Greetings, Summer Gamers! We here at Summer Game Central Headquarters have woken up from our post-SG nap to bring you the thing you've been waiting for but never knew you needed: stats! We've crunched all of the numbers and discovered something not entirely unexpected: SUMMER GAME 2016 WAS THE BIGGEST YEAR EVER! More players, more badges, more codes, more points, more of almost everything! Let's take a closer look at:

Players
6,183 players scored points in Summer Game 2016! That's a 13.6% increase over last year, which had been bigger than any year before!

Badges
Players earned 90,310 Summer Game 2016 badges this summer, up 18.8% from last year! There were a total of 197 badges created that were possible to earn (which makes us sad, because we were SO CLOSE to a nice round number). That means that each badge was earned an average of 458 TIMES!! And, just in case you were wondering, the top three badges were the Super Traverwood Master badge (1,637 earns), the Super Malletts Master badge (1,743 earns), and the Super Summer Reader badge--which an astounding 2,867 players earned!!!

Codes
Players redeemed codes a total of 456,555 times in 2016! That's UPUPUP a WHOPPING 29.2% over last year! We created 993 codes this year that could have been redeemed (again, SO CLOSE to that round number!), which means that each code was typed in an average of 460 times! Having fully analyzed the data, we here in the Summer Game bunker have determined that YOU GUYS REALLY LIKE HUNTING FOR CODES!! We'll be sure to remember this next year.

Reviews
9,312 reviews were added to the AADL catalog this summer! That's an average of 1.5 reviews for each player, which doesn't seem like much right? But look what you all can do when you band together: NEARLY 10,000 REVIEWS IN 3 MONTHS!! That's a lot of opinions!

Ratings
81,820 items were rated by Summer Gamers this year, meaning each of you rated an average of 13.2 items! We're seeing STARS!!

Tags
157,299 tags were placed this summer on items in the AADL catalog! That comes out to an average of 25.4 tags from each of you! And for those of you who would ever doubt the intentions of your fellow players, on average 3.5 tags were placed per item--real, useful tags, not just point grinding!! All of this love for the AADL catalog warms our hearts!

Read/Watched/Listened
Players reported an average of 3,704 pages or minutes reading, watching, or listening to things this summer! Which is pretty good! But here's the amazing part: all of those 3,704s add up to a tremendous 22,902,128 PAGES/MINUTES THIS SUMMER!! If you guys don't watch out, Ann Arbor's going to end up one of the readingiest cities in the country--whoops, too late. And that nearly 23 MILLION doesn't even count all of the pages and minutes we forgot to report (especially here at SGHQ, boy did we forget)!

Points
A record 135,370,776 POINTS WERE EARNED THIS YEAR!! That comes out to an average of 21,894 points per player, plenty enough to get yourself TWO AADL T-SHIRTS! TWO!! Speaking of spending points in the shop, you spent 101,541,500 points this year. That's more than any other year BY A LOT, in fact 31% more than last year!! Guess you found some things you liked in there this year, huh? We'll keep that one in mind for next year, too!!

As we said, we've done the math and all of those tagsreviewsratingsrwlcodesbadges add up to ONE SERIOUSLY GREAT SUMMER GAME! We here at the Summer Game Command Center had a blast making the game this year and hope that YOU feel like it was the best year ever, whatever the numbers say! So now's your chance to pipe up and tell everyone what you thought was GREAT about this Summer Game: FAVORITE BADGES, GREATEST PRIZES, AWESOMEST PLACES TO GATHER CODES, it's all fair game in the comments!

And while you do that, the Summer Game settles in for its winter slumber. The tags and reviews are well nestled into their catalog items. The codes have all been typed in and tucked in. Badges have been dutifully hung on player pages with care. Even the SG Shop has been boarded up for the season. And we, your faithful gamemakers, will descend into our recharging pods deep in the bowels of the Summer Game Nerve Center, only to emerge next June to do it anew--except that we've got a library to run! Don't forget that just because the Summer Game stops, your library doesn't stop being awesome! Keep checking out all of the cool stuff, from books to movies to synthesizers to vinyl! Keep heading to great library programs! And keep visiting all of our locations around town, including the just-opened Westgate Branch!! AADL is here for you all year round, even if the Summer Game can't be!!!

That's probably enough of our nonsense for now, except to make sure we tell you THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT SUMMER GAME! THANKS FOR LOVING THIS AS MUCH AS WE DO!! AND THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

IT'S TIME, SUMMER GAMERS. We all knew it would come. The final badge drop of 2016. Guess it's all over...EXCEPT THAT IT'S NOT! Have YOU earned every badge? Every MASTER BADGE, too? Or is the badgelist a sea of grayed-out badge images, taunting you with their UNDONENESS? MOCKING YOU? Are you going to let them judge you that way? THEY CAN'T TREAT YOU LIKE THIS! THEY'RE ONLY PNGs, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!

It's time to regain your dignity! Your pride! Your point balance! That's right, you don't just get those beautifully opaque images filling up your computer screen. Once you've completed all of the badges in each series, you'll be awarded that series's('s) MASTER BADGE, worth 500 TO 1000 POINTS! That's on top of the points you got for the BADGES in the SERIES! And the points you got for the CODES in those BADGES! THAT'S A LOTTA POINTS, MAN!

Jeez, that's so many points, what would you even DO with them all? If only there were some kind of a SUMMER GAME SHOP where you could spend them all. And if only that shop had some NEW, INCREDIBLE PRIZES, the kind you might save for the VERY END OF SUMMER. Prizes like a BRAND-NEW, NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN AADL T-SHIRT, available in THREE, count 'em THREE DIFFERENT COLORS!! Or a bag of YUMMY, SCRUMMY AADL-BRANDED CHOCOLATES, which you can get in MILK or DARK CHOCOLATE!! Or a TWISTY, TURNY, MIND-BENDY TANGLE TOY, guaranteed not to ever straighten out!! IF ONLY.

Now that your appetite is appropriately whetted for badges and points and prizes, feast your eyes on these 20 AMAZING MASTER BADGES:



(Remember, if you haven't received a Master Badge for a series you've already completed the other badges in DON'T FREAK OUT! Go do something to score some points and that MASTER BADGE will find its way to YOU!)

But then, after you've found all of those codes and earned all of those Master Badges and spent your points and gotten your prizes, there just won't be anything left..EXCEPT THAT THERE IS! Now isn't too soon to get out your finest AADL gear, brush off your friend code notebook, and make sure you have a ride to the SUMMER GAME 2016 GAME OVER GALA!!! We're taking this summer out in style with a one-night only BUILDING-WIDE SCAVENGER HUNT, a FREE PHOTOBOOTH, BADGE COLORING PAGES, and PROBABLY SOME PUNCH! Come meet other Summer Gamers and Gamemakers! Send off Summer Game 2016 the way it DESERVES!

ARE YOU FEELING IT? THE NEED FOR MORE POINTS, MORE BADGES, MORE PRIZES, MORE EVENTS, MORE EVERYTHING(SES)?!? Then GET OUT THERE and finish your Summer Game with APLOMB, PANACHE, and ELAN! Remember, you've only got 5 DAYS LEFT in Summer Game 2016! MAKE THEM GOOD ONES!! AND THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Can you BELIEVE it’s ALREADY (nearly) HERE? Is your mind BOGGLED that it’s FINALLY (almost) OVER? Are you AMAZED to hear that after a LONG and GLORIOUS summer, it’s finally, truly, really…the SECOND-TO-LAST BADGE DROP OF 2016?!?!?!?!

Okay, sure, it’s not the VERY LAST one. But who needs to be the ULTIMATE when the PENULTIMATE is so incredibly IMPORTANT?! Where would we be without the second-to-last rung on a ladder? FLAT ON OUR BUTTS in a STEW of EMBARRASSMENT, that’s where! And what would we do without the second-to-last PIECE of your “CATS AT PLAY” JIGSAW PUZZLE? You’d be left FRUSTRATED and FOREVER WONDERING if that cat on the right HAS A NOSE OR NOT!

And what on EARTH would we do without the PENULTIMATE LETTER in the ALPHABET? It would be MADNESS! The sun would be ELLOW! We’d all be pedaling around on BICCLES! And badges would all drop on FRIDA—which would be SUPER weird, not to mention UNCOMFORTABLE FOR FRIDA.

And speaking of Badge Drops, HERE IT IS!

Sorry, Frida.



There they are. The FINAL FANTASTIC FEW. Because while this may not be the VERY LAST Badge Drop of 2016, it certainly is the very last drop of ALL NEW seek-and-find badges before next week’s MASTER BADGE DROP!!! So if you want those lovely, shiny MASTER BADGES that proclaim to the world that you are an OBSESSIVE COMPLETIONIST and PROUD OF IT, you’ll have to BUCKLE DOWN and POWER UP your laptop or your phone or your feet to finish ALL THOSE BADGES that you’ve been saving for a rainy day!

We really hope you appreciate the PENULTIMATE-NESS of this post and other NOT-QUITE-LAST things--and how CONFUSED we’d be without them!

Good luck, gamers, and THANKS FOR PLAING!!!!

KNOCK KNOCK!

Who's there?

BADGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BADGERS?!

No! Not badgers! BADGES! You know, BADGES?! As in, BADGES?

Oh! Well. That's great, then! Where?

RIGHT HERE! As always, every Friday, all summer, around, you know, dinner-time-ish!



YOU GET A BADGE! AND YOU GET A BADGE! All the badges you can earn until your fatigued fingers fail, friends.

We've got badges about OUTER SPACE! Badges about MUPPET MELODIES! Badges about STUPEFYING SNAKES! Badges that will make you power up and POWER ART! Badges about BADGERS - no, wait, sorry. No badgers.

And on Monday, August 15th, we've got MASSIVE POINT POTENTIAL. Attend the AADL Board of Trustees meeting and get POINTS!!! OR, attend the AADL Board of Trustees meeting and MAKE A PUBLIC COMMENT and get HUNDREDS OF POINTS!!!!!!

POINTS, you guys!!!!!!

Oh, and one more thing. KNOCK KNOCK!

Who's there?

NEW PRIZES!!!!!!!!!

...New prizes who?

NEW PRIZES IN THE SUMMER GAME SHOP EVERY FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Go crazy! Go wild! Buy a hat! Buy a bag! BUY AN APRON!!!! We've got COFFEE (AGAIN!!!!)!!!! And stay tuned...MORE NEW ITEMS ARE COMING, because like Team USA gold medals, they just KEEP COMING!

So badge away, badgers, and as always...

THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Above Board Badge`
While you're anxiously awaiting this week's badge drop, and the 6 PM RESTOCKENING of Coffee and Tea, plus the release of 4 COMPLETELY NEW SHOP ITEMS.... we wanted to remind you that NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 15th, is your LAST CHANCE this summer to get totally HUGE POINTS by attending a meeting of the AADL BOARD OF TRUSTEES!

It's exhilarating, we know. But if you come to the 4th floor of the Downtown Library by 7 PM on Monday, August 15th, you'll find a 500-point code with a 250-point badge bonus JUST FOR SHOWING UP, plus a staggering 1000-point code with a 500-point badge bonus for MAKING A PUBLIC COMMENT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES! That's 2,250 points just for TELLING YOUR VERY OWN ELECTED OFFICIALS WHAT YOU THINK!

An opportunity like this won't come around again, until next summer that is, so come to the 4th floor of the Downtown Library by 7 PM to make a public comment! There are opportunities for comment at the beginning and at the end of the meeting, and the board president will ask if there are any Public Comments. You don't have to say much, but you have to approach the podium to see the code!

Hope to see you all there, and THANKS FOR PLAYING!

There's a button for everything nowadays. Have you run out of detergent? THERE'S A BUTTON FOR THAT! Can't find your keys? THERE'S A BUTTON FOR THAT TOO! Is your dog like, "Hey, human, you have basically one job and that is to put FOOD into my MOUTH so WHERE'S MY DINNER?" There are at least 60 BUTTONS IN THE WORLD that will SOLVE THAT PROBLEM! (Probably. We don't have any actual evidence, but that's gotta exist somewhere, right?)

So let's just imagine for a moment that RIGHT HERE in Summer Game Headquarters there is a BUTTON that, when pressed, drops somewhere between 2 and 2,000 pounds of RIDDLING, PUZZLING, GAMIFIED awesomeness into your lap. Ready?

We're readying the GIANT, ANIMATRONIC BUTTON-PUSHING HAND...

We're holding it over the GREAT, GLOWING, SLIGHTY-RADIOACTIVE-LOOKING BADGE-PRODUCING BUTTON...

(Is the suspense killing you? It's killing you, isn't it?)

AAAAAAAAND PUSH!

Oh jeez. LOOK OUT BELOW!!!



SEE?! Wasn't that SATISFYING?! And while we're making up IMAGINARY BUTTONS and throwing around UNSUPPORTED FACTS all willy-nilly, let's imagine a few more!!

THIS button lights up all the badges about DINOSAURS and DEEP SEA CITIES and DANCING COWBOYS! It's a feast for the eyeballs! THAT button makes all the badges that require SOME SORT OF LEG-MOVING ACTION spin around in DIZZYING CIRCLES! Hooray for queasiness! And the HUGE, WHITE button shaped like a TOILET produces HUGE, WHITE arrows that point to all the badges about POOP!

Ah. So, just the one then.

And THIS button....well, uh, we're not totally sure what that button does yet--either it will give you ALL THE CODES FOR EVERY BADGE...or it will launch you into space. In either case, EXCITING OUTCOMES AND TOTALLY WORTH IT!

And don't forget about the ALL-NEW-SUMMER-GAME-PRIZE-GETTING button! Since it's FRIDAY that button will soon be lit up in the shape of AADL'S MAGNIFICENT LOGO and just waiting to be pushed by POINT-WIELDING GAMERS! Remember, new prizes roll into the Summer Game Shop EVERY FRIDAY!

And if you haven't earned any points or you're a hungry pet dog looking for something to do while your human is frantically looking for their BEEPING KEYS, you can push THIS button right here to GET STARTED!

Have fun pushing those buttons, people (and pets) and...

THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Traveling is all the rage during summer. We know it. We're down with the trends. We've been doing a lot of traveling this summer and you've probably been doing a bit of traveling too, right? Traveling through the catalog for codes. Traveling to parks in the hothothot sun for glorious points. Traveling to your Aunt Gertrude's house for dignity-crushing cheek-pinches. And we're sure lots of you have been traveling around your neighborhood and walking into walls and falling off of docks playing a certain game that rhymes with Frokemon Shmo.

We know you're about ready to sit down and take a break and that's cool. Breaks are nice. But you know what's better?

BADGES.

OBVIOUSLY.



So GET UP, gamer! Get out of that SWIVELLY COMPUTER CHAIR, abandon AUNT GERTRUDE'S PLASTIC-COVERED COUCH, pull YOURSELF and your DAMAGED PHONE out of whatever RIVER/LAKE/POND was at the end of that dock, and buckle those seat belts because this game is NON-STOP!

If you look to your right you'll see some brand new ARBOR EXPLORER badges! If you look to your left you'll spot CIV CITY, where the currency is CIVIC ENGAGEMENT and everyone is FILTHY RICH! And if you look right up ahead you'll probably have all kinds of comments to make because this week marks the drop of our COMMENT MASTER BADGES!!! "Whaaaaat?!" you might say! Or maybe "Wooooow!" Or possibly "Oooooooh!" and also "Aaaaaah!" It's really up to you what comments you make--that's the beauty of FREE WILL and THE SUMMER GAME!

Now, the Summer Game might not make any stops, but your LOCAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY is ALL ABOUT making stops and we've teamed up with them to bring you some BUS-A-RIFFIC, TRANSIT-TASTIC badges that will make all of these seat belt references seem ridiculous because BUSES ARE INHERENTLY SEAT BELTLESS.

And since it's Friday you can count on some pretty cool prizes rolling into the Summer Game Shop, so stay tuned for more on that!

Now it's time to get up, get out, and get going!

Happy travels, gamers, and THANKS FOR PLAYING!

AADL and the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (TheRide) are partnering this summer for a fun, new addition to this year’s summer game!

Every Friday in August, AADL cardholders can ride any of TheRide’s local fixed-route buses for free. The only item you need to take out of your wallet is your AADL Library card.
Show the driver your card and ride for free!

While you ride, look for the summer game code sign inside the bus and win 1,000 points to trade in for great Summer Game Shop prizes. It’s easy – there’s only one code to find, repeated on every single bus. When you see it, text the code to 4AADL (42235) or visit play.aadl.org to enter the code and get 1,000 points.

TheRide and AADL have created even more ways to get summer game points:
• Find the code featured on the outside of several buses for 500 points.
• Find the codes at bus stops nearest to any AADL location for 500 points.
• Codes are also hidden on TheRide’s website - TheRide.org.

Find all the codes to earn the Ride Master Badge and a 500 point bonus!

It’s a great way to end the summer – ride TheRide for free, and get points to trade in for excellent prizes at the Summer Game Shop. For more information about TheRide’s buses and schedules, visit TheRide.org

New to the AADL summer game? Last year, there were 5,476 active summer game players who were awarded 85,850 badges and selected 7,227 prizes. Will you be a player this year?

Visit play.aadl.org or text NEW PLAYER to 4AADL (42235) to get started.

You know what Summer Gamers are always saying? They always say that the Summer Game needs more MATH. Sure, it's got BOOKS and MOVIES and MUSIC and TV and COMICS and ART and GOVERNMENTAL MEETINGS, but it rarely has enough HARD, SOLID NUMBERS. Because you know what they say: EVERYONE LOVES MATH. With that in mind, I've decided to bring you a badge drop post that is ALL ABOUT the numbers. I considered scrapping all of these badges in favor of calculus problems, but the other gamemakers convinced me this was just as good.

So let's talk NUMBERS. Just how much have you guys done so far in Summer Game 2016? A multitudinous
5,099 PLAYERS have received
39,909 BADGES and entered
240,160 CODES to earn them
67,511,795 POINTS!

DO YOU GUYS EVEN KNOW HOW MANY EVERYTHINGS THAT IS? We always know we can count on you guys to blow us away, and, yup, you sure have! We did one of these at this very same time last year and the number of points you had earned was a FRACTION of what you've gotten so far this year! For reference, that fraction is approximately 1/2 but I can't be more precise, I haven't got time to reduce fractions. And WHY haven't I got time to reduce fractions? I'VE GOT BADGES TO DROP:



This week has new installments of all of your favorite WEB SEARCH badges, an ARBOR EXPLORER trip to Gallup Park, the premier of the POWERART! series, and a fresh ANN ARBOR STORIES badge about one of the giants of Ann Arbor busking, Shakey Jake! This week also sees the debut of the REVIEW MASTER series. This one is all about what YOU like, so go share your opinions about what was good and bad in the catalog! Remember that if you are going to write a review, try to make it something meaningful that will really help someone figure out if they want to give that thing a shot or leave it on the shelf.

And don't forget that it's FRIDAY, and apart from being BADGE DROP day, it's also SHOP DROP day! New items hit the shop today and every Friday, guaranteed to be festooned with AADL logos! I'm sure there are people who aren't interested in things with the AADL logo, but those people are not us! Let's just say there's no accounting for taste and GET US SOME GREAT SHOP SWAG!

If the numerous badges and a call to review and logo-rific shop items aren't enough to keep you busy, you might see if you can root out a bonus code. There are four words in this blog post that are in italics for NO GOOD REASON. Combine those four to find the name of a band who made an album all about numbers, just like this post. Now's the tricky part: figure out the one digit that DOESN'T appear anywhere in this post and track down the song about it. If you can figure out the name of that song, put it in for your code and get an appropriate bonus!

THANKS 4 PLAYING!

Boy, isn't summer great? You know my FAVORITE part of summer? The sweltering, oppressive heat that makes you want to die! Don't you just LOVE that? Actually, the only good thing about all that HEAT is coming into the cool, crisp air conditioning. And then when you get too cold (because you are only wearing shorts and a t-shirt and sandals due to the sweltering & oppressive & wanting to die), you can head back out into the heat which, just then, for that split second, feels pretty nice!

We here at Summer Game Headquarters felt that it was our duty to help you come in from the hot and out from the cold as many times as possible this week with BADGE DROP #5, the in-and-outinest badge drop that ever turned down the thermostat!

We've got the premiere of the BRANCH EXPLORER SERIES that sends you to all four library locations around town to search for codes! What could be better than THAT? How about three, count 'em THREE new Arbor Explorer badges! We've got Kerrytown Circuit to help you learn more about one of Ann Arbor's historic neighborhoods! We've got Briarwood Rows, the badge that asks you to hunt around the shopping mall to get codes WHILE YOU BUY SOCKS! Plus, the first in a series of badges that take you to super secret locations around town! This week also has the first badge in HINE'S QUEST that takes you to see the super-cool artwork of Hine Mizushima! First off is a trip to Vault of Midnight and it's definitely worth a visit (as though Vault isn't ALWAYS worth a visit)!

Is it getting HOT in here? Let's head to a Library Board meeting at 6 PM Monday July 18th to beat the heat, share some thoughts at the podium, and earn this year's stupendous Above Board badge, the badge you get for standing up and saying what you think! If you need any further help cooling off, take a dip under the sea and down into The Midnight Zone, smell the salty sea air and relax to the sound of the gulls with Murder Most Fowl (boy, that sounds like a LOT of gulls, doesn't it?), and pray for a summer shower with Singin Through the Pain!!

This week also sees the arrival of the TAG MASTER SERIES! Share your knowledge about library stuff by adding tags to the aadl.org catalog! It helps people find stuff. It also earns you tons of points and badges! Somehow, even with all of that, there're STILL more badges that I haven't mentioned! Let's go to the DROP:



Man oh man that's a lot of badges to earn! Can you do it? And if you do, what will you have to show for it (the answer is pride, pretty badges, a spot on the leaderboard, bragging rights, etc.)? I guess you'll just have a bunch of points...THAT YOU CAN SPEND IN THE TOTALLY STUPENDOUS SUMMER GAME SHOP! Even if you've seen everything in there, remember that every week on Friday there are HOT, NEW ITEMS added that can cover YOU in library logos and fill your life with joy (joy not guaranteed). What's that you say? TODAY is Friday?! Then get over there and get spending! This week's new items include a tiny robot, a singing cube, and the long awaited return of an AADL UMBRELLA!

Jeez, I need a cool glass of lemonade, this is just getting to be too much for me. Just give me a minute to...wait, you're not even still here, are you? You're all off earning badges, aren't you? OF COURSE YOU ARE! Get out there (and in there) and get those badges, players, and THANKS FOR PLAYING!