"Tween boys are particularly interested in board game competitions as a way to casually socialize with others."

~Catherine Haydon,
Cornelius Branch, PLCMC
Cornelius, NC

Monopoly Tournament

Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) serves a population of 850,000 in 24 locations.

The goals of the program were to provide children, teens and families with an opportunity to socialize and participate in a positive activity during the week of Spring Break.

Running the Program

The library provided 4 Monopoly board games (regular Parker Brothers edition) as well as Jenga, Trouble, Uno and other board games for younger kids (and for participants to play once they were eliminated from the tournament).

Participants were put into groups and played the game in one hour segments; those with the most money at the end of each hour advanced to the next round.

Marketing

The Monopoly Tournament was advertised as family event for all ages in the newspaper, on the library website, and with posters hung in the library; 6 children, 5 teens, and 4 adults attended.

Facility

The Cornelius branch hosted the Monopoly tournament in a 35-seat library meeting room.

Literacy Connections

Playing Monopoly not only requires and strengthens the players’ reading skills, but requires critical thinking skills to determine their property buying and building priorities. What is the other player's strategy? What does she gain by this property trade? Players are analyzing and organizing their information and the property and money of each additional player. Through this analysis, players draw conclusions and strategies which are continually assessed and evaluated as the game moves forward.

Impact

The participants had a great time, and many of the attendees were Monopoly enthusiasts but not regular library users. Staff were pleased this program introduced families to the variety of programs offered by the public library.

Typically, success for any new program is measured by noting the number of new attendees, as well as observing the positive reactions of the participants. Tween boys are particularly interested in board game competitions as a way to casually socialize with others. The library hopes to do this type of gaming tournament in the future.

Funding

4 Monopoly boards @ $13.99 ea
Jenga: $12.99
Uno: $9.98
Trouble: $12.99
Pretzels
Juice
Prizes: $2.00 gift certificates to a local ice cream shop for every participant
$5.00 gift certificate to a local ice cream shop and free library DVD rental for winner

Resources

For more information,please contact Catherine Haydon at chaydon@plcmc.org.

April Calendar advertising gaming event