Are you looking for some gaming fun during Spring Break? We have planned two events on March 28. No-School Day Gaming from 9:30-11:30 AM for families and students in grades 3-8, who are invited to drop in, show their St. Charles Library card, and play for as long as they like. Then, get ready for action in the afternoon, when there will be a Mario Kart Wii tournament from 1:30-4:30 PM. Students in grades 3-8 must register for the tournament to take part. There will be prizes for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place. Click here to register with the student's library card in hand, or call 630-584-9390.

New games have been ordered and are either already in the library or on their way. Either way, they can be put on hold for your St. Charles library card.

For Wii only: ATV fever, Disney Universe, Go Vacation, Mario: Sports Mix, Nicktoons MLB and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster. For XBOX360 only: Carnival games: Monkey See, Monkey Do. For all three consoles, Wii, XBOX360 and PS3: LEGO Disney Pirates of the Caribbean, Tony Hawk: Shred and Puss in Boots. Click here to check the catalog. We would like to hear about games you would like us to purchase. Please have your St. Charles library card in hand and click here to make a request. We can't purchase everything, but all requests will be considered.

National Gaming Day on November 12 was an entertaining day for everyone. 16 families came by and tried their hands at Kinect Sports, Mario Kart Wii and LEGO Rock Band. Some even broke out the board games and tried our two newest, The Greatest Day Ever and Loaded Questions Jr, which were provided to libraries across the country just for participating in National Gaming Day.

It never ceases to delight me that gamers are a sharing group of kids. They all seem willing to give each other hints on how to play the game. Seven families qualified for the drawing by staying an hour or more. The winner has been notified by email and a gift card is on the way through snail mail.

Get ready for the next all-day gaming event, as St. Charles Public Library once again takes part in National Gaming Day, on Saturday, November 12. Open games will be held in the morning and the afternoon. Tell your friends, bring your family! Be sure to bring your St. Charles Public library card.

We hope your summer was fun and you are off to another great school year! We have planned a number of gaming events this fall. You may have noticed that there are Family Drop-in Gaming dates each month. Students in 3^rd through 8^th grade are welcome to join us without their families. All that you need is your St. Charles library card. Show it at the door of the meeting room on the Family Drop-in Gaming date and you are in for up to three hours of video and board games. The next one will be on Monday, October 10 from 1:30 - 4:30 PM.

New video games are coming and will soon be available to check out or put on hold. For Wii, we already have Build-a-Bear Workshop: Friendship Valley, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Heroes, Monopoly Streets, and the Smurfs Dance Party. For PS3, Disney's Bolt has arrived. Cars 2 and Monopoly Streets will also be available in PS3 and XBOX 360. Bolt is coming for Wii and XBOX360.

Coming soon for Wii only are Honda Fever, Hot Wheels Track Attack, Namco Museum Megamix, New Carnival Games, and Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover. Other games soon to be available for all three consoles are: Ben 10, Ultimate Alien, De Blob 2 and Kung Fu Panda. Coming for you PS3 baseball fans will be MLB 11: The Show.

Keep your eye out. All of these new games will all soon be available to check out.

The Yu-Gi-Oh tournament was a hit. 15 students aged 8 through 14 competed for 3 and half hours to a gripping conclusion. One competitor was playing with a deck he had only acquired the day before. Another won all his matches except for the last one, coming in second-place. The winner hadn't played for a year, and had come looking for new friends to play with. There were many requests for a repeat. We couldn't have done it without our expert, Peter, who came from another library. 'Want more tournaments? Please let us know.

·        Tournament sign-in will be open from approximately 12:45-1:00 PM.

Walk-in registrants will not be accepted, unless pre-registrants

and waitlisters have not arrived by 12:55 PM.

·        No new registrations will be taken after 12:55 PM.

We will begin the tournament once all players are registered.

·        When you arrive at the tournament, you must check in with the tournament organizers.

·        All players may remain for the entire 3-1/2 hours. Cheer your friends to victory!

·        Prizes will be Yu-Gi-Oh card packs.

·        The program may end early.

Tournament rules

·        The tournament will be played in advanced format:

the forbidden list is in effect and will be enforced.

The forbidden, limited and semi-limited lists are on the Yu-Gi-Oh Card site.

·        No counterfeit cards allowed.

·        Players' main deck must have a minimum of 40 cards and a maximum of 60 cards.

·        Both the Side Deck and Extra Deck can have any number of cards up to a maximum of 15.

·        Decks will be checked before the tournament starts.

·        Players will be assigned numbers and paired randomly.

·        Players 5 or more minutes late to any round will automatically take a game loss.

·        Players 10 or more minutes late to any round will lose that round.

·        All players will play 4 matches regardless of their win/loss record.

·        Following the Preliminary Rounds the top 8 players will advance to the Single Elimination Rounds.

·        Single Elimination Rounds are best of 3 games.

·        Each round is limited to 30 minutes.

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New games have been ordered and will soon be available for check-out.

For Kinect, we will soon have Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do.

For Playstation 3, Little Big Planet 2.

For Playstation 3 and XBOX360, Portal 2.

For all 3 consoles, Playstation 3, Wii and XBOX360, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean and Hasbro Family Game Night 3

Put your favorites on hold before they arrive!  

Wow! I can't believe it has been two months since I blogged! Since my last entry, we had a great Mario Kart tournament. Our winner, David, had joined us for previous tournaments. I guess persistence pays off!

Due to popular demand, this summer's game tournament will be Yu-Gi-Oh, on July 28. Prizes will be more Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Bring your best deck to see how it stacks up against others'!