Lowdown of the Day: March 30

Mon, 03/30/2015 - 4:00pm by andrewjmac

Time for today's Lowdown! Lowdown on what, you say? The Lowdown that will lead you toward the Download of the Day for one week from now. The what? The item handpicked by AADL for exhibiting superior greatness and that should be on your device so you can read it, listen to it, watch it, whatever it. It also gets you amazing DotD points just for downloading it! Why do I want to get it a week early? To get even more of those shiny, shiny points! Bonus points are awarded if you find and download the item before the week is up AND the first person to download the item gets the most points so you've got to be quick!

Got an idea but not sure how to look for it? Try doing a search in the catalog and selecting "Downloads" as your material! No ideas at all? Try going to our Downloads page!

Today's Lowdown:

Follow a Comstock Park minor league team to find an album where the sea is ridged.

Lowdown of the Day: March 29

Sun, 03/29/2015 - 4:00pm by andrewjmac

Time for today's Lowdown! Lowdown on what, you say? The Lowdown that will lead you toward the Download of the Day for one week from now. The what? The item handpicked by AADL for exhibiting superior greatness and that should be on your device so you can read it, listen to it, watch it, whatever it. It also gets you amazing DotD points just for downloading it! Why do I want to get it a week early? To get even more of those shiny, shiny points! Bonus points are awarded if you find and download the item before the week is up AND the first person to download the item gets the most points so you've got to be quick!

Got an idea but not sure how to look for it? Try doing a search in the catalog and selecting "Downloads" as your material! No ideas at all? Try going to our Downloads page!

Today's Lowdown:

The teen in this story shares the same last name as the woman who built, and built, and built a mystery house in CA over the course of three decades. Except this tale is the opposite of an explosion.

Lowdown of the Day: March 28

Sat, 03/28/2015 - 4:00pm by andrewjmac

Time for today's Lowdown! Lowdown on what, you say? The Lowdown that will lead you toward the Download of the Day for one week from now. The what? The item handpicked by AADL for exhibiting superior greatness and that should be on your device so you can read it, listen to it, watch it, whatever it. It also gets you amazing DotD points just for downloading it! Why do I want to get it a week early? To get even more of those shiny, shiny points! Bonus points are awarded if you find and download the item before the week is up AND the first person to download the item gets the most points so you've got to be quick!

Got an idea but not sure how to look for it? Try doing a search in the catalog and selecting "Downloads" as your material! No ideas at all? Try going to our Downloads page!

Today's Lowdown:

Asimov was famous for writing Three Laws for these emotionless mechanical marvels, but the knittable soft toys you're searching for are definitely programmed to luv.

Lowdown of the Day: March 27

Fri, 03/27/2015 - 4:00pm by andrewjmac

Time for today's Lowdown! Lowdown on what, you say? The Lowdown that will lead you toward the Download of the Day for one week from now. The what? The item handpicked by AADL for exhibiting superior greatness and that should be on your device so you can read it, listen to it, watch it, whatever it. It also gets you amazing DotD points just for downloading it! Why do I want to get it a week early? To get even more of those shiny, shiny points! Bonus points are awarded if you find and download the item before the week is up AND the first person to download the item gets the most points so you've got to be quick!

Got an idea but not sure how to look for it? Try doing a search in the catalog and selecting "Downloads" as your material! No ideas at all? Try going to our Downloads page!

Today's Lowdown:

We all scream for it, but do you know how it gets to your table? Better dig through the freezer for some delicious dairy answers!

HEADS UP: Calling Super Summer Gamers!

Fri, 03/27/2015 - 12:54pm by mariah

OK, SUMMER GAME FANS — we've been thinking, planning and scheming to make this next Summer Game THE BEST YET!

In all of this talking, dreaming, arm-wrestling, and imagining, we were reminded that the MOST POWERFUL PART of the Summer Game is YOU, the SUPER AWESOME SG PLAYERS!

So, we want to hear from you — what do YOU and your family LOVE the VERY, VERY MOST about Summer Game? Exploring the libraries and parks in person? Working through tricky riddles and puzzles to earn badges, badges, and MORE BADGES? Attending mega-fun library events? Discovering new things you didn't know that the library HAD?

Give us a quote below, about JUST WHAT IT IS YOU LOVE about Summer Game. We're working on the next library newsletter, and want to include some comments from SG players. If what you say piques our interest, we may reach out to you to see if you'd be up for having us snap a photo of you and your SG-playing family (or just you, if you haven't converted your whole family quite yet)!

So, chime in, tell us what you love... and we'll strive to give you even MORE of that this next year, too!

DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY: COOL STUFF YOU CAN KEEP FOREVER

Fri, 03/13/2015 - 4:41pm by mariah

Here at AADL, we’ve got a LOT of fantastic stuff. Some of it is physical stuff: books, movies, CDs, art prints, telescopes, all sorts of tools for art and music and your home — BUT we’ve also got LOADS of cool stuff you don’t even have to come in to the library to get! From MYSTERIES to MUSIC to CLASSICS to HOW-TOs, we have DOWNLOADS galore — we have tons of things you can keep FOREVER (or at least until you decide you don’t want them anymore)!

So — to help our awesome users discover some of our goodies, we’re launching DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY. Each day, we’ll post a Lowdown — a little hint to tip you off on something downloadable you can find by searching our catalog. You’ll have a whole week after that initial post to figure out just what that special item is and download it.

If you’re the VERY FIRST PERSON to discover the download, you’ll get 1000 points for downloading the item + 500 points for being the early bird. Those points reduce depending on how many people have found the download, so if you’re speedy, you could still get 1499, 1498, etc. points.

Once the week’s up, we’ll REVEAL just what that download is to everyone. Once the cat’s outta the bag, anyone who downloads that specific thing will still get their part of the 1000 points for downloading, but you've got to find the item in the week between when the Lowdown is dropped, and when that item is posted as the Download of the Day to get that 500 point puzzle-solving bonus!

So really, Download of the Day is a game YOU CAN’T LOSE! Either you solve some puzzles to get cool stuff, or wait until the cool stuff is highlighted. No matter what, you get to download and KEEP COOL STUFF! Also, you get POINTS!

It’s a win-win! So get to it!

Summer Game 2014: Game Over, Man! Game Over!

Tue, 09/02/2014 - 11:11am by andrewjmac

Well, Gamers, it's over. The cries of anguish have finally subsided. The tears have been wiped away. The sun rose (twice, so far!) and set (only once, but I wouldn't worry about it). But, hey, let's take a look back at how AMAZING this Summer Game really was!

Players Playing: an ASTOUNDING 4,920!
Badges Earned: an ASTONISHING 68,040!!
Codes Entered: an AMAZING 339,062!!!
Points Earned: an AWE-INSPIRING 30,033,470!!!!

In case you are wondering if those numbers BLOW NUMBERS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS OUT OF THE WATER, the answer is YES!!!

At times like these, questions long pushed to the back of the brain percolate to the top of one's consciousness: How will I live my life without the Summer Game? What can I look for at the library if there are no codes? Where will I share my opinions about things I've read/watched/listened to? What can I accomplish if I'm not earning badges? (Answers: You did just fine before June 13th! Books, CDs, DVDs, Tools, Art Prints, etc etc etc! You can still do that in the catalog, there are just no points for it! I dunno, learn to play the zither or something!)

But you can also play all of the non-Summer Game games available at play.aadl.org! Like Points-O-Matic, where you can help us figure out which reviews are helpful and which are not with a click of your mouse and where you can help us make our amazing old newspapers more searchable by entering text from hundred-year-old pages! Or Streets Quest, a game that takes you to many of the historic streets panels around town and teaches you the history of the city around you! How about Treasure Quest, a truly bonkers set of quests the will set you to decoding and deciphering your way through the catalog!

Or...how about A BRAND-NEW SET OF QUESTS, heretofore unseen in the annals of play.aadl.org! That's right, a new game is on its way! When? SOON! (But not too soon, let us recover from the Summer Game first.) Keep your eyes on play.aadl.org to find out when this new game begins!

And don't forget about all of those Summer Game points you earned this year! The Summer Game Shop stays open until 5 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH, so get there and spend spend spend!

That's all for now! You players are what makes the Summer Game GREAT, and this year has been the GREATEST YEAR EVER, so thanks for a TRULY PHENOMENAL SUMMER GAME! And, one last time for 2014...

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Badge Drop #12: The Final Badge-Down!

Fri, 08/29/2014 - 4:54pm by mariah

OH. MY. GOSH. Can you, will you, DO you BELIEVE IT?!



The summer has ZOOMED by, week-by-week, badge drop-by-badge drop. We know someone else used the slogan "good to the last drop," but we REALLY MEAN IT. So, THIS (badge) drop is OVERFLOWING with 21 MARVELOUS BADGES!



Most of them declare you the MASTER of something. Want a title to flaunt to all your friends? You could be a WILD KINGDOM MASTER! Or, you could be a BUNNY HOP MASTER — slightly less imposing-sounding, but MUCH more cuddly! What will YOU MASTER? Cryptography? Botany? Exploring? You STILL HAVE TIME to finish up the last badge or two in a series and SCORE that title (and badge!).



Let's get to it:

So...there's only a teeny, tiny little bit of sand left in the METAPHORICAL HOURGLASS of the SUMMER GAME! So, waste no time, dear players! GET TO IT! Enter in your reading/listening/watching, add in those reviews you've been dreaming up, visit branches and other spots around town, and COME SAY HI at our SG Wrap Party this weekend!



There are just about 55 HOURS left until the Summer Game's STUNNING CONCLUSION! You have until 11:59 SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 to earn THOSE FINAL SUPER-SPECIAL BADGES! We KNOW you can squeak in a few more. WE BELIEVE IN YOU!



We're already getting a little misty-eyed over here, thinking how we'll miss SG14, but... don't worry, we're also SCHEMING FOR SG15. So, don't spend TOO much time getting nostalgic — hop to it! Let's wrap up Summer Game 2014 in STYLE!



As always, this year and every year...



THANKS FOR PLAYING!

It's the FINAL SHOP UPDATE!

Fri, 08/29/2014 - 3:10am by eli

ATTENTION SUMMER GAME SHOPPERS! We're sorry for the delays in getting this last shop update out to you, as you may know, it's been ONE CRAZY SUMMER at AADL! And a lot of that is thanks to YOU! In a GOOD WAY! So here it is... the final shop update you've been waiting for. We are thrilled to release a TOTALLY NEW ITEM for the end of the game, and we hope you'll enjoy our new WAXY RAINBOW GEL STICKS! But that's not all... we also have the long-awaited release of the 2014 SUPREME SUMMER GAME MASTER SET and the 2014 PENULTIMATE PRIZE PACK, plus the TINY ERASER FANATIC SET!

And we're also happy to announce a small restock of a few hot items. We managed to find 20 more Snack Boxes, and 40 more pairs of Binoculars.. so have at them! But please, if you've already got these items, let someone else have a chance this time!

Lots of good items are still available! Remember that Summer Game 2014 ends at Midnight on August 31st, but The 2014 Summer Game Shop will close at 5 PM on Monday, September 15th! Will will also hold your items for pickup until the end of October, but Shop Orders not picked up by the end of October will be returned to the Summer Game Shop Inventory!

So, happy shopping, and we hope to see you at The Summer Game 2014 Wrap Party at Malletts Creek this Sunday from 2-4 PM! Drop in anytime to meet staff and players and earn a special badge! And as always....

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Badge Drop #11: Drop the Beat

Fri, 08/22/2014 - 7:22pm by andrewjmac

Okay Summer Gamers, it's Friday, and Friday means BADGE DROP! And this week we have a very special musical episode of Summer Game Badge Drop. We've got a few new Pop Music badges for you and some musical installments of Lydia and Constellations. I guess that's it for the musical theme really, but what can you expect? Isn't part of what you love about the Summer Game how CRAZY RANDOM it is? We've got plenty for you non-music lovers, too, including a new Explorer (this time you are headed to the UM Museum of Natural History!) and TWO Player Picks from fabulous players KathyD and Zigzagog!


Let's go to the badgelist:

Now that your brains are all salivating over delicious new badges, there's something we should discuss. It's August 22, which means fall is on its way soon. And if there's one thing we leave behind in the fall (get it, leave, like the leaves fall, nevermind), its the Summer Game! That's right, there are only 10 DAYS LEFT before the Summer Game closes its doors for another season. So what does that mean for you, dear player? It means you've got until midnight on Sunday, August 31 to earn all of those badges you've been putting off, tag, rate, and review all of those items in the catalog, and get to all of those library branches, local businesses, and terrarium locales to complete your code collections! That's 10 DAYS AND COUNTING!



And, as always--say it along with me--THANKS FOR PLAYING!