drumroll please*
ONE BIG, RECORD BREAKING... THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!! There would be no SG without SGP (aka Summer Game Players)!!! Thank you all for making this the biggest Summer Game yet!!!!
Blog Post
Byte Club is For AADL Super Fans and Library People Like You!
by richretyi
Welcome to Byte Club! For AADL SUPER FANS and library people like you!
You love the Library and probably share your enthusiasm for AADL all the time. You play the Summer Game, you know how to freeze a request, you've been to our festivals and expos, and you get excited when our new brochures come out or you scan the Observer's calendar and circle all the Library events you're excited to attend.
You might have multiple AADL t-shirts, mugs, notebooks, totes, and maybe even a menagerie of tiny stuffed animals. You might already have a favorite library and favorite library memory. You might have been a patron for decades or maybe you're brand new to town and your relationship with the library is just beginning. Enthusiasm is all that’s needed for Byte Club!
Byte Club is a way to get closer to everything happening at the Library. A way to spread the word about how much you love your Library. Byte Club will also give you sneak peeks into upcoming AADL events, programming, and cool new things coming soon. Byte Club will help you connect deeper with the Library and like-minded Library people around town. We want to make sure everyone who loves the Library has a chance to be part of Byte Club.
Interested?
Click here to fill out a sign-up form to join the Byte Club mailing list and be one of the first to be part of this exciting new way to engage with your Library.
More details about Byte Club will be emailed to Byte Club members and announced on our website later in September.
Blog Post
Badge Drop #11: Sweet Endings
by ohheyitselle
HOLY CANNOLI!!! Summer Game is swiftly coming to a close…CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT?? The Summer Game ends at 11:59pm on Sunday, August 25th!!!
It’s always sad to see Summer Game go, but if you find yourself CRAVING to revisit Scatterlog, we’re planning on opening the Scatterlog Archives on Monday, August 26th! Oh, and be sure to clean your PLATE- er, LAWN CODE SIGN so you can keep it for next year!!
All that being said, we have one last SWEET TREAT for you all…
For those players out there who have spent all summer CINNAMON ROLL-ing to ALL AADL locations for those Building Codes and BEAR CLAW-ing your way through all your favorite badges series… it’s time for your DESSERT!!!
FEAST your eyes on this year’s COMPLETIONIST BADGES, d-ÉCLAIR yourself a COMPLETIONIST, and DONUT miss out on earning some extra points to spend in the Summer Game Shop before it closes on Monday, September 2 at 11:59pm!!
Be sure you save some SG room for the CHERRY ON TOP… the Game Over Gala is on SUNDAE (aka Sunday), August 25th from 2:00pm to 4:00pm!!
BADGE DROP #11
Thank you for always making our summer SWEETER, and as always, THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!!!
